Probiotic Cranberry Sauce Recipe

A roller coaster for your taste buds

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! The countdown and excitement begins as I’m daydreaming of gravy and stuffing and cranberry sauce. Until a few years ago, I would never even look at cranberry sauce. It legit looked disgusting–a can-shaped blob of pinkish, red gelatinous something or other. UNTIL my roommate in college came home with some leftover cranberry sauce that had REAL cranberries. Life changer. This stuff was tart and sweet and even looked beautiful, with chunks of cranberries marinating in its juices, reduced with sugar and cinnamon and clove. Now I look forward to the stuff every year. And, of course, why not try fermenting the cranberries to increase their nutritional value, adding probiotics, enzymes, and antioxidants! Fermentation is a natural preservation method, so it allows the leftovers to be good for two months or so in the fridge.

This is great to make ahead of time, too. It is one less thing you’ll have to do on Thanksgiving morning! Any flavors you associate with cranberries are fair game to throw in with this ferment: oranges, cinnamon, clove, cayenne, nutmeg, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, apples, ginger, raisins, brandy, etc. I wouldn’t do all of these together but definitely pick a few sweet and spice elements and go for it. You can leave the cranberries whole for a more robust condiment (which may take longer to ferment), or you can choose to puree them to make more of a sauce/jam. I prefer to do somewhat of a chunky puree, like a chunky cranberry jam. This makes for better leftovers in my opinion. Whenever you are longing for thanksgiving, you can bust out your jar and spread it on some toast–bringing you right back to thanksgiving day (minus the endless pile of dishes :) )