Commercial food makers count on Dennick FruitSource to deliver the best cranberry processed fruit ingredients. Yet, despite the cranberries popularity as a commercial food ingredient, few people know the story of this tart fruit.
Native to North America, cranberries are now commercially grown across the northern parts of the continent. Cranberries grow as low bushes in sandy, acidic bogs and are manly harvested by a system of flooding the bogs and beating the bushes. Berries float to the top of the water and can then be easily gathered.
Because of their extremely tart flavor, cranberries are usually combined with other fruits and ingredients in recipes. Cranberries are rich in vitamins C and K, dietary fiber and manganese, as well as antioxidants that help to reduce oxidation in cells that can lead to cancer, heart disease, and other degenerative diseases. Although the precise reason is not known, cranberries have for years been shown to improve urinary health and to reduce the incidence of urinary tract infections in women. Because of its many nutritional benefits, cranberry juice is often added to processed foods, beverages, desserts, and other food products.