OBJECTIVE

Students will know cranberries grow in Massachusetts 

Students will taste fresh cranberries, dried cranberries and cranberry juice

Students will reflect on how they feel about a food they have tasted

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What is a native fruit?

What foods and flavors do I like?

MATERIALS

• Cranberry Tasting Worksheet
• Cranberry sauce recipe for students to take home
• “I Tried It” stickers
• Bowl for compost
• Crayons or markers for filling out Cranberry Tasting Worksheet
• Slow cooker
• Spoon for stirring cranberry sauce ingredients
• Little cups for juice
• Cranberry tasting:
• Local fresh cranberries
• Cranberry juice
• Dried cranberries
• Cranberry sauce ingredients:
  • 12oz cranberries
  • ½ cup orange juice
  • ½ cup water
  • ⅓ cup maple syrup
  • 1 cinnamon stick

PROCEDURE

Introduction:

Ask students if they know any fruit that grows in the wild here without a farmer planting it. Maybe they have a connection from something in their yard or on a nature trail they have taken before. (Wild strawberries, wine berries, blueberries, beach plums, grapes and cranberries!)

Tell students cranberries have grown wild and with the help of farmers in Massachusetts for a very long time and are part of what makes our state unique. We call them a native fruit because they grow here naturally even before farmers helped them grow. Native plants love the places they grow and help the animals, other plants and insects that are also native.

Show the students a cranberry and ask if anyone has tasted one before and wants to describe the flavor. 

Tell students they will be trying cranberry juice, dried cranberries and fresh ones to explore this fruit that is unique to where we live. 

Tell the students where the fresh cranberries came from and any information you have on the farm or farmer.

Activity

Pass out tasting cups and begin the taste test.

Encourage students to try by smelling, licking and holding if they are hesitant to eat what you are tasting. Also remind them to have reasonable reactions and respect that different people have different food preferences. 

Have students record how they felt after tasting each cranberry item on the cranberry tasting sheet

Have students compost anything they didn’t finish.

Wrap Up/Assessment: 

Wash hands and make cranberry sauce as a whole class and have it cook in the slow cooker. Each student could add a few berries and then watch the teacher add maple syrup, orange juice and cinnamon. Have students stir all ingredients.  Invite students to smell cinnamon and taste syrup. 

Give each student a copy of the cranberry sauce recipe and give teacher cups and spoons for kids to try sauce when it is done.

Variation:

• Instead of making sauce as a class you could use one of the resources from Ocean Spray like the Cranberry Crossword, Cranberry Word Search or Bog Squad Matching.
• Instead of making sauce, make cranberry tea by boiling fresh cranberries and adding a splash of orange juice. You can put the cranberries straight into a kettle for easy clean up. Let it steep for at least 15 minutes for a strong cranberry flavor.