CranberRy
comfort
Cranberries grow throughout Clatsop County.
Cooking a cranberry pot roast
BY DAVID CAMPICHE
P
umpkins and cranberries high-
lighted that fi rst Thanksgiving
in 1621. After the devastation
of scurvy, when many pilgrims
died, a celebration was in order
for the surviving few. As the story goes,
native people brought bright red cranber-
ries as part of the feast. If it took a sound
measure of sweetener to transform the tart,
meaty berry, so be it! Vitamin C carried the
day.
Those fi rst immigrants survived, proba-
bly because of the assistance they received
from the native Wampanoag people. The
berry was called “sassamenesh” by the
Algonquin, another east coast tribe. I’m
proud to say I carry some of their DNA.
See Page 20
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
The small red berries are especially popular during the holiday season.
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