Cranberry Concentrate
Submitted by fox7
Homemade low-calorie cranberry concentrate with lemon, simmered and strained into a tart syrup. Refrigerate or freeze in cubes for instant cranberry drinks all season long.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
40 minREADY
9 hrsSkip the store-bought cranberry juice with its added sugars and mysterious ingredients. Make your own concentrate instead.
Fresh cranberries simmer with water and lemon slices for 30 minutes until the berries burst and release all their tart, ruby-red goodness.
Sweeten it to your taste, strain out the pulp, and you’ve got a vibrant concentrate that’s ready to dilute into juice, stir into cocktails, or splash into sparkling water.
The real genius here is the storage: freeze the concentrate in ice cube trays or cut it into blocks, so you can pop out exactly what you need whenever you want a cranberry drink.
Kitchen Tips
- Use a stainless steel or enamel saucepan, not aluminum. The acid from the cranberries and lemon will react with aluminum and give the concentrate a metallic taste
- Mash the berries firmly through the strainer to extract every bit of flavor and color from the pulp
- Frozen concentrate cubes dropped into sparkling water make a quick, refreshing low-calorie drink anytime
Ingredients
Directions
Combine cranberries, water and lemon slices in a stainless steel or enamel saucepan.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered 30 min.
Add sweetener, stir until dissolved.
Strain, stirring and mashing berries until a fairly dry pulp remains in strainer.
Store concentrate in refrigerator.
OR Freeze in a shallow square pan.
Cut it into 8 equal blocks, then wrap and store them in the freezer.
OR freeze in a plastic ice cube tray that holds 2 cups and makes 16 cubes.
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