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Simple Fermented Berries

Probiotic fermented berry sauce - Use your favourite berries - cherry, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry
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★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

Fermenting berries is a great way to preserve the delicious flavours of summer. It’s is perfect with any combinations of berries: blueberries, cherries, strawberries, or raspberries. Enjoy it as a healthy alternative to jam or sweetened fruit sauce.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 cups of fresh berries (no bruises or bad spots)
  • 2 Tbsp of culture (see notes for some suggestions)
  • 1 Tbsp of water, enough to cover (chlorine-free)
  • 1 Tbsp raw sugar (optional, to feed the ferment)
  • 2 tsp chia seeds (optional)

Instructions

  1. Wash and prepare the berries. If you are using cherries then you need to pit and slice them. Strawberries should be sliced as well. 
  2. Spoon the berries into a glass jar for fermenting.
  3. Stir in the sugar and culture. For a thicker, jam-like sauce, also add chia seeds.
  4. Add enough filtered water to keep the fruit submerged, leaving at least 1-inch of headroom at the top of the jar. 
  5. Use a weight to keep the berries below the liquid. Cap with a fermentation lid or a cloth held in place with a jar ring to keep out any fruit flies.
  6. Place the jar in a cool dark location (a closet is perfect) for 2-3 days to ferment.
  7. The berries will start “sparkling” but they should mellow out after a few days in the fridge.
  8. If you want a smooth sauce, without any chunks, then puree the berries after fermenting.
  9. The berries will be a lot less sweet than you expect. Even if you used honey as the culture, fermenting consumes most of the sugars. If you want your sauce to be a bit sweeter, stir in sugar or honey right before serving.

Notes

  • The natural sugars in the berries will ferment with any yeast-based culture. Try using water kefir, kombucha, milk kefir whey, or ginger bug. My favorite culture is raw (unpasteurized) honey which naturally ferments into a sweet and savory combination. 
  • I usually fermented berries in a straight-sided 500 ml mason jar. Regardless it’s important to keep the berries below the liquid because there is an added risk of mold contamination with berries.

Keywords: raspberry, blueberry, cherry, strawberry, blackberry, probiotic, keto, vegan, gluten free, paleo, sugar free, superfood, spring, summer, fall, jam

Find it online: https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/fermented-berry-sauce/