MR. GREENS "FRESH TIPS"
October 13, 2000
Our last MR. GREEN'S PUZZZZLE dealt with Fall favorites: There are two produce items that originated in Northern Europe. One is the Rutabaga? What was the other one? Actually, this was too easy. If you think about the name of this vegetable, it has the same name as a famous city in Europe. I call this vegetable the "Rodney Dangerfield" of produce. It gets no respect. It is maligned. People turn their nose up at this vegetable. The poor, hapless Brussels Sprouts. This week's PUZZZZLE deals with another Fall favorite: YouÕve heard of pears and apples, but what in the world is an Apple Pear? See the answer in next week's "Fresh Tips."
CRANBERRIES: Did you know that there are 440 cranberries in one pound? 4,400 cranberries in one gallon of juice? 440,000 cranberries in a 100-pound barrel? Seven of 10 cranberries sold in the world today come from Ocean Spray, a grower cooperative started in 1930. If you strung all the cranberries produced in North America last year, they would stretch from Boston to Los Angeles more than 565 times. Contrary to popular belief, cranberries do not grow in water. They are grown on sandy bogs or marshes. Because cranberries float, some bogs are flooded when the fruit is ready for harvesting. If all the cranberry bogs in North America were put together, they would comprise an area equal in size to the tiny island of Nantucket, off Massachusetts, approximately 47 square miles.
Native Americans, long before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, mixed deer meat and mashed cranberries to make pemmican -- a convenience food that kept for long periods of time. They also believed that cranberries had medicinal value, and were used by medicine men as an ingredient in poultices to draw poison from arrow wounds. Cranberry juice was a natural dye for rugs, blankets and clothing. The Delaware Indians in New Jersey used the cranberry as a symbol of peace. Cranberries have had a variety of different names since their discovery. Eastern Indians called them "sassamanesh." Cape Cod Pequots and the South Jersey Leni-Lenape tribes named them "ibimi," or bitter berry. The Algonquins of Wisconsin called the fruit "atoqua." But it wasn't until German and Dutch settlers came up with "crane berry," because the vine blossoms resembled the neck, head and bill of a crane, that we arrive at what we know today as the cranberry.
Cranberries are unlike any other fruit in the world. From Cape Cod to Washington State, the cranberry has played a role in holiday culture and family health & wellness for years. Its unique health benefits and refreshing, tart taste put it in a league of its own when it comes to healthy refreshment. American recipes containing cranberries date from the early 18th Century. Legend has it that the Pilgrims may have served cranberries at the first Thanksgiving in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. During World War II, American troops required about one million pounds of dehydrated cranberries a year. The hearty cranberry vine thrives in conditions that would not support most other crops: acid soil, few nutrients and low temperatures, even in summer.
Epidemiological evidence has long supported the role of naturally occurring anti-cancer agents in fruits and vegetables in reducing the risk of many diseases, including cancers and heart disease. A variety of compounds produced by plants, such as flavonoids, have been investigated for their anti-cancer activity. Cranberries are a rich source of these compounds, which may have anti-cancer activity. Other research being presented at Experimental Biology continues to support the potential benefit of cranberry juice in protecting against cholesterol oxidation. In a study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, cranberry juice was tested for its ability to inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol, and proved to be effective as an antioxidant. These results, though preliminary, suggest a benefit of cranberry juice in maintaining cardiovascular health. Last week, The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science issued a report calling for increases in daily intake of the antioxidant vitamins C and E to exploit their role in maintaining good health. Meanwhile, new research published in a letter in the April 5, 2000, Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that cranberry juice may have even greater bacteria-fighting properties than previously thought. While research findings at Harvard Medical School in 1994 suggest that regular consumption of cranberry juice cocktail significantly reduced the bacteria associated with urinary tract infections in elderly women, this new research supports a potentially broader range of benefits for fighting bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella enteritidis, as well as E. coli.
Mr. Greens will be participating in the 3rd annual state conference breakfast for the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, held this year October 20 at the Doubletree Hotel in Modesto. "Michael is such a hit every year, we had to have you back," says Judy Culbertson, executive director. This year, JC Produce will be joining CDFA Sect. Bill Lyons for the breakfast
CLICK HERE for Mr. Green's Cranberry Apple Tart Recipe