January, 1917 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
mand enough lo support any 
one? 
Three years later this same 
young man convinced me there 
was bread and butter enough in 
it for two — and since that time 
out fate and family have been 
largely dependent on the growth 
and sale of the cranberry. In- 
stead of the annual two or three 
I quarts of berries as turkey ac- 
cessories, a barrel of them went 
into the cellar. How to use that 
many berries was a problem 
which from that and subse- 
quent years has developed many 
ways and better ways to pre- 
pare them. 
Their keeping qualities were 
then unknown to me and may 
be to most of you. It is not 
necessary to can cranberries as 
you do all other berries to save 
them. If you put them in a cool, 
dry place as you do apples, 
they will keep just as long and 
just as well as apples. 
The cranberry is one of the 
acid fruits. Do not decry or 
destroy that acid. God put it 
there for our benefit just as 
He did in the currant — the 
strawberry — the lemon. Don’t 
< try to defeat His purpose by 
neutralizing that acid with soda. 
Who would think of par-boiling 
the strawberry in soda water or 
offering lemonade first sweetened 
with soda? Be as just to the 
[cranberry and save its valuable 
qualities, clean flavor and beauti- 
ful color. Mr. Schlosser says: 
“The chemical analysis of 
cranberries shows that they con- 
: tain mild acid combinations 
which are by nature converted 
into alkaline carbonates in the 
blood which help to purify it 
and have a tendency to ward 
off bilious and rheumatic ten- 
dencies. They also aid digestion, 
dear the complexion and are 
perfectly harmless to the most 
delicate stomach.” 
Because of their acid proper- 
ties cranberries should always be 
cooked in granite or porcelain- 
lined dishes, also, after cooking, 
should be turned into glass, 
china or earthenware. Like the 
apple, they can be cooked as 
needed — but unlike the apple — 
the sauce will keep for weeks 
in an open or uncovered dish 
without deterioration if kept in 
a cool, dry place, in fact, we 
have never lost by fermentation 
where other fruits would have 
spoiled. 
The reputation of cranberries 
has suffered to a disastrous 
extent in the past through the 
injurious treatment they have 
received in the methods of cook- 
ing, and I fear it will take 
years to overcome the prevailing 
opinion that they require so 
much more sugar than other 
fruits. Cranberries are not sugar 
consumers compared with most 
other fruits. 
I am pleased to be able to 
show you what an amount of 
sauce can be made from one 
quart of cranberries and one 
pound of sugar, provided the 
water supply is not restricted. 
Cranberries can be used with 
toothsome results in a great 
many ways other than sauce or 
jelly. While we do not wish to 
detract from the good use of the 
apple, we would like our lady 
friends to try for a change — 
substituting cranberries for apple 
in a suet dumpling, or steamed 
pudding — just stir them into 
the dough as you would raisins 
in a cake. They are also an 
addition to mince meat — cooking 
them first as for sauce — and 
when apples are scarce can be 
used generously to take the 
place of the apple. 
A fine short-cake can be had 
with a good biscuit crust and 
cranberry sauce for spread or 
filler. A delicious conserve is 
69 
now made with cranberries for 
base and addition of some raisins 
and orange juice — sweetened to 
taste and cooked just long 
enough to solidify. A refreshing 
dr'nk can be made from the 
stramed juice — prepared similar 
to grape juice. 
Two cups of chopped berries, 
1 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon of 
flour mixed together and baked 
between two crusts make an 
excellent pie. I put the berries 
through the meat chopper. 
Perhaps nowhere is the berry 
more abused than in the making 
of sauce. I do not approve of 
long, slow stewing or simmering, 
or cooking water and sugar to- 
gether before adding berries, 
but I do earnestly urge the 
use of boiling water, the putting 
together at once the berries, 
sugar and water, and cooking 
rapidly over a brisk fire. My 
formula is frequently given but 
as the method of procedure never 
has, I am going to state it here 
in detail, hoping some of you 
ladies will at least give it a trial. 
First be sure of a hot stove 
and boiling water. Place 1 
quart of washed berries in gran- 
ite kettle or sauce pan. Pour 
over these some boiling water — - 
a quart perhaps — and turn im- 
mediately into colander. This 
warms the kettle and takes 
chill from berries, facilitating 
speedy cooking. Return berries 
at once to kettle, add 1 pint 
of sugar, then 1 pint boiling 
water, stirring just enough to 
coat all berries with this sweet- 
ened water. Cover when berries 
begin to swell and “pop” stand 
right by and mash with spoon 
against side of kettle till every 
berry is broken, keeping sauce 
cooking rapidly during this time. 
Remove from fire and turn into 
glass, china or earthenware dish. 
If conditions are right ten min- 
utes will do the work and you will 
