Cranberry juice cocktail, frozen concentrate

Cranberry juice cocktail concentrate is a frozen, syrupy base meant to be reconstituted with water, at a ratio printed on the can, before it's served over ice as a tart, ruby-colored drink. Straight cranberry juice is intensely sour, so the cocktail version is sweetened to make it easy to drink on its own; it's also a common mixer for cocktails like a vodka cranberry, and a splash is sometimes added to sparkling water or ginger ale for a lighter spritzer. In the kitchen, the reconstituted juice can double as a base for a quick pan sauce for pork or poultry, or be reduced on the stovetop into a glaze.

Keep the can frozen until you're ready to mix a batch, and once opened, store any reconstituted juice in the refrigerator in a covered pitcher, since it's diluted with water and won't keep as long as the concentrate itself. This concentrate is calorie-dense before dilution, at 201 calories and 42.5 g of sugar per 100 g, so the reconstituted drink is much lighter once mixed with water. Its standout is vitamin C, at 51% DV per 100 g of concentrate, a genuinely high figure that reflects cranberry's naturally tart profile. With virtually no protein or fat, this is a fruit drink to enjoy for flavor and that vitamin C contribution rather than as a source of other nutrients.