Cranberry Achar | Cranberry Pickle

Recipe: Cranberry Achar | Cranberry Pickle

Cranberry Achar | Cranberry Pickle is an easy to make, tangy, spicy, delicious pickle that comes together in a matter of a few minutes. However, you will have to wait for a few days before you can enjoy the pickle.Enjoy the pickle or achar with your parathas, rice dishes or add a bit to your sandwich. What I love about this pickle is the natural tanginess from the fresh cranberries.

What Is Achar?

Achar is the hindi word for pickle. Generally, the pickles are made in summer as many of them have to be kept out in the sun. These ones then usually last a whole year. Then there are some that are instant. In the instant version you don’t need to put the pickles out in the sun or cook them for too long. However, instant pickles don’t stay fresh or good for a year. However, if kept in the fridge you can easily enjoy the pickle for a couple of months, depending on the ingredients used.

I am not a fan of all pickles, tend to be a bit picky when it comes to that department. Neither do I need pickles everyday with my meals. I mostly enjoy them with parathas, theplas or whenever I make masala poori for breakfast.

Pickles And Me

My mum was an expert at making pickles. I remember I would help her to remove the soft seeds from raw baby mangoes, remove the gluey seeds from gunda ( glueberries, fragrant manjack fruit).  She would make huge jars of gor keri, gunda nu athanu and limbu nu athanu. A huge family meant a variety of pickles. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn how to make pickles from her, which is really sad. I learned how to make lemon pickle from my aunt, followed Tarla Dalal recipe for my favourite sweet pickle chundo.

Introduction To Cranberry Pickle

A few years back when I was visiting my dad, my sister in law made some masala pooris and out came a jar of pickle from the fridge. My dad insisted that I try the pickle. One bite into the cranberry and I was sold. When hubby buys a large bag of cranberries, it was time to make the cranberry achar or pickle.

Sharing This Recipe With 2024 Alphabet Challenge Group

It is a fun group where we wait patiently to see what members of the group have prepared with the letter of the week. We’re now on letter C.  Wendy who started this group suggested we cook a recipe that either has an ingredient starting with the alphabet of the week or a dish name beginning with that letter. I had prepared Cranberry Achar in Nov but didn’t have the time to blog the recipe. I guess it was meant for this group.

The Alphabet Challenge Journey So Far

Some Recipes With C On My Blog

Members Of  The Group Have Shared C For:

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Chicken Pastina Soup 
• Palatable Pastime: Caldo Gallego Cubano 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Carnivore Meatzza
• Food Lust People Love: Cecilie’s Favorite Coleslaw 
• Culinary Cam: Crab-Stuffed Ravioli 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Cheesy Burger Buns
• Sizzling Tastebuds: Classic Chickpea Hummus 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Cherry Chocolate Chip Waffles with Cherry Syrup 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Cranberry Achar | Cranberry Pickle 
• Blogghetti: Cherry Cream Cheese Cookies 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Dove Dark Chocolate Chunk Cakey Muffins 
• Magical Ingredients: Chocolate Cashew Coconut Caramel Stuffed Paratha

 

Ingredients Required For Cranberry Achar | Cranberry Pickle

Fresh Cranberries

Need fresh cranberries for this recipe. I have not tried making pickles with frozen fruits or vegetables, so don’t know whether frozen cranberries would make a good flavourful pickle that lasts for a few months. Make sure the cranberries are fresh and have not become soft.

Oil

The type of oil is your choice. Three commonly used oils in India for pickles are mustard, sesame and groundnut. I personally find mustard oil odour and flavour too strong. I don’t get groundnut oil so I have used sunflower oil. The mentioned oils are used not only for  their flavour but act as preservatives, making the pickle last longer. As I have used sunflower oil I didn’t make a big batch of the achar. The oil is heated till it becomes hot and then added to the pickle mix.

Oil adds like a binding agent. Helps to bind spices to vegetables or fruits used for pickling. Oil also help to seal off air or oxygen. This means the pickle can last longer and doesn’t get mouldy. I remember my mum would always say that oil should float on the pickle mixture at least about ½ to 1 inch. The spicy oil never goes to waste as it tastes so good when drizzled over dhokla, papdi no lot or khichdi.

Pickle Masala |Pickle Spice Mixture

I buy ready made pickle masala. I actually get mine from India whenever I go there. My all time favourite brand is Apex. They sell 2 main types of the spice mixture, sweet and spicy for the sweeter Gujarati pickles and hot and spicy. I usually buy the hot and spicy one.

Salt

Required to add flavour and also acts as a preservative.

Turmeric Powder

Haldi or hardar powder. Mainly added for its earthy flavour and also for the natural colour that it imparts to pickles.

Chilli Powder

Add according to your taste and also on how hot the pickle masala is.

 

 

 

 

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A Small Request:

If you do try this recipe then please either
add a comment below,
send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
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