I generally think of chutney, the salsa of India, as a summer food, perhaps partly because its origin is a place with a hot climate, and also because it requires fresh fruit which is mostly available in the summer. My adoration of cranberries over the winter made me decide to depart from my plain old cranberry sauce recipe to ferment something new. So, here’s a fermented winter chutney I created. To learn more about lacto-fermentation, check out my post on lacto-fermentation basics. Enjoy!
In a small pan, toast:
1/2 t whole cloves
1/2 t coriander seeds
1 t fennel seeds
1/2 t peppercorns
Toasting the seeds.
Wash 4 c cranberries (usually the amount of 1 bag), and pick out any soft ones. Chop the cranberries coarsely in a food processer.
Coarsely chopped cranberries
Mash the spices a little bit (not powder fine) with a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder. Combine the cranberries with the toasted spices and:
a 3 inch piece of ginger, grated,
1/2 t dried thyme
the juice of one orange
1/4 c yogurt whey (see my curds and whey post for details on obtaining whey. Do NOT use powdered whey! You need an active culture as your inoculent.)
2 t sea salt
1/2 c filtered water
1/8 c plus 1 T rapadura
1/2 c dark raisins
Place your mixture into a quart sized mason jar, and press the cranberries down so that the water rises to the top of the mixture. If necessary, add a little more water. This part is a little tricky, since cranberries like to float. Do your best to immerse everything. By the end of the first day, my cranberries had floated up above the water, but everything came out okay…. Leave at least 1 inch of room at the top of your jar. Seal the jar tightly and leave at room temperature for about 2 days. Test your recipe. If it doesn’t taste done (this is a personal preference thing), leave it a little longer. When ready, refrigerate your chutney. It should keep for about 2 months in the fridge.
The finished mixture, ready to ferment
Brooklyn Alewife 