A feast of cranberries

Designing your own cranberry creations

Considering their health benefits and their succulent, tart flavor, cranberries ought to be a regular item on everyone’s table. The problem, of course, is access to fruit after the short holiday season—fresh berries are rarely available after early January, and most grocery stores don’t carry cranberries year-round.

There are, however, simple ways to keep cranberries in your kitchen. Freezing bags of berries is ideal if you have a chest freezer. Simply put them in a plastic freezer bag. Just before you’re ready to use the cranberries, prepare them as described in “Preparing cranberries” on page 48. Frozen berries keep well for up to a year, and you can use them in virtually all ways you would fresh berries: in breads, muffins, pancakes, sauces, preserves, syrups, and drinks. A handful makes a lovely addition to whole-grain pilafs or an appealing, tart counterpoint to sweet, starchy vegetables like winter squash, yams, and sweet potatoes.

You can also puree and freeze cranberry concentrate in ice-cube-size portions. These are convenient if you want to make a cup or two of cranberry drinks. (See recipe on page 50.) It’s also easy to can cranberries; just follow safe canning procedures in any general cookbook.

Theoretically you can dry cranberries in a food dehydrator, too. But many cooks find the fruit dried this way is tough and unpalatable. Commercially dried berries are available, and they have a pleasing, chewy texture. The only problem is their high sugar content (it’s the first ingredient listed on labels). To avoid the heavy sugar dose, you can presoak the dried berries before adding to recipes. Or use them in granola, oatmeal, breads and muffins—dishes you would add some sugar to anyway. Generally you can reduce the recipe’s sugar by about one tablespoon for every one-fourth to one-half cup of dried, sugared berries you add.