Cranberry Lime Kombucha Slushie

Now that the heat of summer has set in, I find myself craving something light and vibrant in flavor, but also cooling and thirst-quenching.  But far from the convenience-store favorite, this slushie is full of goodness: probiotics, antioxidants with just the tiniest touch of honey for a little sweetness.

You can use your own homemade kombucha, or pickup a bottle at the store, but the real trick here is to use frozen cranberries to give the slushie not only its wonderful iciness, but also its brilliant color and lovely tart-sweet flavor.  We’ve been working with Cape Cod Select Cranberries, a multigenerational family farm that grows and harvests cranberries sustainably.

The Goodness of Cranberries

While cranberries contain plenty of minerals like manganese as well as vitamins C and E, they’re real goodness lies in their phytonutrients.  It’s these phytonutrients that contribute to the cranberry’s anti-inflammatory properties.  And they do so on the cellular level and molecular level (read more here).  This is why cranberries, like other antioxidant-rich berries, are associated with mitigating the effects of chronic diseases and helping to improve vascular function (source).

When you couple the goodness of cranberries with kombucha, a naturally fermented tea that’s loaded with B vitamins and good-for-your-gut beneficial bacteria, it’s a winning combination.

Why Buy Frozen Cranberries

Fruit’s antioxidant capacity is at its peak when it achieves ripeness, and it begins to degrade after harvest.  We usually see fresh cranberries in grocery stores only in the autumn, and, by then, they’ve had to withstand travel from the farm to distribution centers and eventually to your market.  By contrast, frozen cranberries are picked and frozen at the peak of ripeness, which better preserves not only their flavor and color, but also those fragile phytonutrients, too.  They’re particularly good blended into smoothies, or into slushies like this one.

Order frozen cranberries directly from the producer here.

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