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Source for Dried Cranberries Wanted


Shel_B

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Hi Gang - Happy Easter (I think today's Easter Sunday)

I am looking for a source of high quality, organic, unsweetened, dried cranberries that are preferably not treated with any preservatives like sulpher dioxide. I found a source on the net, but they are VERY expensive - about $16.00 for 3-oz including shipping.

Does anyone have a good, reliable source for this item?

Also, anyone have suggestions for drying fresh or frozen cranberries?

Thanks!

shel

Edited by Shel_B (log)

 ... Shel


 

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I purchased from this vendor last year for my holiday baking.

Traina, California organic

And have been quite satisfied.

And have used this vendor many times in the past, although shipping is more because of distance. I have found their products to be excellent.

Tierra organic

It's a toss-up as to which are the best, they are both certified organic and use no preservatives.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Hi Gang - Happy Easter (I think today's Easter Sunday)

I am looking for a source of high quality, organic, unsweetened, dried cranberries that are preferably not treated with any preservatives like sulpher dioxide. I found a source on the net, but they are VERY expensive - about $16.00 for 3-oz including shipping.

Does anyone have a good, reliable source for this item?

Also, anyone have suggestions for drying fresh or frozen cranberries?

Thanks!

shel

I've done quite alot of food drying, but never cranberries. But I would think you'd get a great result using frozen cranberries, thawed with excess moisture removed and then plonked into the dryer. Frozen cranberries are as cheap as chips especially at holiday season....can either be thawed and dried as needed or dried and stored airtight. A suggestion btw would be to soak the thawed berries in pineapple juice before draining and drying. Pineapple juice would cut the bitter edge without making your cranberries taste like Pineberries. :-) I use pineapple juice for drying apples (to prevent discolouration) and you can't taste it in the finished product.

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Hi, what about the bulk dried cranberries at Berkeley Bowl? My husband does the Bowl run, and believe me, if they cost $16 per pound he would never buy them. If those aren't organic (and I don't know if they are) I'm sure you could get organic ones at Whole Foods or Farmer Joe's, also in bulk. The new Farmer Joe's has the largest bulk food selection I have ever seen.

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  • 2 weeks later...

These are sweetened ... I'm looking for unsweetened. I did find one source for unsweetened berries, but they are very expensive ($7.50 for 3-oz + shipping) so that's why I asked here.

scb

you could get a pound of organic dried cranberries at

www.tierrafarm.com

or

www.sunorganicfarm.com

each about $12.00 for a pound (plus shipping)

just google organic dried cranberries.....

 ... Shel


 

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Cranberry Hill Organic has unsweetened cranberries, they were $34.00 per pound.

However, they usually only have them for sale prior to the Christmas holidays as the crop is limited and sells out.

Call and ask if they have any in stock.

In my post on 3/23, I noted Tierra Farm that uses only apple juice as a sweetener, which is similar to how I process them when I do my own drying.

If you don't want to pay that much, you can dry your own in a regular oven.

They must be dipped into boiling water so the skins will crack, prior to going into the dehydrator (I have the large Excalibur units) and without a little apple juice, sugar or corn syrup mixed with the water, they become too leathery for my use in baking.

How to dry cranberries.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Shoreline Fruits, out of Michigan & northern NY have unsweetened regular dried cranberries for $52 for 4 pound box. Their organic sweetened cranberries are only $29 for a 4 pound box, so it looks like unsweetened ones are going to run a lot higher (their sweetened, regular cranberries are only $19 for 4 pounds). I use their dried fruits all the time, since they are a local company to me. When I get the chance, I love to stock up directly from them in northern Michigan; otherwise I have to rely on what Meijer's grocery/dept stores carry.

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