by David Maciel
Sponsored by Ray’s Food Place, Furber Plaza 
In November comes my favorite holiday Thanksgiving.
But then comes the task of preparing & cooking the turkey so it comes out tender & juicy.
The best way to ensure this is with a brine.
Wet brine is a saltwater solution used to submerge the turkey for 12 to 24 hours before cooking. If you are concerned with sodium intake brine does not increase sodium in the meat

How it works: The salt solution tenderizes the meat by causing the muscle fibers to absorb water through osmosis. This process expands the muscle cells, which helps the turkey retain more moisture during roasting
Benefits: This results in a noticeably juicier, more tender, and more flavorful turkey. Most places that sell turkeys have prepackaged brine mixes that only require water. Here’s my favorite brine recipe.

Apple & Citrus Turkey Brine
• 14-pound Turkey
• 2 gallons liquid (apple cider is my preferred choice; water also works)
• 1 C coarse kosher salt or good quality coarse sea salt
• 1 C brown sugar
• 8 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 2 oranges, halved and juiced
• 2 lemons, halved and juiced
• 4 TBS peppercorns
• 4 bay leaves
• Handful of fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage, and parsley.

Instructions

• Transfer about 8 cups of cider or water to a saucepan. Add salt and sugar. Bring it to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Let it go, stirring occasionally, until the salt and sugar have dissolved. When done, set it aside and let the liquid cool completely. (You can speed this up by adding ice.)
• Pour the cooled brine to your brining container. Add the rest of the cider along with the garlic cloves, herbs, and peppercorns. Squeeze the juice from the oranges and lemons into the pot (don’t worry about the pits) and place the squeezed orange and lemon into the pot as well. Slowly and carefully submerge the turkey into the brine (careful, the liquid level will rise). Cover and refrigerate for an hour per pound.
• When brining time is up, carefully transfer the turkey to the sink. (I line mine with plastic grocery bags to try to keep things more sanitary. You could also use plastic wrap.) Carefully but thoroughly rinse the turkey with low water pressure to avoid splashback. This will rinse off excess salt. If you skip rinsing, you will end up with your turkey too salty.
• After the rinse, pat the turkey dry with paper towels and transfer it to a cooking vessel. You can now prepare it and season it as you normally would.

A dedicated resident of Cloverdale, Alan Furber was a beloved father, grandfather, and a man who believed things simply “had to be done”, even if it meant climbing to the highest rung on an orchard ladder to clean a gutter or spending hours clearing brush.

For fifteen years, he taught woodshop at Brookhaven Junior High in Sebastopol, introducing countless students to the smell of sawdust and the pride of crafting a pig-shaped cutting board. His creativity spanned beyond the classroom; he was a self-taught lathe turner, a precise painter, who never used blue tape, and a marching band trombone player who kept his musty, worn instrument case handy.

His dedication to Cloverdale was deep-rooted. His great grandparents moved here in 1879. He and his brother Craig and parents Helen and Alan Sr developed family land for both housing and the Furber Ranch Plaza shopping center, and he consistently supported the town’s entrepreneurs, purposefully buying from local businesses. He also served on the board of the History Center, teaching visitors about the community’s past.

Alan was an avid outdoorsman, a fixture on local trails, hiking 3-4 miles several times a week. It was a routine everyone in town seemed to know. He loved fishing, hunting, and waterskiing. He made sure his kids and grandkids learned the thrill of popping out of the water, or holding on to the inner tube handles with all their might. He also shared his passion for the ocean, diving for abalone and treating the family to delicious appetizers.

He was the guy who always showed up—for soccer games, speech tournaments, and every performance or show his grandchildren, Hazel, Avy, and Zac, performed in. He taught his family everything from how to fix a clogged sink to how to drive a stick shift. He loved to dance, always with a big smile on his face, a joy that was reflected on his partner’s. A master of the grill, he could barbeque anything and his signature potluck item was tr-tip served on toothpicks, making him instantly popular. When he truly loved a meal, his highest praise was the simple and understated “pretty fair”.

His legacy is carried on by his beloved daughters Amy and Andrea and their husbands Jim and Casey and his cherished grandchildren, Zac, Avy, and Hazel. He loved us, and we loved him, and he will be fiercely missed by his family, friends, and the Cloverdale community he helped build.

We will celebrate his life on December 13, 2025, at The Citrus Fair Auditorium at 11:00am. Please join us for memories, food and fellowship. He’d want it that way.

In lieu of flowers, support local Cloverdale businesses, or donate to the Cloverdale History Center 215 N Cloverdale Blvd, or Shriners Children’s Northern California, Office of Philanthropy, 2425 Stockton Blvd. Sacramento, CA 95817