Cranberries

It is nearly Thanksgiving the eating holiday of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, cranberries.... oh...wait a minute. Cranberries are interesting to me. I shall write about the cranberry today. I remember cranberries from the earliest days of my youth as that bitter fruit that was turned into a compote or jelly and eaten with turkey at Thanksgiving. The diner is supposed to take apiece of that cranberry jelly and w eat it with a piece of turkey. Jim did not eat that cranberries concoction then and rejoiced that cranberries was seen only at Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.
But wait! That jellied dish of cranberries and other cranberry products have become an increasingly popular because of their health benefits and unusual tart taste. They are evolving into more than just that cranberry jelly/compote. I now like many cranberry products, The cranberry juices, cocktails, soaps, salsas, mustard, chutney, dried cranberries, cranberry ice-cream, hand lotions and cosmetics made from cranberries, cranberry stuffings, cookies and cakes, cranberry covered with chocolate, even cranberry beer, have exploded on the market place as farmers and food processors have introduced untold ways to eat cranberries.
You probably don't see cranberry products much, because the cranberry is a native North American product only grown in several northern states and some parts of Canada. It has never made an impact abroad. But now the biggest seller of cranberry products, Ocean Spray Inc., has started trying to sell outside of the U.S. and Canada to make cranberry sales outside of Thanksgiving and Christmas a bigger part of the cranberry market. Japan and western Europe seem to be getting hooked on cranberries too. The cranberry is now recognized and mostly liked in many more places.
Anyway, look on the net in a search engine to find out more about cranberries. The cranberry may be the least appetizing fruit when eaten unsweetened, but adding sugar to it transforms it the same way the lemon is changed when doused with sweeteners. Though I still don't eat that Turkey cranberry jelly or compote (I like my turkey natural, just meat).
I could name quite a few cranberry products in my kitchen right now that I do like. Soo...if you see anything with cranberry in it at your grocery store, try it and let me know what you think about eating cranberries. Don't "be a turkey", try it.