Woah Nellie!

Cook up a batch of ‘Spiced Cranberries’ to fill your home with the aroma of a Yankee Candle

by Mary Jo David

It’s always entertaining to see what our grandparents and great-grandparents were cooking way back when. Perusing October issues of the Stockbridge Brief-Sun from 100 years ago did not disappoint. Admittedly, it would have been interesting to try my hand at cooking “Pigeon Pie” or “Stewed Ducks with Turnips” from the Oct. 11, 1923, edition, but alas, my freezer was devoid of pigeons and ducks this month!

However, I did have plenty of cranberries in my freezer. I like to buy them when they go on sale during the holidays so I have them on hand for recipes throughout the year. The Michigan State University Extension has some great online tips for freezing cranberries. Just go to https://www.canr.msu.edu and search for “freezing cranberries” to find these. According to the MSU website, when properly frozen, cranberries keep for eight to 12 months.

I decided to try Nellie’s Oct. 18, 1923, recipe for “Spiced Cranberries” (see sidebar recipe). To Nellie’s credit, this time she remembered to include amounts for every ingredient and her instructions were simple and complete. (Those who follow this column monthly know this isn’t always the case.)

The biggest challenge was figuring out how many cranberries to use for this recipe. Nellie suggests two quarts, but I had a bag containing 2 pounds of cranberries. Thanks to Google, I was able to pull up a converter that helped me determine one quart of cranberries is just shy of 1 pound.

I’m never sure how well we’ll like Nellie’s recipes, so I decided to cut this recipe in half. Those who are watching their sugar consumption might want to steer clear of “Spiced Cranberries,” as this recipe calls for a lot of sugar (3 cups for a half recipe). You also have to love the flavors of cinnamon, cloves and allspice to appreciate these little gems. Upon taste-testing part way through cooking the berries, I decided to add 1-1/2 cups more of the cranberries to help tone down the strong spice flavor. And I’m not exaggerating when I say that, throughout the process of making this recipe, your house will smell like a Yankee Candle factory! (Note to self: If it’s the aroma you’re after, lighting a candle is a LOT easier!)

Even half a recipe makes more than an average family would use in the short term. This is likely why Nellie’s last instruction is “Seal in glasses.” Luckily, I have some jam-making experience under my belt, so I had the supplies and knowledge for how to put up preserves using the water-bath method. When finished, I had one pint jar and three half-pint jars. I’m sure if you don’t want to go that route, you could, instead, freeze the cooked cranberries.

While I enjoy a cinnamon/clove/allspice combination when I’m eating pumpkin pie, I cannot say the same for the very powerful combination of spices used in “Spiced Cranberries.” My husband (aka: Official Taste-Tester) agreed. However, I did experiment with adding dollops of “Spiced Cranberries” to crackers spread with cream cheese, and that was just the ticket for enjoying the strong fall flavors found in this recipe.

Current photos by Mary Jo David