Craisins are cranberries, cut in half, then sweetened dried, because they are unpalatable on their own. Cranberries are a hollow-bodied native of the north-eastern United States. They are too tart to eat raw or in any unsweetened form, but they can be combined with sweeter fruits like apples or pears, so that very little additional sugar is required.

The name came from early Dutch and German settlers in America, who called the native plant, "crane berry" as the late Spring blooms resemble the head and bill of a crane.

As well as using cranberries as food - most popularly pemmican, made of crushed cranberries, deer meat and melted fat - and as a dye, American Indians also credited it with medicinal properties. Modern research is confirming that it has a number of health-promoting characteristics, the best known of which is in urinary tract health. Cranberries contain phytochemicals some of which may be helpful in maintaining health as antioxidants, others in reducing harmful cholesterol (LDL) and in helping to prevent gum disease. Cranberries are high in Vitamin C - sailors on early American clipper ships and whaling boats were given cranberries to prevent scurvy.

Indians presented the early settlers - the Pilgrims from the Mayflower - with cranberries as a welcoming gift and taught them how to use them in cooking. Cranberries, along with native turkeys and corn were staple foods until their first crops were harvested, so it’s no surprise that cranberries were served at the first Thanksgiving feast in 1621, and continue to be integral to the annual celebrations.

Cranberries can only grow and survive under a special combination of factors: they require an acid peat soil, an adequate fresh water supply, sand and a growing season that stretches from April to November. In fact, it was reputedly the first American grower who noticed that wild cranberries were larger and juicier where a layer of sand blew over the vines…and this sand layering technique is still used today. The fruit grows on vines in impermeable beds layered with sand, peat and clay, the beds commonly known as "bogs" originally made by glacial deposits. Harvest is between September and October. In wet or water harvest, the beds are flooded and the fruit "beaten" off the vine by a special harvester, "corralled" on to conveyors, lifted on to trucks and taken for processing. Dry harvested berries, "combed" from vines by a picking machine, are sold as fresh fruit.

Craisins are a great alternative to raisins or sultanas in a wide range of recipes from muffins to meatloaf, adding a unique sweet/tart accent to the flavour, as well as their deep red colour. They are also a great snack for all the family; they contain no cholesterol, virtually no fat and are low in sodium.

Craisins - $3.90 for a 170 gram pack in supermarkets - are distributed here by Ocean Spray, a farmers’ co-operative that produces more than 70 per cent of the world’s annual supply of the cranberry. Many of the 804 farming families in the co-operative are fifth or sixth generation cranberry growers. Ocean Spray also has a range of Cranberry juices which, like Craisins, as well as being delicious, are good for you, while Cranberry Light is recommended by the Diabetes Foundation.You can get a free Craisin recipe book by phoning 0800 445 368.

Just to get you started, here’s my recipe for THE BEST EVER "Rocky Road", it is just so more-ish you won’t believe it.