Fermented Cranberry Sauce Is a Revelation
The Thanksgiving table doesn’t leave room for real innovation if you stick to the classics. What the spread often lacks, in my opinion, are highlights and deep flavors amid the richness and heft of the meat, potatoes and gravy. Condiments like cranberry sauce should fill this role, but too often we load the berries with sugar and gelatin, resulting in a more heavy, bland experience on the table. However, if you’re willing to play around a little, I can promise a brighter, more fizzy version of your cranberry sauce through fermentation.
Ginger bug is a fermentation starter.
Before we get started, it’s important to note that when fermenting, cleanliness ensures success: fermentation allows good bacteria to flourish, but the same conditions can allow bad bacteria to thrive, so you should do everything you can to make sure those bad bacteria don’t end up on your spoons. , on your hands, in jars, etc. I like to spray white vinegar as a final rinse on items I use for fermentation, just to be on the safe side.
Now we’re going to do this in two steps: first we’ll create a gingerbug, a common starter through the fermentation process. For this you need to take a bottle of raw honey and some ginger root. Pour a cup of honey into a very clean jar. With clean hands, cut a tablespoon of ginger, skin on, into matchsticks. Add the ginger to the honey and stir with a very clean spoon. Cover the jar with a lid and place it in a dark place in the kitchen where you are unlikely to forget about it.
Every morning you will open the lid to release the CO2 and let in fresh air. After a day or two, you’ll probably see bubbles appear when you open the jar, and that’s how you’ll know fermentation is happening. . (How long it takes for bubbles to form may vary depending on factors such as temperature and humidity.) Like sourdough, your little gingerbug will die if not fed, so give it more honey every morning, just a tablespoon or two spoons. These bubbles will become more active each day and on the third day of bubbles it is time to move on to the next part of the recipe.
Your cranberry base is a blend of citrus, maple and berries.
Typically, when you make cranberry sauce, you use a lot of sugar—we’re going to use maple syrup instead of that sugar to give it some depth. You can also use molasses if you want it deeper, or honey if you want it thinner. Take a pound of cranberries (usually in a bag) in a bowl, add ¾ cup of maple syrup to it, and then add the zest of a whole orange. Again, this is where you can play around a bit: while orange makes sense to me, you just want something citrusy. Grapefruit would be delicious too, and if you can get your hands on a blood orange, go for it. Otherwise, you will need two tablespoons of zest, which should be added to the cranberries and then added to the mixture with orange juice. This will be about ¼ cup of juice if you are using something other than a standard orange. At this stage we do not add any spices; that will come later.
Adjust the texture of the cranberry sauce to your liking.
Add this mixture to your Cuisinart or blender. I like the Cuisinart because it doesn’t hold a lot of liquid, and the pulsing of your Cuisinart will help you crush the fruit efficiently, whereas a blender might just crush whatever’s on the bottom. You can also try a blender. We want each individual cranberry to be at least a little crushed, but the texture of the finished product can range from chunky to smooth—it’s personal preference. I like it to be quite chunky, like a salsa.
Scrape all of the mixed mixture into a half-gallon jar, making sure the jar and scraper are extremely clean. This is a standard sized Ball can and you can buy it at Michaels for a few dollars or a pack of six at most places that sell cans. (I find they’re cheapest at True Value, Winco, or Walmart.) Once it’s in the jar, you’ll add four tablespoons of gingerbug honey, but leave in the ginger.
Make cranberries ferment in the dark
Use a scraper to combine the honey, then scrape down the sides of the jar to keep them clean. Now cover the mixture with a fermentation lid and place it in a dark place. It’s really worth having a fermentation lid as it allows gas to escape without letting air in and you’re less likely to contaminate the fermentation with yeast from the air. If you’re willing to take the risk, just put a lid on the jar and be sure to burp it (open and close it) once a day. You should check it daily for the same signs of fermentation as gingerbug. Bubbles are a sign that everything is working! Once you see fermentation, you need to feed it with sugar, so add more maple syrup, honey, molasses or sugar. Depending on how close you are to Thanksgiving, you may want to slow down the fermentation, which can be done by placing the jar in the refrigerator. Otherwise, just keep feeding it and the taste will become more and more bland over time.
If you see white fluff appearing at the top, don’t be discouraged. This is cam yeast, and although it is not very tasty, it is not dangerous. You can start over or boil the mixture for a minute to kill the yeast, let it cool and add more starter (more gingerbug honey) to restart it. Yeast kamm means that either the jars were not clean, the starter picked up yeast on the premises, or it was present in the cranberries before they came into the premises.
Before serving, taste it and season to your liking. I like to add fresh ginger, black pepper, a little salt and then some anise and cardamom, but you can use more traditional spices like cinnamon and cloves.
Once it hits the table, you’ll have a whole new perspective on cranberry sauce. It will be vibrant and the bubbles will create a fizzy atmosphere that makes every bite of the turkey lighter and more joyful.
Fermented cranberry sauce
Ingredients
- One small piece of fresh ginger
- Two cups of raw honey
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- One big orange
- One pound cranberries
Optional:
- Seasonings to taste (salt, peppercorns, cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, etc.)
Equipment
- One pint size jar with lid
- Half gallon wide mouth jar
- One fermentation lid
- Cuisinart or hand blender
1. Add one tablespoon of chopped ginger with peel to one cup of honey in a quart jar. Cover with a lid and burp the lid once a day. Once bubbles begin to form when the lid burps, begin adding honey daily, one tablespoon at a time. On the third day of bubbles, move on to step two.
2. Separately combine cranberries with orange zest and juice and maple syrup. Using a Cuisinart or blender, puree to desired consistency, ranging from smooth to coarse.
3. Add the mixture to a half-gallon jar, add four tablespoons of starter honey, and cover to ferment. Leave the mixture in a dark place until bubbles form. Then add one tablespoon of honey or maple syrup daily.
4. Before serving, season with spices to your liking.