The Best Cranberries You'll Ever Eat

[Subrosa]

You have to try this!

Ingredients:
12 oz fresh cranberries
2"-3" ginger root, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 mace blade
3 whole cloves
3-4 oz orange juice
12 oz (approximately) raw, unfiltered honey

Equipment:

1 qt canning jar

Process:

Wash the cranberries, discarding any that are mushy.
Break the skin on each berry, either by piercing or crushing, and place in the jar. Add the spices and juice, then top off with honey, leaving about 1" of headspace. Seal the lid tightly and turn the jar over several times while shaking to mix the ingredients. You may find you need to top off the honey after the initial mixing to ensure that all berries are covered.
Place the jar in a room temperature area away from direct sun.
Each day, crack open the lid to allow any pressure to vent, reseal then turn upside down to ensure all berries are covered with honey. You may not notice any pressure for the first few days, but this step is CRITICAL! Failure to vent will result in a sticky, messy glass grenade, and if anyone is nearby when it goes off, injury from flying glass is a distinct possibility. Note that there are lids for the jars designed to accept an airlock of the type used for beer and wine making, and this is an acceptable alternative. However if you go this route, place the jar in a bowl to catch any overflow that makes it through the airlock.
Repeat the venting and turning over daily for at least 2 weeks before eating the berries. They can go longer, just make certain to keep venting. Cranberries prepared this way will keep for several years at room temperature and the taste will improve with age, but once you start eating them you'll want to refrigerate any you don't finish at the first sitting. Serve unheated as a side dish, blend into a smoothie, or use the individual berries as garnish in food or drink. The leftover honey can be used to flavor drinks both alcoholic and non (adding it to seltzer is my favorite), drizzled over ice cream, or whatever else you can think of.

Try this, and if it doesn't produce the tastiest cranberry dish you've ever had, please post the recipe that did!
PS You don't see the headspace in these jars because the cranberries float to the top, which is why turning the jars over daily is important.

[Diane56Victor]

Sounds delicious!

[Ray]

Sounds like a helluva lotta work!

My wife has a similar recipe, minus the mace, done on the stovetop in minutes.

[DeaC]

Where was this for Thanksgiving???

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by Ray

Sounds like a helluva lotta work!

My wife has a similar recipe, minus the mace, done on the stovetop in minutes.

So do I. There's no comparison between cooked and fermented.

---------- Post added at 02:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:44 PM ----------

Originally Posted by DeaC

Where was this for Thanksgiving???

They weren't ready for Thanksgiving, so we had them at Christmas dinner. Everyone raved about them and wanted the recipe, but they really are a lot of work when made by the jar. Next year I'm going to buy cranberries and honey in bulk, treat it like a batch of wine and do a bucket full to jar up as gifts. It will be more "set it and forget it" instead of fussing with it daily.