unsweetened dried cranberries?

Question

Hi Everyone! 

I really love dried cranberries, but they all seem so sweet to me. Have any of you ever encountered unsweetened (or even less-sweetened) dried cranberries? I realize they would be very tart, but I'm quite curious to try them anyway. Thoughts?

Answer

unfortunately, completely unsweetened dried cranberries aren't available for retail purchase by consumers - you can only get them directly from orchards or industry suppliers if you're in the food manufacturing business.

the organic ones that are sweetened with fruit juice are usually less cloying than the conventional...and as gg said, you can make your own.

Answer

I'm puckering at just the sight of the words "unsweetened dried cranberries".

Answer

A bitter reminder of the Trader Joe's unsweetened cranberry juice just flashed before my very eyes. Does anyone know if perhaps Trader Joe's has unsweetened cranberries for the OP ?? They'd be found right near the nuts aisle of course.

Answer

Agree on the craisin far-too-sweetness. 

I did try dehydrating my own this past fall but it involved much more finicky processing than I wanted (pissy slicing, very controlled and yet unpredictable pre-boiling/cooking, etc.) and results were inconsistent and unsatisfying. The tartness was certainly present in my unsweetened versions but the texture wasn't pleasing like commercial craisins (too chewy/jerkylike/sometimes crunchy). I was so bummed, I gave up after four pounds and four different configurations (and I love dehydrating).

Shoreline Fruit seems your best bet -- except they don't sell their unsweetened craznos online. The second link gives phone # and e-mail, perhaps they could guide you to a retail source or make an arrangement. Good luck!

http://www.shorelinefruit.com/unsweetened-sliced.html
http://www.cherrybayorchards.com/our-story/faq.html

Answer

Thanks, y'alls!

Answer

I like Eden Food's dried cranberries, and blueberries and cherries. The cranberries are sweetened with apple juice. They taste great just the way they are. But when I use them for baking, I add them to the maple syrup/vanilla/apple juice etc. liquid mix, while I put the dry ingredients together, and it seems to mellow the bitterness or tartness. What's great about these dried fruits is they're big, plump, and moist. They really taste the best of all I've tried.

Answer

how about freeze dried ones. A different thing texturally, but unsweetened

Answer

I dried cranberries in my dehydrator but if your oven goes down to 150F you could do them in it, keeping a close eye on them. Unless you grow your own cranberries you won't save money but you'll end up with what you want.

Directions here: http://eatingfloyd.blogspot.com/2010/12/of-cranberries-clementines.html

Answer

in baked recipes that call for dried, i just chop some fresh ones in the food pro and use those in the batter. there is always sufficient sugar in the finished product and i like the bits of super-tart in there as contrast.

Answer

You can buy a pound of them at Amazon. They're not cheap, but they're awfully good for lots of cooking, baking.

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unsweetened dried cranberries?

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