They do keep forever in the freezer. Great for making muffins with walnuts added too. I have to see what the price is here. In the summer months, you can never find these anywhere. The only ones I see then are the Craisins.

ken, I love cran-walnut baking, too. For Christmas morning I made James Beard's cranberry-walnut quick bread --- it has a bit of rose water in it (I keep some on hand just for making this one recipe). It's been a few years since I made it, and BOY was it good. Mmmmmm.

Bckskye, good score on the cranberries!

Zabby

Here's a link to one of my favorite applesauce recipes. Thankfully I had cranberries left over this year as the apples were in season way before the cranberries were in the stores.

One thing I did not note in my review comments was that I cut the sugar to 1/2 cup. Otherwise, I made the recipe as it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chunky Applesauce

I really like the cranberry walnut breads and muffins, too. Never thought about using rose water in them. Will have to try it.

Went to the Chunky Applesauce link and it sounds yummy. Think I'd like to can it because DH doesn't like cranberries and I'd be the only one eating it. Thanks for posting it, dogear6.

I'm definitely going back for more bags of cranberries to stash in the freezer.

Place those bags of fresh crans into a zipper freezer bags. The usually punch small holes in the original bags when sold fresh, and that can cause moisture loss once they are frozen. I made an apple jelly with cider. Used a few Craisins in some jars and a few dried cherries in others.

I love the chunky applesauce, but I do peel the apples. I do not run this one through the food mill. Once the apples were too soft to use my apple peeler gizmo, I switched to a regular applesauce recipe than I ran through the food mill.

This one would be fine through a food mill, but I do like the chunkier texture.

Actually, I was looking through the Cooking Light recipes for that applesauce, I noted to myself how many of the cranberry recipes that I tried and liked.

Here's another one. I do cook the apples with the cranberries, leaving the skins on, and freeze it up. I do not put the walnuts in until I thaw it though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cranberry, Apple & Walnut Relish

Walnuts tend to loose texture and taste if they are frozen. If you do use walnuts as a fresh additive, suggest that you lightly toast them first. I will place them in a big flat pan and roast about 15 minutes at about 325 degrees, careful, they can burn fast. Last summer, all my apples were picked and sitting in my kitchen. I had to go into the hospital right after that and didn't get to them until I got home 17 days later. Needless to say, there was a lot of spoilage and the rest were very wrinkled and soft.

I got all excited from your sales info and checked a couple of local stores. The three that had any cranberries at all -- they say they get rid of them all after Christmas -- were "on sale" for $1.99. I do not consider that sale. The ones in my freezer were really on sale for 25 cents about 3 years ago. You're right -- they last forever; they're just wonderful still, but the supply won't last!

I think I really did luck out. I went back day before yesterday and bought four more bags of them from the IGA in Nashville, IN. The big stores still have them at the higher prices. Sometimes I think they'd rather throw them away than to give customers a good sale price.

A local Shaws here has aggressive stock managers. I like going there on Mondays and Tuesdays to see whats on clearance. I bought a black injet cartridge for my HP OfficeJet that usually runs about $20, to a $1.50. Also, picked u a box of Russell Stover all dark assortment 20 once box for just $7.00. They sold some 'Gee' a while back. Its clarified butter in a jar, and usually runs about $10. This one was a buck. Must drop by there today or tomorrow to see if they have any crans left, or any other good deals. They do carry canning jars, which I was amazed to see. They are Ball and quarts are $8.49 a case for regular mouth. No real bargain, but they do have them even now.

Was just at the Shaws today and saw repacked trays of cranberries selling for .39 cents a pound. They were unbagged and picked over a little but still had a few that turned to mush. I bought all they had and picked out the soft ones, and froze the rest. Saved big time! Had about 6 pounds, and they should last me a long while. Last week, I saw cans of peeled chestnuts marked way down to $2 each. Wish I had bought a few more, as when I went back the next day, the rest were all gone.

Wow, Ken! You really got a fantastic deal on those crans. Can't beat that price.

The best deals I've found recently were at Kroger stores. One had the packaged mixes for canning B&B pickles, Sweet pickles and Dill pickles at .59 each. Can't remember if they were Ball or Mrs. Wages. The other was just night before last on 1 pound bags of Kroger brand dried black eyed peas for .39 each on a Manager's Special. I should have bought more that the two that I got. Like to really stock up when something is that good a price and we really like black eyed peas. Oh, I forgot that I did get lemons about three weeks ago for .20 each.

Back to the crans. I've made cranberry walnut bread a couple of times so far. What do you usually make with yours?

Mine get made into cranberry walnut muffins. I like to toast the walnuts prior to adding to the batter. I also shake in some dried orange peel and use Splenda and Egg Beaters for a much healthier muffin. I have these big jumbo muffin tins too, twice the size of the normal muffins. Made these muffins so many times in the past that I don't even bother to weigh or measure any of the ingredients anymore. My other favorite is blueberry cake using a muffin batter. I add a LOT of frozen blues to the batter. The baking is very slow at more than an hour as the berries are still thawing out so it needs a long lower temp bake. I like adding so many blues that the batter is only to help hold the blueberries all together. Now THATS a blueberry cake!! At my old job, I would bring in a huge pan of it for everyone and they woudn't last the morning break time. I also plan to add some to my seedless red raspberry jelly, provided this summer I get a decent crop of raspberries. Last year, there were no more than 6 raspberries, and the birds don't bother with them either, so I don't know why they didn't get more berries.

Ken, do you have a specific recipe for the muffin batter for the blueberry cake or would any one do? Do you put some lemon zest in it? Frosting, glace or good enough without either? I have a lot of frozen blueberries and that sounds like a good way to use some, plus, it would be a good cake to make and freeze this year when the berries are in season. I love blueberries. Had a lot of raspberries this past year, but the birds got them all and I didn't get any put up. We were out of state at the wrong time. This year I'm hoping to have a lot of fruit to put in the freezer and to can into preserves and jams. You have blueberry bushes, what type of mulch do you use under them if you use any? I will be planting strawberries and blueberries this year. Hope the persimmons and autumn olives are as prolific as they were this past year. Yep, I know that autumn olives are invasive, but I like my mine. Oh, and I've learned from all of you here to use the roasted nuts. Didn't use to, but now its a must.

You can use the basic Jiffy Mix that's simply flour and some leavening sold at supermarkets. I sprinkle granulated sugar on the batter surface for the blueberry bake. Also add an extra egg or two to the batter to help it stay together. I leave it in the pan for slicing and serving. It remains very moist for days afterwards due to all the blueberries. I don't add any lemon juice or any other flavorings. Because the large amount of berries in the cake, I have to double the sugar amount (muffin recipe on Jiffy Mix box). The wild blues are fine in this, but I would add a bit more. Usually mine is made with the much bigger cultivated types, and they are not quite as flavorful as wild, but in the amount I add, it makes up for the difference. My original blueberry muffin recipe was from my grandfathers bakery in VT, after he left Jordan Marsh in Boston many years before. That department store was famous for their blueberry muffins that were sold in downtown Boston. My grandfathers recipe has one secret ingredient I cannot devulge here, but even without it, they are still very good. My blueberries here are all cultivated bushes my dad planted years ago. Several types and sizes. There are big oak trees nearby that drop all their leaves into the area, and I leave these be as they help hold in moisture during the hot summer months. I could go out and rake a few leaves and still find wet ones even after 45 days of no rain. I use acid fertilizers, Espoma makes HollyTone which is very good, and to help lower pH and raise the acid more in the soil, I also apply elemental sulfur. I grew strawberries in anoher part of the garden, but had to deal with chipmunks and birds stealing the strawberries. The strawberries required constant care for weeding and also for runner control. Strawberr plants are too old after 3 years, so I usually started a new bunch every other year to replace lig leggy old ones. Was always on my knees crawling around the strawberry patch. Added some red painted rocks to act as decoys in the strawberry patch. Also baited rat traps with grapes to catch many chipmunks. The blues also get attacked by birds, especially the bluejays and mocking birds. I could put nets over them, but it would have to be 250 feet long and 50 feet wide to do any good. The netting would also have to be strung further out from the bushes so birds can't just cling to the netting and poke through the holes. Never tried olives here, but have a fig tree that has to be planted outside this year as its just too much for the big 20"x20" pot its in, as its root bound now, and they ae exposed on the soil surface.

bcskye - fellow Hoosier - yes,I think some WOULD rather throw it away than reduce the price. In fact, I asked one time at a Marsh store about brown bananas. The manager was aghast. Oh, no, they certainly would not sully their shelves with inferior produce. When it's taken off the main shelf, they use it for food prep in the deli, or toss it and then raise the price on everything else to cover the difference. (That last clause is my personal assumption, of course)

I bought some small cukes in a bag last spring and went right back to the store as they were all slimy and must hve been sitting there for a long while. I looked at all the rest of the bags (about 15) and all were slimy. Went right to the produce guy and said that they were not even fit to add to a compost pile. Some stores do check their produce for freshness one in a while. When I see a badly bruised item, I leave the bad side up, or put it on another shelf where a customer would not usually see it for sale. The crans I got had been origally in bags, but were removed and picked over for a few bad ones. I had to toss out a few too, so they didn't do that good a job.

Ken, gran2, I agree, the grocers would rather throw produce away than let anyone have it discounted for any reason and I, too, have found absolutely disgusting stuff on the shelves. Now, Meijers use to have a shelved trolly where they would put "past prime" produce at a reduced price. Really good stuff, but not picture perfect. Don't know if they still do it or not because I haven't been up to their store in Greenwood for quite a while. I tend to agree with you, gran2, about Marsh. They are a little snobby.

Ken, tried your blueberry cake last night. It is a keeper. I didn't add enough Splenda and think I should have, as you did suggest. I used mostly frozen wild blueberries with a few of the really bigs "unwild". LOL! Thank you so much for letting me know about it. No, I wouldn't expect you to divulge the family secret, but do make sure to pass it down in your family. My mother didn't and we are very sorry.

Looks like this coming summer I'll be freezing a lot of fruit.

My grandfathers bakery in VT is gone now, and his recipe book, even tough its in a very poor english, is in my cousins posession. My Polish granfather called eggs, 'eks' so most items were described phonetically. I would add more sweetener than what is called for in the Jiffy Mix recipe as they are quite tart. About a cup would do it, taste the batter with the added blues to see. Usually I add about a cup of Splenda and sprinkle the sugar on the top before its baked. Blueberries, like cranberries keep quite well when frozen. I still have a half bag of frozen cultivated blues that were picked maybe 10 years ago, and are not totally dried out and unuseable. Still has plenty of flavor. Adding lemon juice just adds more acid, so thats why I don't feel it necessary. To help the rise a bit more, add a teaspoon of baking soda to the batter before adding the frozen blues. Once the frozen berries are added, the batter almost becomes a very thick dough! This one is hard to know when its baking is done, but because it baked at such a slow low temp, it doesn't usually over cook. I take it out once the top crust is a light to medium brown. That added sugar sprinkle in top makes it really a treat. Splenda can't be used there, so thats about the only sugar I use. Wymans Maine wild blueberries are the most popular. Here, I usually get plenty off my 20+ bushes, unless I give the birds a chance first.