How to Make Cranberry Juice with Agave Nectar

Cranberry juice is a popular drink for its taste, but also for medicinal properties. Urinary tract infections can be prevented by drinking cranberry juice, for instance. However, while cranberry juice is great for preventing UTIs, the sugar in most commercial cranberry juices actually hurts urinary tract infections. By making homemade cranberry juice with agave nectar, which is 40% less glycemic than refined sugar and much healthier than high fructose corn syrup (a common ingredient in shelf cranberry juices), you get the benefits of cranberry without the problem of sugar. In addition, making homemade cranberry juice with agave nectar is cheaper than buying most cranberry juices at the store. Learn how to make cranberry juice with agave nectar and give your health--and wallet--a boost.

Things You'll Need

• 48 oz. filtered water
• 8 oz. agave nectar
• 6 oz. concentrated unsweetened cranberry juice
• Container for mixing
• Concentrated lemon or lime (optional)

Instructions

1. Pour 48 ounces of filtered water into a container.

2. Add 6 ounces of concentrated cranberry juice. Concentrated cranberry juice can be very expensive compared to other juice concentrates, but it is still less expensive to make homemade cranberry juice in most cases. Some concentrated cranberry juice may have small amounts of pulp in it as well; strain the concentrated cranberry juice if you do not like the pulp in the final product.

3. Add 8 ounces of agave nectar. Agave nectar is a sweetener made from the same plant that tequila is made from, although it is completely nonalcoholic. The consistency is like honey, though slightly thinner.

4. Shake, stir or mix the ingredients thoroughly.

5. Taste the result and tweak to preference, adding more water, agave nectar or concentrate until you are pleased with the end result.

Tips & Warnings

• Substitute half the cranberry juice with lemon or lime concentrate for a nice flavor.

• Use homemade cranberry juice and vodka for a tasty mixed drink.

• Be sure to use concentrated cranberry juice without added sugar.