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Dried cranberries

I consider dried cranberries to be jewels in the culinary crown -- rubies, if you will. These tangy-tart gems can add taste sparkles and bursts of color to holiday dishes.

Basics: Even birds have long treasured cranberries; great cranes dipping into cranberry bogs for the tasty fruits. Their original name, craneberries, evolved into their current name, but my grandmother would drop ripe fruits on a counter to show us kids why she knew them as "bounceberries."

Cranberries have been favorites for centuries, and the Ocean Spray people (whose name, "Craisins," has caught on for this raisin substitute) did not invent their dried forms. Native Americans ground them with venison to make pemmican, a sun-dried food ideal for long journeys. Now we can enjoy portable, high-energy snacks right from the bag or in trail mixes and granola bars.

Dried berries are preserved with sugar, so their calorie count is high (120 calories for 1/4 cup), but they're also packed with antioxidants and infection-fighting compounds.

Storing: Today's fresh cranberries will disappear by December. You can freeze them, but dried berries are available all year, lasting for months without refrigeration.

Uses: Ever since I first chopped dried cranberries into couscous, I've thought of them as edible jewels. They add luster to blah-looking wild rice and pizzaz to turkey stuffings (this month's Bon Appetit magazine includes a Chestnut-and-Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing).

Cranberry sauces, relishes and chutneys are among the few totally vegan holiday dishes, and this year I've noticed many sauces using dried berries, simmered a few minutes with water and/or red wine, maple syrup or honey, then thickened with cornstarch. I've also discovered them in new recipes for holiday fruit pies and jams.

Because dried cranberries don't rehydrate when cooked, they're not a perfect fresh-berry baking substitute. But they're even better than the originals for muffins, quick and yeast breads, scones and Christmas stollens.

Where to buy: Find dried cranberries with other dried fruits (at about $3.29 for 6 ounces), then tuck them into those ono turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving.

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