Flash in the Pan

When you live in Massachusetts, you have to like cranberries - I think there's some statute to that effect. And I do like cranberry sauce, cranberry juice mixed with orange juice, and sweetened dried cranberries. But I wasn't that taken with Ocean Spray 100% Juice Cranberry & Blueberry Blend. The drink is 100% juice, which is a great improvement over water and high fructose corn syrup. Unfortunately, although there are taste hints of blueberry and cranberry, they are relatively weak. Leading the ingredients list - which means filling most of the bottle - are apple and grape juices. This has become a standard practice, both to help tie flavors together, I think, but also to save money. I have some sympathy for the company. Cranberries don't really contain significant juice on their own, so they'd probably have to crush and steep them in something, and blueberries get a lot more expensive than apples and grapes. But the flavor is altogether too bland and undistinguished. At a suggested retail price of $3.59 for a half gallon bottle, you could serve it to the kids, and even drink it yourself, but don't expect what the label seems to promise.

Labels: blueberry, cranberry, juice, Ocean Spray

Do you have a kinship with the cranberry? Like to add those little red globes that bounce to almost any dish? Ocean Spray is having its first Ultimate Cranberry Recipe Contest. Creator of the winning recipe walks away with $25,000. That could buy many of the "red wonderberry," as the company calls them. (It sounds like they could really do with a trip away from the office.) Here are some of the requirements from the press release:

Recipes must be original, use a minimum of 1/2 cup of any Ocean Spray product (beverages 1 1/2 ounces), and fall into one of the following categories: Beverages, Snacks and Appetizers, Salads, Main Dishes, Side Dishes, Desserts and Baked Goods. Recipes will be judged on creativity, use of product, taste, overall appearance and ease of preparation. Entries must be postmarked by August 23, 2007 and received by August 31, 2007.

Four semi-finalists head to New York in November for a final judging. Each finalist gets a trip for two to New York and a year's supply of products from Ocean Spray. There's more, and official entry guidelines (are these things ever non-official?)

Labels: contest, cranberries, cranberry, Ocean Spray, recipe