Pick of the Season: Cranberries

Northern Manitoba bursts with flowers, berries, and leaves to provide for both wildlife and people. “Pick of the Season” is a series that highlights what to harvest and how to use it. As we approach the first frosts of northern Manitoba, we’re celebrating cranberries.

Unlike some Manitobans who get a little bitter every winter, mountain cranberries, also known as lingonberries, found in Manitoba’s north get even sweeter once the weather dips below 0°C. In Wapusk National Park, these delicious red berries thrive in the difficult conditions of the Hudson James Lowlands.

The use of this fruit goes well beyond the culinary world. The medicinal virtue of the shrub is used by Cree healers to treat a variety of ailments. The juice of the berry can be used to assist with sore eyes and snow blindness, the branches and leaves can help babies with toothaches, the boiled berries heal urinary tract problems and Inuit and Cree alike use the berries to treat baby thrush.

With ample cranberries in the region, there is always extra berries to make a few sweet treats, such as this recipe:

Cranberry Cake with Butter Sauce

3 cups flour (750 mL)

4 tsp. baking powder (20 mL)

½ tsp. salt (2 mL)

3 tbsp. butter or margarine (45 mL)

1 ½ cups sugar (375 mL)

3 cups wild cranberries (750 mL)

Butter Sauce

¾ cup butter OR margarine (175 mL)

1 ½ cups sugar (375 mL)

¾ cup evaporated milk OR cream (175 mL)

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Note: It does not get all creamy and fluffy as it does in a butter cake, as the ratio of butter to sugar is not high enough.

Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, beating after each addition, just until it is mixed.

Stir in the cranberries. (If you are using large commercial cranberries, chop them up a bit.)

Spread the batter in a greased 9 x 13” (23 x 33cm) pan. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown and the top springs back when lightly touched.

Butter Sauce

Combine the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Simmer for 2 minutes and remove from heat. A wire whisk is very helpful to keep the sauce smooth. Serve the sauce warm over the cake.

This recipe is from Blueberries & Polar Bears, page 168. For over 50 years, Helen Webber and Marie Woolsey of Blueberries & Polar Bears have been cooking and baking for the guests at Webber’s Lodges and Churchill Wild in northern Manitoba, Canada.