Why One Thanksgiving Staple Could Be Hard To Come by This Year

[libertybele]

Why One Thanksgiving Staple Could Be Hard To Come by This Year

A lack of adequate rain in New Jersey this season may make one of your favorite Thanksgiving side dishes hard to come by this year.

The state typically produces about $20 million worth of cranberries every year—second only to Mass.—but depleted reservoirs and dry lands may put a significant dent in that number this time around, according to a new report from NJ.com. With a heavy reliance on water at every step of their growth and harvesting cycles, producing a crop fit for retail has become a slow and expensive process, if not altogether impossible.

“This season has been exceptionally tough,” Bill Haines, who works for Pine Island Cranberry in Chatsworth, NJ, told the publication recently, calling it "as dry an October as I can remember.” Haines has worked in the cranberry industry since 1976, and considers this to be the worst drought he's seen since.

“We’ve been able to manage. We actually have a good crop, but water is precious,” Haines added. “We haven’t had any significant rainfall since early July.”

Steve Lee, of Lee Brothers Farms in the same town, told the publication that his reservoir usually sits at "about six to eight feet below the ground," but last time he checked, it was at "about 20 feet."

Many of the states' berries are intended for Ocean Spray products, with local farms submitting requests for "more time" to the co-op, though it's still too early to say how the drought may affect availability—or cost—for cranberry sauce later this month.............

https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-one-thanksgiving-staple-could-202005279.html

[Wingnut]

My experience with cranberries at the Thanksgiving table is that one half to three quarters of them go in the trash. 

Save the Cran's for other uses. Don't serve them at the table.


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[libertybele]

My experience with cranberries at the Thanksgiving table is that one half to three quarters of them go in the trash. 

Save the Cran's for other uses. Don't serve them at the table.


..

I make a cranberry salad using whole cranberries which winds up definitely making more than we can eat at one sitting -- and granted after a few days of serving it at dinner, the leftover needs to be discarded as it doesn't last in the frig that long.  However, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the cranberries. 

[mystery-ak]

I make cranberry relish..only two of us like it but it is a good bite with a piece of turkey.

[mountaineer]

I love cranberry sauce. Toss them in a pan with just a tiny bit of water, some orange zest and sugar, and let it cook until they start poppin'. Need to check my freezer to see whether I have a bag in there.

[libertybele]

I make cranberry relish..only two of us like it but it is a good bite with a piece of turkey.

   Thanksgiving just isn't turkey day without cranberries of some sort.

[Sighlass]

Love it, but it is very high in Vitamin K (Blood Clot City for me)... Still I eat a few bites with delight and make sure to not skip my blood thinner.

[libertybele]

I love cranberry sauce. Toss them in a pan with just a tiny bit of water, some orange zest and sugar, and let it cook until they start poppin'. Need to check my freezer to see whether I have a bag in there.

Well, I bought canned whole cranberries, but actually if I bought fresh and made my own to use for the salad, I could probably adapt the recipe and cut it in half so it wouldn't go to waste and freeze the remaining cranberries. It would be healthier as well...next year.

[libertybele]

Love it, but it is very high in Vitamin K (Blood Clot City for me)... Still I eat a few bites with delight and make sure to not skip my blood thinner.

I had know idea; thanks for the info.  I don't eat a whole lot anyways because it's acidic and hard on my system, but I do enjoy it.