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.
Cranberry Lime Kombucha Slushie
Ingredients
- 2 cups Cape Cod Select Cranberry+ Power Blend Find it here.
- 1 1/2 cups kombucha tea
- 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Toss berries into a high-powered blender (like this one), and then pour in the kombucha tea. Split the lime in half, and squeeze its juice into the blender. Drizzle the honey over the berries. Blend until the fruit is broken up, about 30 seconds. Serve immediately.
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This looks delicious. I love using kombucha in different creative recipes. This is definitely one of them! Can’t wait to try this at home. I haven’t had a good slushie / smoothie in a long time!
Great recipe, thank you Jenny! Even my teenage friends loved it. I did find a number of sources for organic frozen cranberries online. My favorite is Cranberry Hill: http://www.localharvest.org/store/M555. They sell both traditional and hybrid varieties. You can buy them frozen or fresh (in season), and dried. But you have to be quick about it because they run out of stock so mark your calendar for this October! Otherwise, check out Northwest Wild Foods: https://nwwildfoods.com/.
Jenny,
I just wanted to thank you for NOT providing calorie counts or anything similar with your recipes. This may have nothing to do with it, but i hate our calorie- obsessed culture, and i really appreciate finding people who are working against that (consciously or not). Thank you for continuing to put out delicious whole foods recipes that my family loves pretty much every time. 🙂
Hi Jill!
I really appreciate your comment. While I fully respect that someone may choose to count calories out of personal interest or at the direction of a health care provider, I think that for me to provide calorie counts is counter to the philosophy of the site which is focused on food, not numbers, and the integration of healthy habits as a whole into a lifestyle which is why calorie counts will never appear on Nourished Kitchen (though readers can always plug ingredients into any of the many, many counters available online).
Glad your family enjoys the recipes!