Beverages, Cranberry juice cocktail

Cranberry juice cocktail is a sweetened, diluted version of straight cranberry juice, since pure cranberry juice is too tart to drink on its own. It's poured over ice as a refreshing drink, used as a mixer in cocktails like a Cape Cod or vodka cranberry, blended into smoothies, or simmered down as the base for a tangy glaze on chicken or pork. Its bright, tart-sweet flavor also works well mixed with sparkling water or other juices like orange or pineapple, and it's a traditional accompaniment to holiday turkey dinners alongside whole-berry cranberry sauce.

Once opened, cranberry juice cocktail should be refrigerated and given a shake or stir before pouring, since some settling can occur; it's also worth checking the label, since cocktail style is more diluted and sweetened than a 100% juice, so the two are not interchangeable in a recipe calling for tart, unsweetened cranberry juice. At 52 calories per 100 g it's on the lighter side for juice, it has no protein and no fiber listed, and it provides vitamin C at 37% DV, though most of its 12.2 g carbohydrate per 100 g comes from added sugar (11.4 g), which is worth factoring in if tracking sugar intake for the day.