Fermented Cranberry Soda :: A naturally probiotic rich, kid friendly, real food soda

• Vegetarian
• Gluten free

• Produce

  • 8 cups Cranberries, fresh

• Baking & Spices

  • 2 1/2 cups Cane sugar, organic pure

• Dairy

  • 1 cup Whey

• Liquids

  • 2 qt Water

Found on raisinggenerationnourished.com

Ingredients

• 8 cups fresh cranberries
• 2 quarts of water
• 2½ - 3 cups organic pure cane sugar
• 1 cup whey, OR 1 cup ginger bug, OR 1-2 quarts brewed water kefir or kombucha

Directions

• Put the cranberries, water, and sugar into a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer until the cranberries soften and burst. You can use the back of your wooden spoon or a potato masher to squish them up.
• Pour the cranberry sugar mixture through a strainer over a gallon jar to strain the cranberry pulp from the sugary cranberry syrup using a fine mesh strainer. Use the back of your wooden spoon to push the liquid through the strainer, spreading the pulp around. The leftover pulp can be blended into a smoothie or stirred into yogurt or soaked oats.
• Let the cranberry syrup cool to lukewarm/room temp and then stir in your fermenting medium (The whey, ginger bug, or brewed water kefir or kombucha). If using the whey or ginger bug, youll have to add water to top off the gallon jar leaving a couple inches of head space
• At this point, you can either put a tight lid on your jar to ferment, or transfer to swing top/grolsch style bottles to ferment. Leave the soda at room temp for a few days to a week, checking for taste daily. The rate of fermenting greatly depends on the environment in which you live. This time of year where I live the fermenting takes 7-10 days since it is so cold here (we do have heat but it is still quite cool - this week we were in the single digits for wind chills!). I leave the flip top bottles up in a high cupboard where the heat rises in the kitchen near my stove. I do find that my ferments finish up faster using the flip top bottles versus a jar with lid. A Pickle Pipe on your jars work just as good as flip top bottles in my experience too. (I love my Pickle Pipes!)
• Once your cranberry soda is the taste and amount of natural carbonation you like, transfer your jar or bottles to the fridge to slow down the fermenting. They will keep in the fridge 3-4 weeks.