With cranberries and citrus in season, this drink is ideal for the holiday season. It’s tart, sweet, subtly spiced, and is great on a cold holiday afternoon. It’s also a good option for the kiddos while the adults enjoy spiked eggnog or wassail.
On the Ingredients
- Cranberries are well known for having unique plant compounds that may help prevent UTIs, but they also have lots of vitamins C, E, and K1, plus copper and Manganese. Cranberries also have a lot of antioxidants which are mainly concentrated in the skin, and therefore get lost in the ever-popular juice. (More on the health benefits).
- Cinnamon is a very popular spice around the world. There are over three hundred species of trees in the Cinnamomum genus, but only a couple are used to cultivate the popular spice. Ceylon cinnamon is often called “true cinnamon,” but the far more common variety is cassia. Both are derived from the inner bark of their perspective trees.
- Cloves are a spice that comes from dried buds of an Indonesian flowering tree, cloves are popular in many traditional cuisines. They’re generally sold either whole or ground. While the ground version may be more convenient for cooking, whole cloves are essential for making orange pomanders. This traditional craft involves pressing cloves into an orange’s skin, making interesting designs and patterns. The cloves preserve the orange, and the two create a delicious smelling decoration.
Spiced Cranberry Tea
Servings
4
servingsPrep time
30
minutesCooking time
40
minutesTotal time
1
hour10
minutesWith cranberries and citrus in season, this drink is ideal for the holiday season. It’s tart, sweet, subtly spiced, and is great on a cold holiday afternoon. It’s also a good option for the kiddos while the adults enjoy spiked eggnog or wassail.
Ingredients
12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries
1 1/4 cups sugar or 1 cup monkfruit sweetener
2 juiced oranges
2 juiced lemons
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Directions
- Put the cranberries and water in a pot over a medium flame. Cover and let simmer for a 1/2 hour.
- Turn off the heat and strain out the cranberry skin and seeds. Use a spoon to press all the liquid out of the remaining pulp. The strained juice will be very thick.
- Return this to the pot and add your spices, orange juice, and lemon juice. Add half your sweetener of choice and turn it on to a simmer again.
- Once the sweetener has dissolved, remove tea from the heat and serve warm.
