Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Foodie Weekend: Cranberry Coast

Did you know that 30 percent of the country's cranberries are grown in Washington?

OK, I just made that up. But according to the Cranberry Museum (yes, there's a museum for cranberries!), there are over 230 cranberry bogs on the coast between Vancouver, BC and Oregon. Hence the nickname (which, admittedly, I'd never heard before today), "Cranberry Coast." So, hey, maybe I'm right about that 30 percent?


I looked this up because I need an excuse to head to the beach for the weekend. I love the Washington coast--it's windy, salty and, usually, totally deserted, especially in winter (which is when I like to go; I like the storms). And with October's arrival and temperatures dipping down into the 40's, it feels like Thanksgiving is fast approaching, which means cranberry sauce.



And that got me remembering: Last time we went to the coast we kept seeing signs for cranberry bogs. We were in serious oyster-seeking mode so we didn't stop, but maybe we should've.


Now I'm thinking a trip to Long Beach might be in order for next weekend's Cranberry Harvest Festival in Grayland. There's a pancake breakfast, cooking contests, even a nighttime "firefly" parade! There are also cranberry bog tours every day for just one buck.

And yeah, downing a few dozen oysters wouldn't hurt, either.

[where: 98547]

1 comment:

Alice said...

Actually, we only produce 3% of the nation's cranberries. Found that from a pdf at:
http://www.tricity.wsu.edu/~cdaniels/profiles/cranberr.pdf

My family is doing a completely local thanksgiving and didn't consider having cranberry sauce on the table, so I thought I'd do some investigating. Now all I need to do is figure out a location to pick them and if we have local sugar... umm... yeah... one can dream!

Great blog, by the way!