Foodie Facts:

• In a sealed bag or container, they can last in the fridge for several weeks — even a month or more. In the freezer, that timeline jumps to a year.
• When you bring them home, make sure to wash and dry, paying attention to pull out any berries that are shriveled or browning and any debris that made it through from the bogs.
• Basic cooked recipe: Combine cranberries, water, and sugar to taste, and boil until the berries begin to burst and then gel.
• For flavoring and texture, add orange peel, zest or the juice of other citrus, warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, or pomegranate seeds. Or take it more savory with shallots and mustard seed.
• For an alternative spin on roasted veggies, toss craberries onto a sheet pan of veggies (brussels sprouts, squash, sweet potatoes, etc.) in the final 10-15 minutes of roasting. The berries will burst and add a nice tart note.

Other Dinner Uses:

• Stir into cooking grains like wild rice or quinoa.
• Toss into a skillet when making a pan sauce after searing off some steaks, chops or tofu.
• Breakfast option: Stir into your morning porridge or grain of choice in the final minutes of cooking. This works best for stovetop preparations.

Cocktail Hour!

• Use frozen cranberries as ice cubes in holiday punch or wintertime sangria.
• Simmer cranberries in a simple syrup until they burst and for the base of a DIY cosmo or a variation on a Shirley Temple. The syrup also works well against the herbaceous notes of a juniper-heavy gin.
• Toss into a flute of bubbly.