Cranberries: the Fruits of the Fall
A few notes about cranberries
Eat Cranberries!
Cranberries are loaded with fiber and are rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, copper, manganese, and vitamin K. If you must sweeten them, consider stevia. Stevia is considered calorie-free because it has less than 5 grams of carbohydrate per serving. Stevia also has a glycemic index and glycemic load (GI) of zero.
(The date paste, while it is super sweet and should be saved for holidays, provides fiber, potassium, magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron, vitamins A, K, and B-complex, and lots of antioxidants. These nutrients can alleviate constipation, heart disease, and diarrhea, among other complications. Dates do contain fructose; the average, average GI of dates is 42.)
Always choose organic––and yes, fresh organic cranberries are hard to find, but not impossible. You can substitute frozen for fresh. Cranberries are susceptible to many pests and fungal pathogens that are difficult to control, which makes organic growing particularly arduous. If they are harvested in water, flooded bogs make them susceptible to mycotoxins and mold. Some organic cranberries are dry-harvested, but they are harder to find. They tend to be from the older, family-owned bogs.
Chemicals commonly used on cranberries include diazinon, a pesticide that controls insects on a range of fruit, vegetable, nut, and field crops. Roundup® is often used to control the pesty hearty weeds and vines that grow in cranberry bogs. And just a reminder––lyphosate works by blocking an enzyme essential for plant growth. There are many studies that propose that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup®, is the most important causal factor in this epidemic of poor gut health and gastronomic health issues. Reproductive issues associated with celiac disease, such as infertility, miscarriages, and birth defects, are also attributed to glyphosate.
Cranberries are easy to make into a relish or sauce, and it is even easier to make the sauce and save for a hostess gift. The cranberry cooked sauce and raw relish has been an evolution of many years of coming to the table, with strong opinions on which one is the right one to serve. Long ago we celebrated Thanksgiving with my good friends at the Allen Farm on Martha’s Vineyard, and we would debate about traditional cranberry sauce cooked with sugar and jellied versus my chunky raw relish with a whole raw orange, fresh and tart. The tradition of reworking recipes each year continues, like old friends who go their separate ways but still hold places in our hearts. No matter what table I am at, I always serve both, because opinions and taste need to be compromised and offered.
I leave out the sugar, because we know that sweetness can come in many ways and some can be healthier than others. These days I replace the sugar cane with fiber-filled, carb-dense, pureed dates and no one knows the difference. I’ll even offer super-easier store-bought date puree, because we all look for shortcuts where we can. And if there is a need to go to a sweetener that is super-low glycemic, for those who may be pushing the ability to produce insulin, then stevia is a good source of sweetness. Stevia is the sugar substitute made from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant, which I grew in my garden this year. The leaves have a highly concentrated sweet flavor, about 200 to 400 times sweeter than sugar cane and stevia is a non-nutritive sweetener, which means it has no carbohydrates, calories, or artificial ingredients. (Sounds good enough, but most folks say they don’t like the aftertaste.)
Or, the cranberry sauce or relish could be super tart, if we leave out the sweetness altogether.
Cranberry Sauce Two Ways
My good friend Clarissa and I debate the raw versus cooked cranberry relish and it has come to be that I make both. I love raw cranberry sauce and she insists on cooking the cranberries. So here it is, cooked or raw. I use dates to sweeten. And if you are concerned about sugars, please substitute stevia! You can freeze both these recipes as they keep for several weeks. The raw cranberry relish is paleo and it is on the Whole30 diet if you opt in for stevia over dates.
Raw Cranberry Relish
1 organic orange
1 organic apple
3 cups organic fresh cranberries
½–1 teaspoon cinnamon or raz el hanout spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, etc.)
5 drops stevia or 2–4 tablespoons date puree or syrup (see below) or your sweetener of choice
Directions
Scrub the orange and apple and rinse the cranberries. Zet the orange and use the zest in the ingredients. Remove the white pithy from the orange, leaving the segments. Cut the orange with skin removed, into eight or more pieces.
In a food processor, blend the orange and apple (skin on) and cranberries and pulse until a nice consistency.
Add one ¼ teaspoon of stevia or ½ cup of date puree.
Taste and add your sweetener to your desired sweetness.
This will keep 2–3 days, or several weeks in the freezer- so make it ahead!
Note: Cinnamon is a nice spice to add––carefully––to this dish!
Date paste
Date paste is the best natural sweetener I know. Not only is it a quick and relatively cheap sweetener to make, but it's also packed with nutrients. Two ingredients and 15 minutes is all it takes! And it keeps in the fridge for weeks! Use this to replace the sugar in many recipes 1:1 ratio.
It's comparatively low in sugar compared with many other sweeteners like maple syrup and cane sugar, and it also provides a lot of fiber which you don't find in most sugars.
12 dates pitted- about 1 cup add to 1 cup boiling water
Pour boiling water over the date and soak the dates for about 10 minutes. I prefer a food processor, but you can mash with a fork until a paste forms. If you wish this puree to be thinner, add hot water to desired consistency. Use this to replace the sugar in many recipes 1:1 ratio.
Cooked Cranberry Sauce
3 cups organic fresh cranberries
1 large organic orange (use the zest and the sections- with the white pith removed)
½ cup water or orange juice
½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (ou can use raz el hanout as a substitute for cinnamon)
4 tablespoons date paste or 2 packets stevia or 5 liquid drops of stevia (taste to your desired sweetness)
Directions
Start by giving your organic orange a good scrub to clean it. Rinse the cranberries too.
Zest the orange and cut away the white pith. Chop the orange into 12-14 pieces. Remove seeds.
Put the cranberries and orange pieces into a heavy-based pan and add the crushed coriander seeds and ground cinnamon. There should be enough juice from the orange to start the cranberries cooking nicely without burning, but if you need to, add a little bit of water or orange juice.. You do not want your cranberries to burn, you want them to steam enough to burst open. You also don’t want too much water. Heat on low and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the sweetener.
The cranberries will start to pop and split, sounding like a mellow and somewhat laid-back popcorn session. Once they pop open, they are cooked! Now, taste. If you want this to be sweeter, you can add 3 drops of stevia or more date paste. If you want a smooth texture, place it in a food processor, or blend well with an immersion blender. Allow it to cool, and serve–– or store in the fridge and use within one week, or freeze for up to three weeks.
And just because This tart is so darn beautiful!
Cranberry Curd Tart – An almost perfect keto dessert
This is a great dessert anytime. If you are looking for a dessert that is keto, then take out the orange juice and replace it with water. One cup of orange juice adds 26 grams of carbohydrates.
Makes one pie: 8 to 10 servings
Macadamia Crust
1¼ cups (180 grams) raw macadamia nuts
1 cup (125 grams) almond flour
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons date puree (loaded with carbs!) or ¼ teaspoon stevia
6 tablespoons (100 grams) softened butter
Directions For Crust
Heat oven to 325°F.
Put macadamia nuts on a baking sheet and roast 10–15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow the nuts to cool.
In a food processor, grind nuts with half the almond flour until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
Add remaining almond flour and salt and pulse briefly.
Cream butter in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon for a minute or two, until pale and thick.
Add nut mixture and combine until dough comes together. If needed (if it seems dry or crumbly), add 1–2 tablespoons softened butter or a little cold water.
Press dough evenly into a 10-inch tart pan; use half the dough for the sides and half for the bottom.
Prick bottom with a fork and freeze for 30 minutes (or several days if desired).
Heat oven to 350°F.
Bake the chilled tart shell for about 15 minutes, until lightly brown. Cool.
Cranberry Curd
12 ounces (340 grams) cranberries
1 teaspoon stevia
Juice of 1 orange (this would add 26 carbs to this tart––omit if you want this to be keto)
Zest of 1 orange
4 ounces(113 grams) softened butter (1 stick)
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
Directions
While the crust bakes and cools, make the cranberry curd: Put cranberries, stevia, and orange peel with ¼ cup of water or orange juice in a saucepan over medium heat.
Simmer with a lid until cranberries have popped and softened, about 10 minutes.
Transfer to a food mill or medium mesh sieve and press cooking liquid and solids into a bowl.
Purée the cooked cranberry mixture with an immersion blender or in a food processor or blender. If you want a super smooth curd and it’s not smooth, press through a fine-mesh sieve.
Whisk the butter into the warm liquid.
Put eggs and egg yolks into a bowl and beat lightly.
Slowly whisk a cup of warm cranberry liquid into the eggs to temper, then combine both and whisk together.
Wipe out the pot if necessary, return liquid to the pot, and cook over low heat until nearly bubbling and thickened, about 10 minutes.
If using immediately, let cool to room temperature and pour over the crust and refrigerate. If working ahead, cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap (press wrap against curd) and refrigerate. (Curd may be cooked up to 1 day ahead.)
Pour cranberry curd into the cooled prebaked tart shell and smooth top with a spatula.