Sugar Free Dried Cranberries – Winning the Low Carb Craisin Wars

Posted by on September 14, 2014 in Condiments | Dressings | Dips, Easy Button Low Carb Keto Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Low Carb Keto Recipes | 8 comments

Sugar Free Dried Cranberries – Winning the Low Carb Craisin Wars
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It doesn’t take long to know that fruit often represents conflict and challenges in a low carb keto diet. Most fruit is pretty high in carbs, relatively speaking. But if you crave fruit on your low carb diet, Fluffy Chix Cook has a solution. Low carb, sugar free cranberries (really no-sugar-added-cranberries) add great fruit flavor and chewy texture to your diet. Low carb dried cranberries taste delicious in salads, on sandwiches, with proteins and side dishes. Enjoy sugar free craisins, again!

 

 

 

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We’ve been enjoying low carb homemade cranberry juice and low carb, sugar free dried cranberries, craisins by any other name, for more years than we can remember. In the early days of the low carb Craisin Wars on LCF (a low carb support board), we went through incredible gyrations to get the perfect sugar free cranberry or craisin: cutting cranberries in half or quarters, oy veh (very time consuming), especially dear Kevin, an LCF dynamite cook who helped so many with his recipes. Kevin is cooking for the Lord, now and we all still feel his absence. He held a prime position in the low carb Craisin Wars.

But it was through sheer accident, I stumbled upon this current method, when I was going through  chemotherapy. I had such bad UTI infections and needed to drink cranberry juice. I knew I didn’t want to drink the high sugar kind and couldn’t have the concentrated stuff, so I made homemade juice from fresh or frozen cranberries (available year round). The docs don’t want you taking any antioxidants, such as concentrated cranberries, during chemo. They think the antioxidants make the cancer resistant to the chemo. So homemade it was going to be! I was surprised how low carb the juice and berries turned out—not even kicking me out of ketosis when consumed in moderation. I would steep berries in water and strain the liquid, using the juice and then use the cranberries to make low carb cranberry sauce and low carb chutney. But you only need “so much” sauce and chutney! I decided I would try dehydrating them and see where it led.

 

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Learn More About Cranberry Nutrition

Fresh or frozen (find them with the frozen fruits) cranberries are naturally very low carb and high fiber. Cranberries are packed with nutrition: lots of Vitamins C and K, among other nutrients. Cranberries also help fight urinary tract infectiong (UTIs) by preventing e Coli, one of the main bacteria that cause UTIs, from adhering to the walls of the urinary tract. Although we limit fruit in our low carb keto way of eating (WOE) because of carbs and fructose, cranberries are one fruit to try to keep in your diet—if the handy blood sugar meter allows.

 

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Through all the trials during the Craisin Wars, we never figured out that adding oil keeps berries moist—we knew glycerin was always an option, but since some think the carbs in glycerin do affect our blood sugar, that wasn’t an option for us. Then I ran across a beautiful low carb sugar free craisin post by Carolyn Ketchum of All Day I Dream About Food. Carolyn broke the cranberry code! She started adding oil to her split cranberries, resulting in moist, plump, dried, sugar free cranberries. Can I get a, “Hallelujah!” please? So be sure to fly on over and check out Carolyn’s Craisin Recipe! She does things a bit differently and I haven’t tried it, but her sugar free cranberries and recipe look amazing.

 

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(Click on image to order Wilderness Naturals Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil from Fluffy Chix trusted Amazon Partner)

 

I began adding just a teaspoon of expeller pressed coconut oil, a highly saturated fat able to withstand moderate adversity without getting rancid. And since there is so much air flowing over the berries for a long time, I didn’t want the oil to get rancid. The coconut oil did the trick and the best part is, it didn’t taste like coconut! The resulting berries were definitely more moist and retained nice chew, even a little fluffiness! Score!

So don’t feel deprived because you lack low carb, sugar free dried cranberries! Embrace your kitchen! Make them yourself. So easy. So lovely. Enjoy them legally low carb keto and diabetic friendly.

Dehydrating Note If you don’t have a dehydrator (you can find them at thrift stores for $5-$10 bucks) or purchase one online through Fluffy Chix Cook’s trusted Amazon partner, simply dry the berries on a parchment or nonstick aluminum foil lined baking sheet on the lowest setting on your oven for much less time—start checking at about 1 hour. They will probably be done in 1 to 11/2 hours. You can also prop your oven door open with a wooden spoon of an aluminum foil “snake” to lower the temperature even further. You want a low temp to preserve the moisture and keep them from turning into little hard, crackly, shards.

 

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(Click on image to order Nesco American Harvest Food Dehydrator FD-1018P-1000 Watt from Fluffy Chix trusted Amazon Partner)

 

Fluffy Chix Cook recommend a couple of different brands of dehydrators based purely on the amount of food you want to regularly dehydrate. We’ve used a Nesco American Harvest Food Dehydrator for years and its paid for itself many times over! We routinely make crispy nuts (of all varieties),  zucchini, yellow squash red bell peppers, green bell peppers, green onions, basil, parsley, cilantro and mint, sugar free cranberries, kale, radish, and spinach chips, sugar free berry fruit leathers, and jerkies of all varieties. The Nesco American Harvest FD-1018P-1000 Watt costs about $133, on sale. It will likely out-live the Fluffys and go on to serve the next generation. But it doesn’t stop me salivating after the king of dehydrators, Excalibur.

 

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(Click on image to order Excalibur 3926TB Food Dehydrator from Fluffy Chix trusted Amazon Partner)

 

Excalibur 3926TB costs about $100 more than the American Harvest dehydrator, but it also has WAY more drying space and I think it has a superior (more refined) method of drying. Many of my friends have the Excalibur (especially the ones who garden and have to handle so much produce) and rave about how well it works. It’s absolutely divine for jerky, a Fluffy favorite. The main drawback of Excalibur is real estate. The dehydrator is big and takes up a lot of kitchen real estate!

Hope you will give sugar free cranberries a try, then come back and leave a comment to tell us what you thought!? We think you will be so thrilled to have sugar free craisins back in your life; and at only 2g of total carbs per 2 tablespoon serving, that’s ginormous!

Find more Fluffy Chix Cook recipes in our Recipe Index! And learn how to make homemade sugar free cranberry juice from Fluffy Chix Cook’s Archive Recipe Files.

 

 

 

 

 

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Copyright © 2014 Fluffy Chix Cook. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

8 Comments

  1. I read about your cranberry juice a long time ago and forgot to make it. CJ is an old favorite of mine. Craisins too! Yes, I will be making your SF craisins (oven method).

    Thank you, Susie!

    Hugs,
    Alice

    • Alice I think you will like both. Taste and test. I prefer super tart stuff, so don’t sweeten the juice at all and only slightly sweeten the craisins!! They are wonderful in my salads!! And in Brussels sprouts with bacon, onions, craisins and pecans!

  2. Yummy-neess abounds over here. I love the addition of coconut oil. I will definitely give this a try!

    • Hope you love them! Carolyn had a great idea about adding oil to them! xoxo.

  3. Something I thought of today, Susie, is making a warmed/melted-ish brie that is topped by toasted pecans, these craisins, and some SF orange marmalade (or something similar). Just lower carbing a brie I bought at HEB a couple of years ago. Family devoured it. I really didn’t think they would like it!

    Cranberries and raspberries are my favorite fruits (and avocado, if you want to get technical!) and these are what I eat most often when I eat fruit. Strawberries will sometimes do, but they aren’t as strong a love as the other two red berries!!

    Yum!!!

    Hugs,
    Alice

    • Alice great idea! Baked brie is no longer off the table. You should make the cranberry chutney to top it, sometime. It’s one of my go-to holiday appies. SOOOO killer and so low carb!! Seriously, the low carb craisins are game changers. I heart them in so many dishes. They are so good in pan seared Brussels sprouts with bacon, onion, garlic and pecans!!

  4. Message from old, arthritic hands: Instead of all that tearing, just use kitchen shears and CUT them.

    • Great idea for the fruit leather part! But the actual cranberries can just be easily pulled separate from one another, that way, they retain some of the organic shape and fluffiness! Thanks!

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