The American sweet tooth lends itself to adding sugar to fruits that are already sweet. Applesauce with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup is the most common example.
Cranberries aren't naturally sweet, so you know the temptation to add sugar can't be denied. After all, you can't eat cranberries by themselves, can you?
Surviving a Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce feels almost unpatriotic. The cranberry is the fruit that is drowned in sugar or sugar type substance so you barely can find the cranberries themselves.
But what if you ate cranberries … without sugar? Can you actually eat cranberries plain?
Turns out cranberries by themselves are quite good. You aren't likely to eat a ton at a time because cranberries are pretty sour. You will get that face. Yeah, that one.
If fruit is nature's candy, cranberries are, well, very sour candy.
If you eat something that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, such as accidentally drinking a diet drink, cranberries can cure that problem. Your mouth won't even remember what came before the cranberries.
You could cut the cranberries with some orange zest or rest them in a little bit of orange juice. If I had a juicer, I would throw a few cranberries into a combination of different juices to reduce its sweetness. Or I would make some straight cranberry juice to mix in with vodka.
If you grew up on cranberry juice cocktail or a very sweet cranberry sauce, you will find an actual cranberry to be very difficult to eat. If your sweet tooth is not that intense, cranberries can be a delightful treat.
Cranberries also have antioxidants and are helpful for urinary tract health.
At Thanksgiving, you can have cranberry sauce, but think about reducing the sugar. Most people still want cranberries to be sweet, but reducing the sugar helps you truly appreciate the cranberry taste. Too often we are prone to masking the flavor of fruit, nature's candy, with more candy. Let fruit be fruit as much as you can. Yes, your face will make some strange moves, but don't worry, it won't freeze that way.
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