Cranberry Harvest At Mann Farm

 11/6-11/7

 

Mann Farm in Buzzards Bay

Mann Farm is that big boggy thing in the back... makes for a cool aerial.

http://www.umassd.edu/semap/handbook/buzzardsbay.cfm

 

These cranberries- after washing and processing- may very well end up on your Thanksgiving dinner table.

 

The cranberry itself is too tart to even try to eat- something Sloppy Dog figured out almost immediately, but not immediately enough.

The Cranberry Sauce on your dinner table has been cut with so much sugar, it might turn into Cornholio!

 

^^^  These bogs are flooded one at a time, meaning that the local Canadian Geese population has to sort of hop from bog to bog. They were pretty pissed about it, and they did not agree to be used in this photograph.

 

I didn't hang around all day, but I got the basic idea of how the process goes. This guy drives that thing around, loosening up the berries, which then float to the surface.

 

Then this dude walks around with a big net, pulling the floaters to shore. There were a guy and a lady on land holding the rest of the net, but their picture didn't come out... and keep in mind, the above picture counts as a good photo, so when I reject one... total darkness. I even failed to get the Moon, and it was the only thing in the sky when I aimed the camera.

 

All the berries go into that truck, by use of a machine that didn't want to be photographed.

 

Why I Don't Take The Photographs Here Part II, or Why I Owe The Colonel A Fat Dinner For Going Out Into The Bog This Morning And Correcting My Mistakes.

I cook better than I photograph:

RECIPE FOR CRANBERRY SAUCE!

A simple cranberry sauce can be made with roughly 2 parts cranberries, 1 part water and 1 part granulated sugar by weight.

So, begin with a one pound bag of fresh cranberries, one cup water, and one cup granulated sugar. The sugar can be increased to 1-1/2 cup if a sweeter sauce is desired (I use honey- about a half cup to every 2 cups of cranberries).

Rinse the berries in a colander and remove and stems or bad berries. There's no need to spend too much time on this step(unless you steal the berries right out of Mann Farm in Buzzards Bay). You can also use frozen cranberries - just rinse them and don't worryabout defrosting them.

In a medium saucepan, heat the water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Then bringthe syrup up to a boil and pour in the cleaned berries.Adjust the heat so the mixture maintains a simmer and cook until all the berries pop or crack open, about five minutes to seven minutes. Take the sauce off the heat at this point, or simmer it down to the desired thickness. Remember the sauce will thicken a little while cooling. Chill overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

While simmering the berries, additional ingredients can be added for more flavoring such as orange zest, flavored liquors, or spices like cinnamon. ( I've tried it with rum and maple syrup, although it's a whole other animal at that point).

Cooking For Engineers - Recipe File: Cranberry Sauce

 (the comments are my own)