Cranberry syrup is a sweet, vitamin-rich product that can be prepared at home from fresh or frozen cranberries. It is very easy to prepare, but extremely healthy and tasty product. It can be consumed as an independent dish, but you can also prepare all kinds of drinks and sweet dishes based on it. What useful properties and contraindications does cranberry syrup have, how exactly to cook it and what foods to add to, can be found in this article.
Useful Properties
Cranberry is a marsh berry, which is not only remembered for its unusual sweet and sour taste, but also has many useful properties. It contains simple sugars and several organic acids, dyes, tannins and pectins, vitamin compounds, fiber (dietary fiber), salts, and mineral elements. And also in cranberry berries there are substances – natural antibiotics, so it is useful to consume them in autumn and winter as a good natural cold remedy. Pectins, which are part of cranberries, are able to remove heavy and radioactive metals, cleansing the body of these harmful compounds.
Cranberry berries are also valued for their flavonoids; fresh fruits contain anthocyanins, leucoanthocyanins, catechins and triterpenoids. Mineral elements in them are represented mainly by phosphorus, sodium and potassium. There are also iron, manganese, zinc, aluminum, copper and other microelements important for human life activity, which are no less important for the normal course of processes in the body.
The result of regular use of the product is a significant improvement in appetite due to increased production of gastric and pancreatic juice. It can also be used with low acidity of gastric juice, as well as with some diseases of the gastrointestinal tract associated with this disorder, for example, with gastritis with low acidity.
In addition to a beneficial effect on the digestive organs, cranberry syrup can help with a variety of diseases – respiratory, inflammatory, autoimmune, infectious, ulcerative, as well as vitamin deficiency, in particular, vitamin deficiency caused by a sharp lack of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and the disease caused by it – scurvy.
The use of cranberry syrup allows you to remove excess fluid from the body, which prevents the formation or reduces existing edema, prevents the formation of blood clots in the vessels, the development of atherosclerosis, stroke, heart attacks, and even the occurrence of malignant tumors.
Substances contained in cranberries strengthen bone tissue and fight the deposition of excess fat in the body, strengthen and sharpen memory. They help to cope with chronic stress or constant nervous tension, help you fall asleep faster and make sleep more restful, longer and more productive.
Recipe
Cranberry is an inhabitant of the northern European and Asian regions, as well as the countries of North America. The population of these territories has long actively used its berries for food, both fresh and processed. For example, Europeans and Asians prepared food and folk medicines with cranberries, and North American Indians made jam from it with the addition of maple juice and honey.
Today, cranberry syrup can be purchased in supermarkets or grocery stores, where it is sold in glass bottles of various sizes. But, having fresh or frozen berries, sugar and cold water available, you can try to cook it at home. These ingredients are included in the classic version of the cranberry syrup recipe, but there are also other variations, according to which freshly squeezed juice or finely chopped citrus zest – orange or lemon, white or red wine, oriental spices (cinnamon, vanilla, ginger) are added to it and other components. Each of them gives the finished product its own peculiar taste and delicate aroma.
Cooking cranberry syrup in the classic version is very simple. To do this, you need to take cranberries and sugar in equal parts, that is, for example, 1 kg each. The cooking algorithm can be described as follows:
- Sort out the berries, separate those unsuitable for consumption: damaged, rotten, too small, green. Put the rest in a colander, wash under water, leave for 2 minutes to glass the water.
- Pour prepared cranberries into a bowl. It should be enameled, not aluminum – you can’t cook in metal utensils, since cranberries contain a lot of aggressive organic acids that will react with metal during the cooking process.
- Pour the cranberries with cold water so that it completely covers them, but there was not too much of it.
- Put on the stove and let the mass boil.
- After the berries in the boiling liquid begin to burst, and this will happen after about 10 minutes, cook for another 10 minutes, then remove from heat.
- After cooling, strain the cranberry mass through a fine-mesh sieve.
- Pour the juice back into the pan, add sugar and cook over low heat until it begins to thicken.
- Remove from fire, cool.
You can use ready-made cranberry syrup immediately, with hot tea, for example. The main volume can be bottled and sealed with lids. After putting them in storage in a cold and dark place: in a pantry, cellar or basement.
Противопоказания
If you use cranberry syrup moderately, then it is not contraindicated for healthy people. Only its use in excessive quantities or too frequent is harmful. However, as with most foods, cranberry syrup has a number of restrictions on its use. For example, it should not be drunk or eaten by people who have kidney stones or sand, since cranberries contain oxalic acid, from which oxalates are formed, and by diabetics, since it is very sweet and can cause a sharp increase in sugar content in blood.
With individual intolerance to any substances that make up the chemical composition of cranberries, it is also worth finding some other product with similar properties and taste. It is also necessary to refrain from drinking cranberry syrup during the period of therapy with blood thinners, which can lead to accidental bleeding, as well as for those people who are allergic to the drug aspirin.
Cooking application
Cranberry syrup in a small amount can be poured into hot and cold drinks. For example, to quench your thirst, you need to dilute a little syrup in cool mineral water, and in order to keep warm on a cold day – in boiling water or tea. On its basis, you can cook delicious jellies, compotes or kissels. They can only be made from cranberry syrup or with the addition of syrups from other fruits or berries.
Cranberry syrup is a great ingredient to add to desserts like homemade ice cream, baked goods like muffins, cakes and pastries. They can pour over pancakes or toast. It can also be added to alcoholic drinks, such as liqueurs, vodka, it can also be mixed with wine or added as an ingredient in an alcoholic or non-alcoholic cocktail. Hot water with cranberry syrup and honey of any kind can be used for common colds and other respiratory diseases to reduce fever and quickly restore strength and health.
Despite the fact that cranberry syrup is sweet, it can be used to prepare sauces with a peculiar taste for meat and poultry. For example, such a sauce is served in America and England for Christmas with a turkey, which is considered a good tradition.
Conclusion
Cranberry syrup is not a very common and well-known dessert product in our country, but, nevertheless, it is very useful and original. It is easy to cook at home from berries and ordinary sugar collected by oneself in nature or purchased from a retail network. It can become an important component of various dishes, everyday and festive drinks, giving them a unique taste and aroma.
