once more; Or close the wall up with our antioxidants!" No, that's not a typo. It's been a bit since I posted, but it's not "Once more into the blog" (though that would have been clever, too). We're talking bog here, cranberry bog, to be exact. True, "cranberries" would have actually fit the meter, but I thought antioxidants sounded better/sillier and didn't give away the fact that this post was about cranberries. This post is about cranberries, by the way.
So as you've all no doubt realized, we're smack dab in the middle of fall. I wrote longingly about the season here.) With this season come some pretty classic and traditional foods - apples, sweet potatoes, all of those foods and fixings we think of as Thanksgiving gets closer. Included among them is the beautiful and tart little cranberry.
Most of us eat cranberries at Thanksgiving paired with lots of sugar, because, let's face it, how many of you have actually just taken a fresh cranberry and popped it your mouth? Wow. Hard to not pucker at that. So whether it's jellied cranberries from the can or whole cranberries with sauce, they're usually still sweetened up quite a bit. I've stopped getting the dried cranberries for my kids because of all the sugar in them. In and of themselves, though, these little guys really pack a nutritional punch.
Cranberry Nutrition
Cranberries seem to help lower levels of LDL cholesterol (the "bad" one). They also contain numerous flavonoids and polyphenols, natural compounds that are quite beneficial to the human body. They are low in sodium and high in potassium, and eating foods with that particular quality is one way to help maintain healthy blood pressure levels. Anthocyanins, other natural compounds in cranberries (which give them their vibrant red color), are seemingly responsible for reducing inflammation, implicated in many of the chronic "lifestyle" and diet-induced diseases from which Americans suffer today.
Cranberries and Me (and hopefully you, too)
Why my sudden fascination with these delightful red berries? Well, I've been juicing a bunch lately, substituting a meal or two or day, and I've discovered a real winner.
We've still been getting apples from our amazing local orchard, Dickie Brothers - they're almost at the end of the season, and the last apples to come off the trees are the Pink Lady apples. Has anyone else had these? Incredible. As sweet and crisp as both Fujis and Honeycrisps, but with this lightness and an almost airiness - just unbelievably delicious.
For demonstration purposes only - the apples from our orchard do not have stickers on them.
Anyway, my favorite juicing book, The Juicing Bible, has a recipe I've been wanting to try, and finally, when Food Lion finally began stocking cranberries about two weeks ago, I had to give it a try.
SuperFresh Cranberry Apple Juice
- 4-5 apples (crisp varieties like Pink Lady, Jonagold, Honeycrisp or Fuji are best)
- 2-3 cups fresh cranberries
- 1" piece of ginger
- Juice them and serve it super cold.
- This juice will KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!
Since I'm something of an extremist, I tend to put even more cranberries and ginger in this juice to really give a lip-puckering tartness (which is still always tempered by the juicy sweetness of those Pink Lady apples)
So, now that they're in season, and will be in the produce for at least another month, go out and get some cranberries - make some juice, or, if you're not the juicing type but are the blending type, throw them in a smoothie. You won't be disappointed!
Do you have a favorite (and nutritious) recipe with cranberries? Please share!!!
Be well, all -
No comments:
Post a Comment