Craisins: Are They Healthy?

Many of my clients who are trying to lose a few pounds are telling me about how wonderful these cranberry raisins are. But are they really worth it?

Answer: It is true cranberries are almost a perfect diet food, as they are high nutrition while being lowcarb, low calorie, and high fiber. Unfortunately cranberries are so tart that most people don't like them "in the raw" form. As a consequence, most commercial cranberry products are loading them with sugar. This is especially true of dried cranberries, and that changes them from a very low carb fruit to a high carb choice.

Now, some people tolerate sugar better than others. For those people, the calories are probably more important. But for people who do well on low carb diets, avoiding extra sugar is one of the most important goals.

That's actually what inspired me to figure out a way to try to make dried cranberries using artificial sweetener. It turns out that due to the soluble fiber in them, which attracts water, it was a bit tricky to figure out how to do it. But I came up with a way that works, and it isn’t difficult but very time consuming.

Sugar-Free Dried Cranberries

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 6-8 hours!

Ingredients:

    1 bag (12 oz) fresh whole cranberries

    1 Cup sugar substitute

    1/2 C water

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 200 F.

2. Put cranberries in large skillet, and pick through to remove soft and/or brown ones.

3. If sweetener is powdered, dissolve in water. Pour over cranberries and stir.

4. Heat on medium high until cranberries pop, about 4-5 minutes. Stir every minute or two. When all seem popped, turn off the burner and let them cool for 10 minutes.

5. Squish them down with the back of a large spoon. Don't worry if it seems they are melding together. Let cool another 5 minutes or so.

6. Cover baking sheet with three layers of paper towels and a piece of parchment paper.

7. Spread cranberries on the parchment. Have faith -- they will mostly "individuate" again as they dry. If unpopped ones remain, squish them down now.

8. Put in oven and turn heat down to 150 F.

9. In 2-4 hours, replace parchment and flip paper towels over. (You don't have to do this, but it speeds up the process.)

10. Start checking after 6 hours. Total time depends upon humidity and other factors. It usually takes me about 8 hours. It also depends on whether you want to dry them to the point where they still have some "give" or whether you like them "crispier".

11. Separate them, and store covered (zip-type bags work well).

The whole recipe has 25 grams of effective carbohydrate and 16 grams of fiber.