Ruby Cranberry Sauce

Submitted by admin on November 22, 2011 - 10:03am

Though cranberries or “mossberries” are tiny, these ruby colored jewels pack a delightful but tart nutritious punch. Cranberries contain multiple families of antibacterial antioxidants called polyphenols. In documents retrieved from the 17th century, we know that cranberries were used for an assortment of medicinal purposes.

Cranberries are effective for treating stomach ailments, liver problems and blood disorders. Cranberries also traveled by sea as a protection against scurvy. Though ascorbic acid and the bioflavonoids had yet to be discovered, it was these nutrients in cranberries that helped protect sailors, pirates and merchants from the slow and inevitable collapse of collagen when they are absent from the diet.

Cranberries have an ORAC score of 9,584 units per 100g. ORAC or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity is a scientific score used to measure the antioxidant capacities of common foods in vitro (test tube).

Proanthocyanidins, also called tannins, prevent bacteria (including Escherichia coli) from adhering to the urinary tract. Natural healers have long promoted cranberries as a cure for urinary tract infections.

The major flavonoids in freshly squeezed cranberry juice are quercetin and myricetin, but like vitamin C, flavonoids are damaged by heat. Quercetin is found to be the most active of the flavonoids in studies. Quercetin has anti-inflammatory activity because it inhibits some of the process of inflammation at the onset. It is used as a preservative in prepared foods today and has iron-binding properties.

Myricetin is a flavonoid (pigment) and is considered an antioxidant. Fighting free radicals, it is thought to have anti-cancer properties, including the ability to lower the risk of prostate cancer. Myricetin may also lower cholesterol levels.

Terpenes create the spicy scent and combined with other phenolic compounds give the cranberry its tart, astringent taste.

Cranberries are rich in pectins, also found in apples, and is the reason why it can quickly become a sauce.

Drink cranberry juice, or eat fresh cranberries in season and dried cranberries out of season to obtain a variety of health protecting, tissue mending micronutrients.