Cranberry juice is a healthy drink full of benefits and is especially useful in the cold season. Its high acidity makes it a good choice for skincare and can also help you to fight off colds. However, some people find that it has a sour taste, making it difficult to enjoy. Fortunately, there are several ways to make cranberry juice more pleasant to drink.
To improve the taste of cranberry juice, you can add a little sugar, and this will help it dissolve more easily. It is challenging to measure sugar, so it’s best to add a small amount at a time and taste. You can also add mango juice or grape juice to it, and these ingredients will enhance the flavor and help you enjoy drinking it more. You can also try adding ginger ale to make it sweeter.
What Is The Taste Of Cranberry Juice?
Cranberries are known for being sour, yet the juice from which they’re created is tart and sweet due to the presence of sugar. Unlike orange or apple juice, cranberry juice necessitates the addition of a sweetener to make it drinkable.
It’s incredibly refreshing once it’s been sweetened, with a rich, almost cherry-like flavor. The majority of store-bought cranberry juices are sweeter than tart. On the other hand, unsweetened juice will be exceedingly puckery and bitter.
The cranberry has a sour and bitter taste, and it contains less than 4% sugar. If you’ve ever tried to eat a fresh cranberry or drink 100 percent pure cranberry juice, you know how unpleasant it is. Tannins are an antioxidant family found in cranberries that give them their bitter flavor.
How To Improve The Flavor Of Cranberry Juice?
1. Add Sugar
Adding sugar to any homemade juice is a simple and straightforward way to sweeten it. While this completely negates the health benefits, it does give it a fantastic flavor.
Simply add 5g of sugar to every 100ml of cranberry juice to sweeten it up. You could definitely get away with less, but if you’re going to use a lot of sugar, you might as well make it taste great!
It’s essential to reheat the cranberry juice first, as this will dissolve the sugar. If you don’t, your drink will have a gritty texture, and the sugar will eventually settle to the bottom.
2. Drizzle some honey on top
Honey is a beautiful and healthy alternative to sugar. It’s sweet and tasty, and if you use raw, natural honey, it’ll add to the nutritional advantages of your cranberry juice.
Honey, unlike sugar, should be added to the juice once it has cooled. Many people put honey in hot drinks; however, this destroys some of honey’s therapeutic characteristics.
3. Combine it with a different fruit juice
Not only is most store-bought cranberry juice loaded with additives, but it’s also frequently mixed with other fruit liquids. A familiar flavor combination is cranberry and raspberry.
This is because the other fruits’ qualities assist in balancing out the cranberries’ bitterness, resulting in a considerably sweeter taste. This can simply be done at home without using any processed juices.
Add whatever juice you want: apple juice, orange juice, grape juice, pear juice, etc. The majority of them will function well and help to balance the flavors.
4. Make use of sweeteners
Sweeteners are a popular sugar substitute, especially among dieters. To help keep the calories down, many store-bought juices include sweeteners instead of sugar.
These are fantastic for sweetening your juice, but they might not be the ideal option for individuals who want their juice to be as natural as possible.
They are not only a less natural option, but they can also have the opposite impact if employed excessively. If you add too many sweets to your juice, it will taste bitter rather than sweet!
5. Juice Diversion
If you like the flavor of cranberry juice but find that your homemade version is too bitter, dilute it and use it as a cordial instead.
Because cordial is exceptionally concentrated, it imparts a significantly greater flavor to water. However, if you mix your cranberry juice with some water or sparkling water, you’ll still get the juice’s benefits but with a much milder flavor.
6. Create a smoothie
Finally, if you genuinely want to incorporate the benefits of cranberry juice into your diet but can’t get beyond the bitter taste, blend it into a smoothie, and you won’t even notice it’s there!
This is also a terrific way to switch up the tastes and enjoy a fresh drink every day without skipping the cranberry juice!
Adding your favorite fruits to cranberry juice, along with a bit of milk or yogurt, can be a healthy way to enjoy not only cranberry juice but any beverage that you don’t generally drink alone.
7. Add Cucumber
Cucumber is frequently used to add a faint but refreshing flavor to water and beverages. When it comes to your cranberry juice, it’s the same!
Cucumber and celery can be used to help soften the harsher flavors in a variety of drinks. Imagine that flavor with your cranberry juice if you like cucumber or celery-flavored water.
8. Season with salt
Salt can actually aid in diminishing the harshness of cranberry juice, which may seem strange when trying to sweeten it. Saltworks by suppressing some of the bitter qualities in the juice, allowing some of the sweetness to come through naturally.
As with most things, a tiny bit of salt is required. A large amount of salt will overwhelm the juice and destroy it, so use a tiny bit at a time. You won’t need more than this per glass of cranberry juice, but you could if you’re creating a significant amount.
Cranberry Juice’s Potential Health Benefits
Cranberry juice is a good source of vitamin C, with an 8-ounce serving providing 39 percent of your daily intake. Vitamin C serves various functions in the body, and it’s a potent antioxidant that helps your body’s cells and DNA from being damaged by free radicals. This could lower your risk of getting cancer, heart disease, and others.
Vitamin C also aids in the healing of injuries, the production of collagen, the absorption of iron, and the strengthening of the immune system.
Cranberry juice contains more antioxidants than just vitamin C. Vitamin E is crucial for the health of your skin, blood vessels, and heart, and an 8-ounce glass contains around 20% of the necessary daily requirement.
Cranberry juice also contains several additional antioxidants, including:
- Anthocyanins
- Peonidin
- Myricetin
- Proanthocyanidins
- Quercetin
The skins of fresh cranberries contain the most antioxidants. Because cranberry juice does not contain the skins, the antioxidant contents are reduced.
Cranberry juice also has the following health benefits:
Heart Health Improved
Cranberry juice contains anthocyanins, which may aid in preventing artery hardening. Cranberry juice has also been shown in several studies to help reduce the risk of heart disease by decreasing blood pressure and improving cholesterol levels.
Healthy Stomach
Cranberry juice contains antioxidants, notably A-type proanthocyanidins, which can help inhibit the formation of Helicobacter pylori, a bacteria that causes stomach ulcers. Cranberry juice may help lower the number of infections caused by this bacteria.
Strength of the immune system
Cranberry juice is high in vitamin C, which aids in the correct functioning of your immune system. It protects against oxidative stress caused by free radicals and aids in the killing of dangerous microorganisms. Several studies have linked low vitamin C consumption to poor immune function.
Infection Control
The bacteria E. coli is one of the most common causes of urinary tract infections (UTI). Cranberry juice’s A-type proanthocyanidins may help prevent bacteria from adhering to the bladder and urinary tract wall, which lowers the chances of getting a UTI. While cranberry juice can help minimize the chance of UTI, it won’t cure an active infection once it has developed.
Cranberry Juice’s Potential Risks
Always read the labels of any cranberry juice you purchase. Sugar is added to some brands. Too much sugar in the diet can induce stomach distress, diarrhea, and blood sugar increases.
Certain blood-thinning drugs may interact negatively with cranberry juice. If you’re on blood thinners, talk to your doctor about how much cranberry juice you can consume safely.
Is It Possible To Consume Cranberry Juice Straight?
The best way to get the most out of cranberries is to consume the whole thing. Drinking cranberry juice, however, has certain advantages. Vitamin C and E, both antioxidants, are abundant in unsweetened, pure cranberry juice (not the variety sold in supermarkets by Ocean Spray).
Can You Leave Cranberry Juice Out?
You can leave cranberry juice out of the refrigerator if it’s an unopened bottle from the non-refrigerated department of the supermarket.
However, after you’ve opened it, you’ll need to keep it refrigerated. If you’re putting it out at a party’s beverage station, you can leave it out for an hour or two, but it’s best to place it on ice.
Conclusion
Although this beverage is not a fruit, it can still make cranberry juice taste better. Adding ginger ale to cranberry juice can improve the flavor and uniqueness of your drinks. Lastly, you can also use a variety of other juices to make cranberry juice more interesting. One way to improve the taste of cranberry juice is to add some ginger ale. You can also mix mango and grape extracts with it.
Sugar can also be added to cranberry juice to make it sweeter. A tablespoon of sugar can be used for each 100ml of juice. When adding sugar, stir the juice well before adding it. If you’re preparing the juice for the first time, it might be best to warm the juice first, and this will allow the sugar to dissolve and help the cranberry juice taste better.