Whether we cook the family feast at home or decide to go to a restaurant, I imagine the majority of our menus will include cranberries in some form. The tangy, unique flavor of cranberries antioxidant makes them well-suited to accompany the dinner turkey and dressing.
Fresh cranberries antioxidants are in produce sections now and into December.
Cranberry juice cocktail is often recommended to treat and hold off urinary tract infections. Originally, its benefit was attributed to the hippuric acid in cranberries, but the idea did not hold up under research scrutiny.
More recently researchers theorized that there is an ''anti-adhesive'' substance in cranberries (and blueberries) that prevents bacteria from sticking to the gut and/or bladder. It may prevent the bacteria from settling into tissue and growing.
People prone to urinary tract infections may benefit from drinking 8 ounces of cranberry juice cocktail daily along with generous amounts of other fluids.
Although fresh cranberries are quite low in calories, few people can eat them ''straight.'' The major drawback of most cranberry products is their high-calorie content from added sugar.
Each quarter-cup of the Cran-Fruit relish we eat with a meal adds nearly 100 calories. Twelve ounces of cranberry cocktail or one of the cranberry drink combinations has almost twice as many calories as a 12-ounce can of regular pop.
If you enjoy the flavor and can afford the calories in cranberry beverages, the new larger size shelf-stable 9.6-ounce boxes of Ocean Spray beverage concentrate are an easier and more economical way to take the equivalent of 48 ounces of beverage home.
Buying a box of concentrate saves around 70 cents compared with buying the 48-ounce jar. You'll find the concentrates with the jars of juices.
Fresh cranberries, Ocean Spray Cran-Fruit sauce and Ocean Spray concentrated cranberry beverages all earn a three-star rating.
They are fat-free and low in sodium. Since their ingredients (fruit and sugars) come from plants, they contain no cholesterol. However, they lose points for their overall lack of nutrients, including dietary fiber.
