Homemade Dried Cranberries

If you think dried cranberries are hard to make, and if you also think you need to put a lot of sugar in them, re-think and try this homemade dried cranberry recipe!

I was one of those people who thought it was too difficult. However, I re-investigated it and started looking into making my own dried cranberries.

It was intimidating as cranberries are small. To dry them, I needed to open them up so the water in them could evaporate. That must be a lot of work, I thought.

Commercial dried cranberries are very sweet, and as cranberries are tart, I knew they must require a lot of sweeteners to make them edible.

To learn about this, I started to make my own, and it turned out I was wrong about a lot!

Making homemade dried cranberries is manageable. Once you get the hang of how to open them, it doesn’t take that long. 

To let the water evaporate, I both smash and cut them in half. Both methods take the same amount of time, but cutting them in half is easier and faster for drying. I usually prefer this method if I want to use dried cranberries for making trail mix or as a healthy snack.

However, if I want to use them in energy bars, I like to smash and dry them. This method gives the cranberries a more meaty texture that’s perfect for what I want. 

As for the sweetener, for one pound (0.5 kg) of cranberries I only use 3 TBSP of maple syrup. You can certainly adjust the sweetness however you like, but this is a very reasonable amount and they taste great this way.

To make dried cranberries that are not too dry, coating them with a little bit of oil is essential. 

With the combination of maple syrup, oil, and a pinch of salt this dried cranberry recipe never goes wrong.

Cranberries are now in season, so why not take advantage of it and make your own. If you are ready, let me show you how!

Ingredients:

Note: feel free to use this as a guideline and adjust for the amount you want to make.

1. 1 Lbs (0.5 kg) of fresh cranberries, organic non-gmo is preferable
2. 2-3 TBSP (30-45 g)
3. 1 TBSp (15 g) good oil. I use olive oil
4. ½ tsp (2.5 g) good salt

Instructions:

1. Smash or cut the cranberries.
2. Add olive oil, maple syrup, and salt.
3. Mix well, and spread them in a single layer on a sheet pan (with a making mat if you like). 
4. Bake at the lowest temperature your oven has, or use a dehydrator if you prefer. I use my oven as a dehydrator as I can set it at very low temps.
5. Bake or dehydrate until dry. It takes about 10-12 hours. You can tell they are dry when they don’t have anymore water when you squeeze them.
6. Once they are dry, store them in glass containers.
7. Enjoy!
   

   halved cranberries

   

   smashed cranberries

   

   the halved ones are faster to dry

   

   store them in a glass jar

Have you made homemade dried cranberries before? Share it with me–I’d like to hear about it!