Company Profile
Name: Decas Cranberry
Website: http://decascranberry.com/
Products: Dried cranberries infused with additional flavors and antioxidants
Products Tested: GrapeCrans Natural Concord Grape Infused Sweetened Dried Whole Cranberries and BluCrans Natural Blueberry Infused Sweetened Dried Cranberries

Reviewer: Suzanne Bullock from Alpharetta, Georgia

Recipe Used: Blueberry Infused Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/4 C. unsalted butter
3/4 C. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt, optional
1 tsp. cinnamon, optional
1/4 tsp. nutmeg, optional
3 C. quick or old fashioned oats
1-1 1/2 C. of Decas BluCrans cranberries 

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add and combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Mix well. Stir in oats. Stir in Decas BlueCrans cranberries. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes for chewy cookies. Cool on cookie sheet.

Review: “I added the crans to an old oatmeal cookie recipe. I really never have liked raisins even though they are traditional. They seem so blah. I was delighted with the taste of the Crans. They added a tang that complimented the super sweet cookie. They were moist and chewy and did not need plumping like most raisins do in recipes. I prefer the blueberry to the grape as it seems more tart. They will be my choice for any recipe that calls for raisins from now on. I think they would make a wonderful sauce for baked ham. I plan on trying that soon.”

Reviewer: Michelle Inkley from Draper, Utah 

Recipe Used: Cranberry Oat Bread

Ingredients
3/4 C. honey
1/3 C. vegetable oil
2 lg. eggs
1/2 C. soy milk almond flavor
2 C. flour
1/2 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. quick cooking rolled oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powered
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2  tsp. cardamom
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C. Decas BluCrans
Butter

Directions
In a large mixing bowl, combine the honey, oil, eggs and milk and mix well. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cardamom, mix well, then stir into the honey mixture. Fold in the Decas BluCrans. Spoon this mixture into a large sprayed and floured 9x5-inch pan and a small loaf pan. Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake 40 minutes or until kitchen pick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pans 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. Slather with butter when cooled.

Review: “I fell in love with the product dried cranberries flavored like blueberries two of my favorite flavors. I made a warm yummy Cranberry oat bread. but not after eating a handful plain and contemplating whether I should even try to improve on these yummy little morsals…The bread was a little dry but we slathered it with butter and It was delightful. It was even better the next day when we made little French toast out of the dense bread. next time I would bake it for a shorter amount of time and all some oil to make the bread moist.  All in all it made my house smell divine and now I can't wait for the cool days of Autumn to make this bread again.”

Reviewer: Anonymous from Manchester, Maryland

Recipe Used: Cran-ola Oat-Nut Cookie Bars

Ingredients
1 pouch (about 7.5 oz.) store bought oatmeal cookie mix, prepared according to package directions
1 C. Decas juice infused sweetened dried cranberries, roughly chopped.
1 1/2 C. plain granola cereal, crushed lightly to remove clumps
1 1/3 C. slivered almonds, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
1/4 C. sweetened flaked coconut, firmly packed
1/4 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted. (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease bottom and sides of 9x7-inch glass pan. To the prepared cookie mix, add the remaining ingredients. This will need to be mixed by hand in order to evenly distribute ingredients. Press evenly into baking pan, making sure to reach all sides. Cook on upper rack of oven 30 – 35 minutes or until sides are lightly golden and knife inserted into center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely. Cut into bars. Drizzle with melted semi-sweet chocolate chips if desired.

Review: “First I tasted both flavors and came to the conclusion that I preferred the grape to the blueberry, not because of taste but because of texture. I found the grape infused cranberries to be more plump and juicy and the blueberry flavored cranberries to be more like traditional dried cranberries in the texture.”

Reviewer: Joanne L Mergenthaler from Wilmington, Delaware

Recipe Used: Cranberry Orange Walnut Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
3 lg. eggs (4 regular eggs)
3 sticks butter, unsalted, softened
3/4 C. packed dark brown sugar
3/4 C. sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger powder or 1 tsp. fresh ginger
1 rounded tsp. salt
Zest of 1 orange
1 fully peeled chopped orange (use the zested one, just pare away the white pith first)
Juice of 1 orange + 1/2 C. water or cranberry juice
1 1/2 C. dried cranberries, plumped in hot water or cranberry juice for 20 minutes
2 Tbs. + 1 tsp. baking powder
2 C. flour
1 C. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 C. quick oats
1 1/2 C. chopped toasted Pecans

Directions
Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs 1 at a time and blend for about 1 minute each. Add salt, spices, orange zest and blend together. Sift together flours and baking powder. Add about 1/2 cup at a time, blend well, then add bit of the orange juice and water, blend well after each addition until all flour and orange juice is combined. Stir in the oats a little at at a time. The dough will be heavy. Drain away most of the water or juice from cranberries and reserve. Stir in with chopped orange, cranberries and walnuts. If dough is too dry, add 1 Tbs. water until it becomes a bit more loose but still quite thick.

Use a teaspoon to place big teaspoon scoops onto greased cookie sheets, 3 across in a row (they spread a bit). Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until peaks of cookies are nicely brown. They should be a little soft in the middle. If you want more crunch, bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Let them cool 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheet or they will break up.

Review: “When I received these Decas Blueberry and Grape infused Sweetened Dried Whole Cranberries, I couldn't wait to taste them as I love craisins.  They were absolutely delicious.  I had to restrain from eating all of them, so that I could make a recipe with them.

I chose Cranberry Orange Walnut Oatmeal Cookies as my subject…They turned out so great…When I took the first tray out of the oven I must have eaten at least five of them right away. I am in heaven with these infused cranberries. I was kind of glad there were some left over for me to snack on while I finished baking. I think that the next time I make this recipe I will put more oats in it.”

Reviewer: Anonymous from Newkirk, Oklahoma

Recipe: Carrot and Grapecran Salad

Ingredients
2 C. carrots, shredded
1/2 C. celery, diced
1 C. Decas GrapeCrans cranberries
1/3 C. mayonnaise
1/4 C. pineapple
1 Tbs. white distilled vinegar

Directions
In mixing bowl, combine carrots, celery, Decas GrapeCrans, mayonnaise, pineapple and vinegar. Mix all together and refrigerate until chilled.

Review: “These GrapeCrans are really good.  I couldn’t quit eating them.”

For more Decas cranberries recipes, Click Here!