Blackcap Blog

Published at 21:58 on 14 October 2014

Last June, while on a botanical survey, I happened across a peat bog on the way to the survey site. I find all bogs to be fascinating places, because of the unique flora they have, and this one was even more so because depending on where you are in it there’s two distinct types of bog: the more normal (for this latitude and climate) terrestrialization type, created by a rain-fed pond filling in, and the far less common (here; worldwide, most peatlands are this type) paludification type, caused when beavers dammed the pond after the land was clear-cut, waterlogging the soil and causing the sphagnum moss to spread onto it from the adjacent bog, expanding it. The old logging road bed itself was even revegetating with bog plants.

Amongst those were wild cranberries, which were flowering profusely at the time. That naturally made me want to return in the fall to see if they were fruiting profusely. I did, and they were. I harvested just under a gallon of berries.

The following recipe is adapted from “averaging” the measurements of several recipes for cranberry sauce I found on the Web and in my old copy of The Joy of Cooking.

• 6 cups cranberries
• 2 cups water
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 large, fat or two skinny sticks of cinnamon

If you’re going to can the result, have the necessary number of clean mason jars, lids, and bands ready in a boiling-water canner. Do this first. It takes a long time to get such a large pot boiling. By the time the cranberry sauce is ready to can, your canner should be ready as well (i.e. boiling hot).

Wash the cranberries well in a large bowl. Agitate the water vigorously with your fingers to dislodge any old petals or sepals from the tips of the berries. Repeat until all such debris are removed.

Bring the water to a boil, then add the cranberries, cinnamon, and cloves. Return to a boil and cook until the skins on the berries crack (for me, this was basically when the berries returned to a boil). Remove the cinnamon and cloves and put the berries through a food mill or ricer.

Bring the cranberry purée to a boil and add sugar. Stir until dissolved then return to a full rolling boil then remove from heat.

Yield about five pints.

If canning (which is what I did, Thanksgiving is still nearly two months off), leave 1/2″ head space in each jar and process for 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner.