Going Home

To cranberry country. When I met my husband more than 20 years ago in Boston, little did we know that we both came from the same area in Massachusetts. We grew up in neighboring towns racing our bikes up and down bog roads and breathing in the salt air that is so much a part of who we are. And although we do love living in the woods, we miss those bogs, the scrub pines, and that sweet, salt air.

I can remember the first time we took our children to see the cranberries harvested - all those plump red berries bobbing up and down in the water was a beautiful sight. This weekend, we're heading back home to visit family and say good-bye to my parents who now make their home in Florida nine months out of the year. I'm hoping we'll catch a glimpse of the harvest too.

FYI: The name cranberry derives from "craneberry", first named by early European settlers in America who felt the expanding flower, stem, calyx, and petals resembled the neck, head, and bill of a crane. These tart little berries were served at the very first Thanksgiving and are still part of the Thanksgiving tradition in most U.S. homes today. Cranberries are harvested from mid-September until the end of October. Most of the cranberries are "wet-picked" to be used for juice and sauce, but others are dry-picked and sold to the rest of us to use in our own recipes.

If you'd like to see a few more gorgeous pictures and enjoy a cranberry recipe or two, please visit La Tartine Gourmande.