Dried Cranberries

Name: Dried Cranberry — the dried fruit of the American cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon, a small trailing shrub in the blueberry family. Because raw cranberries are intensely tart, virtually all dried cranberries sold commercially are sweetened before or during drying, unlike most other dried fruit.

Description

Cranberries grow on low, wiry, creeping vines native to acidic bogs and marshland across the northeastern United States and parts of Canada, with Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and the Pacific Northwest as the main commercial growing regions. The small, round berries ripen to a deep red in autumn and have a naturally sharp, acidic flavour that makes them far too tart to eat dried on their own.

To make them palatable dried, cranberries are typically sliced, sweetened with added sugar, and then dried — a process sometimes called “craisins” commercially. This is a modern take on preservation rather than a traditional one; historically the berries were more often preserved as sauce or juice, and dried, sweetened cranberries only became widely available once industrial processing made sugar-infusion drying practical.

Main nutrition value

Per 100g, dried cranberries (sweetened):

Dried cranberries carry very little of most vitamins and minerals compared with other dried fruit — unsurprising given how much of the finished product is added sugar — but still contribute a modest amount of fiber and small amounts of manganese and vitamin K from the fruit itself.

How best to be consumed

Because sweetened dried cranberries are closer to a candied fruit than a plain dried one, a small sprinkle (20-30g) over salads, oatmeal, or trail mix goes a long way; they're rarely eaten by the handful the way raisins or apricots are. Unsweetened dried cranberries, though harder to find, are a lower-sugar alternative worth seeking out if the very tart flavour is acceptable.

Overconsumption could cause…

With nearly three-quarters of their weight as sugar — most of it added during processing rather than naturally occurring — dried cranberries are one of the most sugar-dense items in this dried-fruit category, so it's easy to take in a lot of added sugar quickly if they're eaten freely rather than sprinkled sparingly. Their sticky texture can also cling to teeth, adding to the risk of cavities with frequent snacking.

GroupsDried FruitsHeath family (Ericaceae)Low sodiumDried

Made fromCranberry

Related foodsDried BlueberriesCurrantsDried AmlaDried AppleDried ApricotsDried Banana

U.S. Department of Agriculture, FoodData Central — Cranberries, dried, sweetened (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) (FDC ID 171723), 100g portion: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/171723/nutrients Encyclopaedia Britannica — cranberry: https://www.britannica.com/plant/cranberry