HONESTLY CRANBERRY

What is Honestly Cranberry®? Honestly Cranberry® is our brand of unsweetened dried cranberries with no added sugars, juices, or oils.&nbsp; As cranberry growers, we&nbsp;want&nbsp;to share the true tart taste and&nbsp;natural goodness of cranberry year-round.&nbsp; How do you dry Honestly Cranberry’s cranberries? Honestly Cranberry® uses a proprietary process to slice and dry its cranberries, leaving in the natural goodness without adding&nbsp;anything. &nbsp;The consistency and texture is&nbsp;unique, but similar to a raisin; not as plump or juicy though.&nbsp; &nbsp; Since cranberries are acidic, and we just have one product with one ingredient, we leave in quite a bit of moisture – around 22%,&nbsp;and&nbsp;a water activity level of \<.85.&nbsp; We think&nbsp;it’s a better mouth feel, and better flavor.&nbsp; But unfortunately, if our product is left out on&nbsp;the counter, or mixed with something drier, like nuts or granola, it will continue to&nbsp;dry out.&nbsp; On the flip side, they will take on&nbsp;moisture, making them very fun to cook with, but less shelf stable.&nbsp; What are the health benefits of cranberries? Cranberries prevent bacteria from adhering to mucous tissues. &nbsp;If you want to consume cranberries for the health benefits, make&nbsp;sure to get the purest form of cranberries&nbsp;possible. &nbsp;Fresh cranberries are honestly your best option. &nbsp;Honestly Cranberry’s dried&nbsp;cranberries are a close second, since our only ingredient is cranberries! &nbsp; &nbsp; Make sure to&nbsp;read your labels when choosing which cranberry&nbsp;products are right for you. Hidden sugars/juices and oil are everywhere.&nbsp; How are Honestly Cranberry's cranberries different than sweetened dried cranberries (eg. Craisins®)? There are differences in volume, serving size, health benefit, and flavor... &nbsp; One pound of Honestly Cranberry = about 12 cups&nbsp; One pound of sweetened dried cranberries = about 3 cups &nbsp; One ounce of Honestly Cranberry = 250-300 pieces One ounce of sweetened dried cranberries = 60-70 pieces A serving size of Honestly Cranberry = 6 grams A serving size of sweetened dried cranberries = 40 grams &nbsp; To receive the health benefit of cranberries, it takes: 2.8 grams (9 calories) of Honestly Cranberry (we call this a “daily dose”) 72 grams (234 calories) of sweetened dried cranberries&nbsp; _ **\*\*\* There are 10 "daily doses" in each 1 oz bag of Honestly Cranberry** _ What are the macros in Honestly Cranberry? 15 calories, 0 fat, 4 carbs, 0 protein per 6g serving.&nbsp;&nbsp; 1g of completely natural sugar, and 1g of dietary fiber. Keep in mind our product is very lightweight.&nbsp; A little goes a long way in regards to volume, health benefit, and flavor.&nbsp; What do Honestly Cranberry’s dried cranberries taste like? They’re tart!&nbsp; Honestly Cranberry® delivers the True Tart Taste® and natural goodness of cranberry adding a zip to your favorite&nbsp;recipes without additional sugars. &nbsp; We Heart&nbsp;the Tart®!&nbsp; How do you cook with Honestly Cranberry? Use Honestly Cranberry’s dried cranberries as you would sweetened dried cranberries or fresh cranberries. &nbsp;Experiment in your&nbsp;favorite cookies, salads, brownies, dips,&nbsp;oatmeal, sauces, breads, pancakes, seafood, burgers, and vegetables.&nbsp; Let us know, or tag us&nbsp;on social media about your favorites! Pro-tip: &nbsp;soak them in orange juice before putting them in a cranberry bread or muffin, or let them soak in salad dressing for a few&nbsp;minutes before adding to the greens.&nbsp;Cranberries compliment many different flavors and recipes. &nbsp;Most of all, have fun!&nbsp; Do dried cranberries re-hydrate? It is not necessary to re-hydrate them, but yes, ours do. &nbsp;The fastest way to re-hydrate, is to soak them in hot water and let them&nbsp;steep for a few minutes. &nbsp;This makes for a&nbsp;nice “cranberry tea” too!&nbsp; What is the shelf life of Honestly Cranberry? And what are surface sugars? Our ‘best if used by’ sticker is about a year, but the product lasts much longer.&nbsp; We started drying cranberries in 2015, and have&nbsp;intentionally kept product to test&nbsp;periodically. &nbsp;Guess what?!&nbsp; It’s still good!&nbsp; It definitely dries out over time, arguably making it more&nbsp;shelf stable, and some product may develop surface sugars.&nbsp; Surface&nbsp;sugars are just that – we don’t add or change anything about the process; similar to a chocolate bloom, or other dried fruits without oil.&nbsp; Sometimes it happens, and we cannot repeat it.&nbsp; Those who&nbsp;have tried them say it tastes like a sweet tart!&nbsp; Email us if you’re interested in purchasing surfaced-sugared unsweetened dried&nbsp;cranberries.&nbsp; How do you ship? We mainly use the United States Postal Service.&nbsp; For larger orders we ship via UPS or FedEx.&nbsp; We have a variety of boxes, and we try to use&nbsp;the smallest box without squishing the&nbsp;product.&nbsp; If there is extra room in the box, we use a variety of packing materials, and re-use&nbsp;whenever we can – this would include, but not limited to, packing peanuts,&nbsp;sealed air, packaging paper, bubble wrap, and the backing&nbsp;of shipping labels or packing list envelopes.&nbsp; It’s our way of recycling!&nbsp; Are your cranberries organic? We currently do not have an organic option.&nbsp;&nbsp;Our cranberry&nbsp;[marsh](https://glaciallakecranberries.com/)&nbsp;has been in commercial operation since 1873, and for four&nbsp;generations.&nbsp; We were one of the first cranberry&nbsp;farms to implement an integrated pest management (IPM) program in the early 1980's, and&nbsp;we have prided ourselves in maintaining wildlife diversity,&nbsp;being good stewards of the&nbsp;land, and&nbsp;managing the ecosystem as a whole. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The fertilizers we use are comprised of the same elements that are found in all plant species, and we use biological controls&nbsp;whenever possible, such as flooding, for insect&nbsp;control.&nbsp; Cranberries need nitrogen to grow, but the plants cannot use the typical nitrate form.&nbsp; &nbsp;The form of nitrogen cranberries can utilize is&nbsp;ammonium sulfate, and there is no&nbsp;residue of any chemicals by the time we harvest&nbsp;(we,&nbsp;and other handlers who buy our fruit, test for this). &nbsp; We bring in (rent) honeybees for pollination, which lasts about a month, since we have early to late season cranberry varieties (yes,&nbsp;there are more than one variety of&nbsp;cranberry! – similar to different varieties of apples or grapes).&nbsp; This is also the time when insect&nbsp;pests emerge and we do not want to apply anything that would jeopardize&nbsp;the honeybees and native pollinators.&nbsp; We work very closely&nbsp;with "scouts" who are part of our Integrated Pest Management team, and when it is appropriate to do so, we&nbsp;apply limited amounts of&nbsp;fungicides and insecticides. &nbsp;Our last application of anything is at least a month before harvest, and there is no concern for residue by&nbsp;the time we&nbsp;harvest.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Since we are surrounded by wetlands, the cranberry industry is highly regulated in regards to adding anything to the soil, water,&nbsp;and/or plants.&nbsp; The fertilizers and pesticides&nbsp;that are registered to use on cranberries are very limited, due to the fact that&nbsp;cranberries&nbsp;are a minor use crop that are grown near sensitive areas.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; There is no genetic modifying in any way, no need for Roundup® ready vines, and cranberries were found growing wild on the same&nbsp;land we use today.&nbsp; Cranberry vines are a&nbsp;perennial, so whatever we do this year affects next year, and some vines on the farm have been going&nbsp;strong for more than 75 years.&nbsp; We live on the farm, we value clean water and bio-diversity, and are very mindful as to what we apply&nbsp;to the nearby cranberry beds.&nbsp;&nbsp;We constantly focus on our sustainability program, and use the best management practices&nbsp;established&nbsp;by UW-Madison.&nbsp;&nbsp;