Organic dried cranberries from Dragon Superfoods — tart, chewy, and a genuinely useful thing to have in a cupboard for cooking.
The honest bit first, because it is the part nobody says. Fresh cranberries are so intensely sour as to be almost inedible raw — they contain very little sugar and a great deal of acid. Which means dried cranberries are, essentially without exception, sweetened: the fruit is infused with sugar or juice concentrate during drying, because unsweetened dried cranberry is unpalatable to most people. Check the ingredient list on any pack, including this one, and expect to find a sweetener there. Dried cranberries are closer to a confection than to a dried fruit like a fig or an apricot, and it is worth knowing that before treating them as a health food.
And on the urinary tract claim, which follows cranberries everywhere. There is real evidence here, and it is more specific than the marketing suggests. Cochrane reviews have found that cranberry products reduce the risk of recurrent urinary tract infections in women — but the trials used juices and capsules with defined proanthocyanidin content, taken at a consistent daily dose. Sweetened dried cranberries are not that: the PAC content is not standardised, the dose is unknown, and a large part of what you are eating is sugar. Do not treat a handful of these as a UTI preventive, and if you want that effect, use a product with a stated PAC dose. The EU authorises no health claim for cranberry.
One real caution: cranberry has documented interactions with warfarin, and case reports of raised INR. If you take warfarin or another vitamin K antagonist, mention regular cranberry consumption to your doctor or pharmacist.
Where they genuinely earn their place: in cooking, where their acidity does something no raisin can. Scattered through a grain salad or a pilaf; in stuffing; in scones and flapjacks; alongside cheese; simmered into a sauce for roast meat. They are the tart element in a dish, and that is worth having.
Available at Só Verde, an organic concept store in Foz, Porto.