Simple Honey Fermented Cranberries
Honey fermented cranberries combine fresh cranberries with orange and warm spices and left to ferment in raw honey for a healthy sweet and tart ferment made with whole ingredients.
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Lockrem Homestead
Equipment
- 1 quart size mason jar
Ingredients
- 3 cups cranberries wash and break up a bit
- 1 large orange add the zest and juice
- 1 2-3" cinnamon stick
- 1 1" ginger wash and slice or leave whole
- 2-3 whole cloves
- 2 cups raw honey or enough to cover the cranberries
Instructions
Break Up The Cranberries
- The first step is to smash the raw cranberries a bit. The cranberries have a thicker skin, which makes them difficult to penetrate, so breaking them a bit aids the fermentation process.
- I like to add the cranberries to a large plastic bag and smash them with a rolling pin to break them up a bit. This leaves mostly whole berries while breaking some apart so that they release their juices. Otherwise you can pulse them a few times in a food processor.
Combine The Ingredients
- Place cranberries in a clean container and top with cinnamon sticks, cloves, grated orange zest, orange juice, and a knob of ginger. Pour raw honey over the ingredients until it reaches 2 inches from the top of the jar.
Ferment Cranberries In Honey
- Cover the jar with a piece of cheesecloth or a lid, leaving it loosely fitted to allow the excess gases escape and place the jar in a cool, dark place.
- Be sure to stir the honey daily, coating the cranberries with honey. As the cranberries progress, the honey will become runnier, making it easier to shake or flip the jar instead of stirring, just be sure to fasten the lid before flipping. Give the jar a shake, burp the jar to release the trapped air, and replace the lid.
Notes
A few things to consider when choosing the type of honey to use. First, unpasteurized raw honey is key for the fermentation process to work properly. Pasteurized honey kills the wild yeast and lacks the microbes needed to ferment. I like to buy local honey for its abundant health benefits.
Second, you want to use honey that is in its liquid state, not crystalized honey that's thick and hard to stir.
Since the cranberries like to float to the top of the jar, the cranberries and honey need to be stirred a couple of times each day to keep the berries submerged beneath the honey liquid to ensure safe fermentation.
Over the next few days, you'll begin to see tiny bubbles appear in the honey. This is a good sign that the fermentation is beginning to work.
The cranberries float initially, but as they absorb the honey they become more dense and start to sink to the bottom of the jar. Over time, the cranberries lose some of their tartness and become sweeter from the honey.
You'll notice the cranberries begin to ferment in just a few days and continue for the next month. Once you notice there are no more bubbles, it's done fermenting.
When I no longer see evidence of fermentation, I fish out the ginger, cinnamon stick, and cloves and add a lid that fastens close, and refrigerate.
Honey is not recommended for babies under one year of age.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so it should only be used as an approximation.
Nutrition
Serving: 2ozCalories: 143.4kcalCarbohydrates: 38.7gProtein: 0.3gFat: 0.1gSaturated Fat: 0.01gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.02gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.01gTrans Fat: 0.001gSodium: 2.4mgPotassium: 59.7mgFiber: 1.1gSugar: 36.7gVitamin A: 37.5IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 10.1mgIron: 0.3mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
