Homemade Naturally-Fermented Bubbly Cranberry Soda
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Click HERE to read my policies & disclaimers if you're interested. I will only link products I use and personally recommend. Thank you for your support, friends!
I’ve got a delicious cranberry soda recipe for you that doesn’t involve brewing kombucha (ewwww) nor dealing with the high maintenance girly that is a ginger bug and also doesn’t have the flavor enhancer poisons you’ll find in anything from the grocery store. IF you have either one of those other ferments, you can absolutely substitute it, but this is for those of you that enjoy a good wild fermentation process to make some really good homemade sodas and unique fermentation projects. You also still have plenty of time to get some batches done in time for Christmas dinner to enjoy! If you haven’t noticed, I do quite a bit of my bulk fermenting tasks in the winter months because my kitchen is cooler, less busy because the garden is dead and frozen, and the fruit gnats are back in hell. I prefer to do it this time of year because I run less a chance forgetting about things. This is also why you begin to see tons of fermentation recipes on my site again, because I’m thinking about them :D the ebbs and flows of a food preserver!
Feel free to add raw honey instead of coconut sugar, but I really enjoy coconut sugar for my wild fermentations to make homemade soda. Just a personal preference. Other subs would be raw unrefined sugar, or even maple syrup if that’s your jam. Just use the best quality sugar you can get your hands on. DO NOT skip the sugar because you need the sugar for fermentation to feed the beneficial bacteria. At the end of the ferment, little to no sugar will remain, but you need to feed the cooties or you won’t get the bubblies. Others will worry about the alcohol content, which is why I encourage you to taste your ferments as they go so you can gauge where they’re at. Simply looking for bubbles isn’t going to get you much info if you’re not tasting it. Fermenting using fruit, especially berries, goes from fresh to hooch in an instant. And while I will give you the times that work in my kitchen, things may ferment faster or slower depending on the temperature and environment in your kitchen, including the wild yeast available! If you want to be successful fermenting and making fermented drinks, you have got to start tasting things as they go!
Apple Scraps?
Yeah, apple scraps. I actually have my kids trained that when they want an apple, we cut it off the core because Mom is saving those to make homemade soda OR apple scrap vinegar. I keep a freezer bag in my fridge freezer that we fill with scraps as we use them and then pull from when ready to make a ferment. Apples make the best scraps for a good soda starter and work quickly due to the natural wild yeast on their skins, so don’t peel them! You can also save the first ferment and make a second batch of soda starter with the same scraps, they’ll just need a bit longer to get started sometimes.
Do I Have to Use Cranberry Juice?
No. But for the sake of a cranberry soda recipe, I used my home canned cranberry juice for the sake of this recipe, which I’ll link that recipe below this. You can use whatever fruit juice you want with this starter, even something store bought. That’s up to you entirely. Another great thing to mix in with this for the second ferment is a lemonade concentrate you’ve canned. Talk about YUM!
How do I Know It’s Fermented Right?
Look for active bubbling, even when the jar is sitting undisturbed. Smell your ferment, it should smell slightly sour but not rotten or gross. You can also taste it and it should have a tangy zing to it with some carbonation but not taste like straight alcohol or vinegar. If your ferment tastes really strongly of alcohol, just let it continue to ferment into vinegar by removing the tight lid and top with a piece of cheesecloth or an airlock instead of tossing if you’d like! Once the alcoholic phase runs out of food, acetic acid takes over and will turn that fruit into a really nice vinegar.
Do I Need Swing Cap Bottles?
No, but dang if they don’t make the second ferment super easy. They are great airtight bottles for fast carbonation and are easy to burp. I wholeheartedly recommend getting some to have because they’re glass and reusable, easy to clean, and work the best for making, storing, and even serving sodas. If you don’t have swing cab bottles, you can absolutely use mason jars, just make sure you get the lid nice and tight on there to carbonate your soda. It works just fine!
Let’s get started!
Equipment You Might Want
- Glass mason jar (wide mouth quart)
- Lid & screw band
- Swing top bottles
Ingredient Lists:
- 2/3 cup apple scraps (unpeeled)
- 1/3 cup fresh cranberries
- heaping 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 3 cups filtered water
- 2 quarts cranberry juice
Step 1: Mix the Soda Starter
If your apple scraps are frozen, set them out for a little bit to thaw. Rinse and sort cranberries and measure out 1/3 cup. Using the back of a measuring cup, crush the cranberries just until the pop. Leaving them whole makes it easier to keep them submerged when fermenting.
Into a sanitized (CLEAN) quart sized wide mouth mason jar, add in apple scraps and cranberries.
Measure out 3 cups of warm filtered water and mix in a heaping 1/3 cup of coconut sugar and stir to dissolve.
Pour sugar and water mixture over top just until fruit is submerged, being sure to leave a good inch of headspace.
Use a glass fermenting weight, ziploc bag with some water in it, or a crumpled piece of parchment to weight the fruit pieces down and keep them submerged to prevent mold.
Add a lid and secure tightly with a screw band. Place the jar in a warm place away from direct sunlight and allow it to ferment anywhere from 7-10 days, burping at least once a day. It will be ready when you notice rapid bubbling and fizzing when you open the jar.
Step 2: Secondary Fermentation
When the soda starter is ready, strain the liquid from the fruit.
​Split the soda starter between 4 – 16 ounce swing cap bottles. Top off to just above the shoulder of each bottle with cranberry juice.
Seal the bottles and set them aside at room temperature out of direct sunlight to ferment. Check them after 8-12 hours because this mixture ferments really fast. Do not forget to burp them or they can and will explode. If you go longer than 12 hours without burping, I would recommend opening them outside just in case because a sticky red liquid on your ceiling and walls isn’t my idea of a merry Christmas.
Step 3: Storing
When the sodas are carbonated to your liking, which usually takes 1-2 days, go ahead and toss them in the fridge to store. Remember to burp them every few days because they can make a mess in your fridge too!
Notes:
You can substitute any sugar source you prefer.
You can use any cranberry juice you enjoy, I home can my own (illegally LOL) and it’s pretty delicious.
Feel free to add any spices you enjoy, like cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, or ginger to the first ferment.
You can reuse the fruit used to make the soda starter for a second round before tossing to the chickens or into the compost.
Happy fermenting!
Equipment
- Glass mason jar (wide mouth quart)
- Lid & screw band
- Swing top bottles
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup apple scraps unpeeled
- 1/3 cup fresh cranberries
- heaping 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 3 cups filtered water
- 2 quarts cranberry juice
Instructions
- If your apple scraps are frozen, set them out for a little bit to thaw. Â Rinse and sort cranberries and measure out 1/3 cup. Â Using the back of a measuring cup, crush the cranberries just until the pop.
- Into a sanitized quart sized wide mouth mason jar, add in apple scraps and cranberries.
- Measure out 3 cups of warm filtered water and mix in a heaping 1/3 cup of coconut sugar and stir to dissolve.
- Pour sugar and water mixture over top just until fruit is submerged, being sure to leave a good inch of headspace.
- Use a glass fermenting weight, ziploc bag with some water in it, or a crumpled piece of parchment to weight the fruit pieces down and keep them submerged to prevent mold.
- Add a lid and secure tightly with a screw band. Â Place the jar in a warm place away from direct sunlight and allow it to ferment anywhere from 7-10 days, burping at least once a day. Â It will be ready when you notice rapid bubbling and fizzing when you open the jar.Â
- When the soda starter is ready, strain the liquid from the fruit.
- Split the soda starter between 4 – 16 ounce swing cap bottles. Â Top off to just above the shoulder of each bottle with cranberry juice.
- Seal the bottles and set them aside at room temperature out of direct sunlight to ferment. Â Check them after 8-12 hours because this mixture ferments really fast. Â Do not forget to burp them or they can and will explode.
- When the sodas are carbonated to your liking, which usually takes 1-2 days, go ahead and toss them in the fridge to store. Â Remember to burp them every few days because they can make a mess in your fridge too!
