Q. A food item which cannot be eaten raw is soaked in sugar for several days (or heated in water under 40 degrees celcius) and is then dried by a goy at app. 76 degrees celcius. Is this Bishul Akum? At the stage prior to drying nobody eats it because it is too sugary and it is not in its final stage, but it is technically edible. The Mogen Avrohom in siman 203 seems to indicate that it has to be that people eat it in this form. L’halacha does it suffice if it is edible before the drying process?

Sweetened dried cranberries. Some companies soak them for three days in sugar, some soak them in low heat 30-40 degrees (celcius) and some soak them at higher temperatures. All these companies then dry them at high temperatures.

A. About 95 percent of cranberries consumed in the United States are processed, most commonly for juice and juice blends (Agricultural Marketing Resource Center – March 2012). Because of their natural tart taste only about 5 percent are consumed fresh.
Shulchan Oruch (113: 12) quotes different opinions in regards to the Bishul Akum prohibition on food that can be eaten raw only in difficult circumstances. Remoh (ibid.), Kaf Hachaim et al. permit in need.

Horav Moishe Heinemann Shlit”a mentions that canned cranberry sauce may not be Bishul Akum as it would not be served in banquets at the White House (Star K On Line – Food Fit For A King). In note 1 he adds; “Even though the White House may never use canned foods, if the food was first cooked before the canning process, then at that time it is perfectly fit for use at a state dinner and the subsequent canning does not remove the proscription of Bishul Akum”

Some Poiskim further permit dried fruits as the process of drying is not necessarily bishul (see; Teshuvos Vehanchogos O.H. 3: 249 – D’var Yehoshua 1: 11: 11)

There is an opinion, albeit unconventional and not accepted by itself, that maintains that the food produced by incorporated companies is not affected by the bishul akum prohibition (P’amey Yakov, Kovetz 1, 5768)

Rabbi Dovid Rosen, in answering our query wrote that: COR policy is that cranberry products don’t have an issue of bishul akum.

Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit”a opinion is that since cranberries can and are eaten fresh, at least by some, bearing also in mind that in their canned or dried presentation they may not be considered “fit for a king” and that their process may not involve bishul at the necessary temperature or even be bishul at all, you can be lenient as long as other aspects of Kashrus certification are met.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a