Holland & Barrett Dried Cranberries 700g

Holland & Barrett Dried Cranberries

Famed for their festive flavour, cranberries are omnipresent on our plates throughout December, spooned onto our roast turkey, topping posh pork pies and stirred into mincemeat.

But cranberries are for life not just for Christmas, which is why Holland & Barrett stay well stocked in these tangy and delicious whole dried cranberries all year round.

The fruit of the Vaccinium macrocarpon, a member of the heather family, the cranberry is actually a relative of bilberries, blueberries and lingonberries.

Thriving in boggy wetland conditions, cranberries are mainly cultivated in the cooler states of North America and Canada, where it is an especially popular ingredient in home cookery.

Sharp and sour, cranberries are not often eaten raw. Cooked down into a sweet sauce, juiced or dried, however, they make a delicious treat that is highly versatile, at any time of year.

Cranberry for vitamins and fibre

The cranberry is widely considered to be a bit of a superfood.

So sipping cranberry juice or adding dried cranberry into your healthy bakes is a great way to gently boost your daily vitamin intake.

Suitable for vegan diets, Holland & Barrett dried, sweetened cranberries are full of fibre, making them a sensible, gut friendly snack, eaten by the handful or mixed into a breakfast granola with low fat yoghurt or kefir.

It is however important to be aware that, as can be the case with most fruits, eating dried cranberries to excess can upset a delicate stomach.

Baking with dried cranberries

While there are no shortage of dried cranberry recipes available online, we think that adding a handful into your favourite healthy bakes is a creative way to add an effortless touch of zing. After all, who wants the same old cake every time?

Stirring dried cranberries into a traditional fruit cake gives it a fresh, modern twist. And cranberry cookies, dried berries simply sprinkled into the dough in the place of raisins, makes wholesome oatmeal shine.

An excellent companion to dark chocolate, sharp, slightly sweet dried cranberries can cut through the richness of gooey brownies. Thrown into a low fat, yoghurt-based dark chocolate muffin they are part of an indulgently delicious but not so naughty on-the-go breakfast too.

Savoury cranberry treats

Most of the ways we traditionally enjoy cranberries are sweet, packed full of sugar to counterbalance their berry tang.

However, the simple addition of dried cranberries to a savoury dish can elevate it to the next level with no need to overload on refined sugar.

In fact, back in 1995, such was the popularity of chef Delia Smith that sales of cranberries rocketed by 200% after she included them in a duck recipe!

Famously turkey’s number one teammate, cranberry is a perfect partner for pork too. Added to your stuffing and rolled into a tenderloin it gives a simple roast style. As part of a side dish cranberry can really show its colours, adding a ruby boost to roasted sweet potato or a wild rice salad.

Dried cranberries can also be baked into bread. Whether you bake by hand from scratch, use a ready mix or bake in a bread machine, adding a scoop of cranberries to your mix (via the timed fruit and nut dispenser in a machine), perhaps alongside walnuts, can make a vibrant change from traditional fruit loaves.