Cranberry juice (A.K.A. Dirt and Lemons).

Have you ever had cranberry juice?

I’m not talkin’ cran-grape or cranberry & vodka or even cranberry cocktail juice.  I’m talkin’ CRANBERRY JUICE.

You know, the liquid that tastes like dirt and lemons?

Yeah.

While I’m faithfully ticking off the checklist of pregnancy signs and wonders, one common occurrence that I’d like to avoid is getting a urinary tract infection.  Apparently, along with all the other goodies like varicose veins, hemorrhoids and stretch marks, pregnant women are more susceptible to UTI’s as well.

What joy.

(If you wanna know what makes us child-growers more susceptible, check this out.)

It’s common knowledge that an excellent way to avoid UTI’s is cranberry juice.  (I suppose the cranberry supplements would work, too, but clearly that’d be too easy for me.)  The thing is, they don’t want you getting the yummy cranberry juice with sugars.  Au contraire.  They want you to get the real-deal-straight-from-the-berry-and-likely-straight-from-Satan-himself cranberry juice.

You see the ingredients in this one?

Yep.  That’s it.  The ONE ingredient IS cranberry juice.

So I’ve been tinkering with ways to tolerate this junk.

Here’s the best I can do right now.  (I’m open to tried & true suggestions.)

First, here’s the cranberry juice I found at the most reasonable price.  It’s Safeway’s brand (see, Safeway isn’t alllll bad… just their produce prices).

First, I get the kettle going with some hot water.  Then I’m fairly generous with honey, so I hope that doesn’t ruin the benefits of the cranberry juice too much.

This is the tea that I’m using these days.  Once I’m in my third trimester, I plan on switching to red raspberry leaf tea.  (You know me, I’ve got my reasons.)

So I steep two of those for 10-15 minutes.

I always cover the top when I’m steeping as I find I get fuller flavor that way.

As you can see, there’s not a ton of room left for cranberry juice, but I fill the jar the rest of the way.

Under no circumstances will you enjoy this while it’s still hot.  Nope.  Dirt & lemons, but warmer.  Surprisingly, it’s not bad once it’s nice and cold.

*sigh*

That’s the best I can do.

9 Comments

  1. July 18, 2012
    Katie

    I take the capsules every day! I give you lots of credit for drinking it!! Yuck! Although that end result doesn’t look too bad 🙂

  2. July 18, 2012
    Stephanie G

    Wow, props to you for drinking the real stuff! I couldn’t stomach it, but I was dealing with recurrent UTI’s throughout my pregnancy. It was only towards the very end of the pregnancy, that someone mentioned there are cranberry pills out there too. I used these (http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Bounty-Cranberry-Vitamin-Softgels/dp/B002Y27JRE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342620098&sr=8-1&keywords=cranberry+pills), 2 in the morning & 2 at night, until Rowena was about a month old. I don’t really know how much they helped, but I felt like I was doing my part at least. 🙂

  3. July 18, 2012
    Momma

    I love the puckery, sour taste of cranberries. Maybe it would be more palatable if you added blueberries? or strawberries and made it into a smoothie? 🙂

  4. July 18, 2012
    Laura

    I was thinking along the same lines as your momma. Here you go:

    1/4 cup milk or soymilk
    1/3 cup cranberry juice
    1/2 banana
    1 tablespoon honey
    And ice

    Also I think coconut milk instead of milk taste awesome in this shake.

    Hope you like it!

  5. You know, I’ve never had a UTI in any of my 9 pregnancies, so it’s not a given . . . you may be torturing yourself for no reason, LOL. I am a HUGE proponent of red raspberry leaf tea in the 3rd trimester, so kudos on your research there!!

  6. July 18, 2012
    Angela

    Okay I must like the taste of dirt and lemons cuz I have always enjoyed the real cranberry juice, straight up. Perhaps you could add a little stevia (drop or powder)
    to it and then pour it over crushed ice.

  7. July 19, 2012
    Manny

    Wow, that’s pretty creative!

  8. July 19, 2012
    melody

    I make my cranberries with fresh orange juice, sugar (honey would have same effect) and a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg. I think using the juice instead of the berries and combining with these other ingredients would be delicious.

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