Surprising Uses For Cranberries
Cranberries are one of the simplest pleasures out there for those with a taste for tart, delicious fruits. So sweet that they’re often likened to candy, these berries are actually packed with antioxidants that are wonderful for removing toxins from your body and maintaining a healthy homeostatic state. Grown in cranberry bogs across the country, cranberries are particularly popular in the Southwest due to the favorable temperatures the region experiences all year round. With their abundant supply, delicious flavor and relatively low expense, cranberries are a perfect addition to the recipes of online cooking school students. If you’re looking for ways to incorporate these delicious fruits into your cooking, try out one or more of these ideas:
Flawless additions to nearly perfect drinks
As Saving Dinner has pointed out, you can use cranberries to take your favorite drinks from good to great with minimal effort. Taking one third of a cup of cranberries and adding it to your milkshake or smoothie will give you an interesting and tart burst of flavor. Best of all, it won’t necessarily have too powerful an effect on the other flavors in the beverage. Similarly, mashing cranberries into cocktails that are too sweet can add a pleasant bitterness that your taste buds are sure to welcome.
Candied cranberries as a garnish
If you’re looking for a fun, flavorful and simple way to make your next dessert plate stand out, try adding candied cranberries as a garnish. Bon Appetit recommends simply bringing even parts water and sugar to a boil and stirring it until the sugar dissolves. Pour raw cranberries into the mixture and cook for several minutes until they’re evenly coated in the syrup. From there, refrigerate the cranberries for eight hours, drain them from the syrup and coat them in a thin layer of granulated sugar. These make a perfect garnish for cakes, pies or even appetizer plates.
Adding sweetness to your vegetable dishes
Believe it or not, cranberries can actually be revolutionary in the way that you and your family consume vegetables. Next time you’re making a salad to go along with dinner, try shaking one quarter to one half of a cup of cranberries into the mix before you toss it. You’ll be surprised at how well this tart surprise is received, and it requires almost no additional effort!
