CRANBERRY THANKSGIVING

Today is slated for cooking, and Traditional Family Recipes rule the day!  My potatoes, for a yummy potato casserole that my mother-in-law handed down (and which my children won't ever allow me to deviate from!), are almost boiling. Meanwhile I have a quick minute, before starting on my sister's delicious recipe for a spiced Zinfandel cranberry sauce, to share about a fun children's book by Wende and Harry Devlin, appropriately titled Cranberry Thanksgiving.

Cranberry Thanksgiving is the story of a young girl named Maggie who lives with her Grandmother near a cranberry bog in New England. Maggie and her Grandmother traditionally each invite a guest to their Thanksgiving feast. But this particular year, Grandmother almost loses her secret recipe for cranberry bread to one of the guests. (The book includes the secret recipe.) This classic was published in 1971 and is a traditional family read for many families each year - you can read it while the cranberry bread is baking.



Cranberries are amazing little powerhouses of nutrients and they go a long way back in the history of the traditional Thanksgiving meal.  Long before the Pilgrims came to North America, the Indians combined crushed cranberries with dried deer meat and melted fat to make pemmican - a convenience food that would keep for a long time. As the Pilgrims began to settle and thrive, cranberries became a staple in their lives as well.

Contrary to popular belief, cranberries do not grow in water. Instead, they grow on vines in impermeable beds layered with sand, peat, gravel and clay. These beds, commonly known as "bogs," were originally made by glacial deposits. Normally, growers do not have to replant since an undamaged cranberry vine will survive indefinitely. Some vines in Massachusetts are more than 150 years old! (Cranberries are also grown in the Pacific Northwest.) Photo sources and more information here.


Well, I'm off to start my cranberry sauce!  Scroll down for the recipe below, or find it here (it's not a secret recipe, like the Grandmother's)...

SPICED CRANBERRY SAUCE WITH ZINFANDEL

INGREDIENTS:
1 3/4 cups red Zinfandel wine
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
6 whole cloves
6 whole allspice
2 cinnamon sticks
1 3x1-inch strip orange peel
1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries
PREPARATION:
Combine all ingredients except cranberries in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer until reduced to 1 3/4 cups, about 10 minutes. Strain syrup into large saucepan. Add cranberries to syrup and cook over medium heat until berries burst, about 6 minutes. Cool. Transfer sauce to medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate until cold. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

NOSTALGIC BOOKS FOR BABY BOOMERS

Update on 9/17/12: OLD BLACK WITCH is available now! Here: Purple House Press
Update 4/6/12: Reprint publisher, Purple House Press, will be re-issuing this favorite childhood book, Old Black Witch, in the fall!


By the time I was six, I knew from the Brothers Grimm story of Hansel and Gretel that mean witches were bad and would get their just due; but I also knew from Dr. Seuss' Grinch that cruel hearts could change and grow with kindness. On our little black and white television set that sixth year of my life, I had watched the annual showing of THE WIZARD OF OZ and had witnessed Neil Armstrong become the first man to set foot on the moon, making me think pretty much anything was possible.

I can't say for sure, but maybe all those things contributed in making the unlikely book, OLD BLACK WITCH, one of my childhood favorites. Like the mother and son in the story, my family had just moved into an old Victorian fixer-upper, that needed some new paint and tender loving care. Nicky and his mother start a fire in the fireplace after moving in, but as they begin scrubbing and cleaning, who should stumble out onto the hearth from the smoke filled chimney, but an old witch (who is not as scary as she thinks she is!)

She tries to frighten them away, but they are determined to stay - they have put all their money into the house and plan on converting it into a tearoom - the menu is even planned. When the tearoom finally opens, with its red and white checked curtains and Sweet Williams on the tables, the society ladies love it so much that Nicky's mother needs help.  That's when they discover the Old Black Witch can cook! She wins everyone over with her delicious dishes, despite her witchy ways.

Nicky's mother sets Old Black Witch up in an attic bedroom and she loves sharing it with the cobwebs and bats. She only wishes she had a couple of toads to keep her company...

Well, she gets her wish when she saves the tearoom from two robbers ("not all the people who heard about the tearoom were nice quiet ladies") after she zaps them and promptly turns them into - yes - spotted toads.

The story is quite eccentric and the artwork is wonderfully detailed.  At the end of the book is a recipe for Old Black Witch's Bewitching Pancakes.  What kind?

"Boil cauldron,

make a brew,

What kind of berries

make a pancake blue?"

This is one of many obscure books published by Parents' Magazine Press, which operated a children's mail-order book club in the 1960's and '70's. Through this club's affordability and popularity came many books that Baby Boomers (like me) remember fondly. Some titles are so popular, that they've become quite collectible.  CLICK HERE, if you'd like to browse which titles Loganberry Books has available in stock.  (You can also scour your own neighborhood bookstores and libraries, or google the titles to find them on Amazon or Ebay.  I literally wracked my brain for years to remember this book title, and finally came across it this fall!  I guess OLD BLACK WITCH is one of the most requested books! When I looked up the customer comments on Amazon, most everyone had the same wonderful memories as I did and were thrilled to have found this old childhood friend. )