• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Eat Like No One Else logo

  • 🏠 Home
  • ℹ️ About
    • How to Eat Like No One Else
  • 🎄 Christmas
    • Christmas Breakfast
    • Christmas Cookies
    • Shopping for Christmas Dinner
  • 🎁 Shop for Gifts
  • ✍️ Sign Up for Virtual Events
  • 🚫 Reduce Food Waste
  • 🔨 Work With Us
  • 📝 Privacy Policy
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
menu icon
go to homepage
  • ℹ️ About Us
  • 🎙️ Podcast
  • 🚫 Reduce Food Waste
  • 🧂 Upgrade Your Salt
  • 🍎 Apples Reviews
  • 🔨 Work With Us
  • 📝 Privacy Policy
    • Instagram
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • ℹ️ About Us
    • 🎙️ Podcast
    • 🚫 Reduce Food Waste
    • 🧂 Upgrade Your Salt
    • 🍎 Apples Reviews
    • 🔨 Work With Us
    • 📝 Privacy Policy
    • Instagram
  • ×

    Home » Thanksgiving » Troubleshooting » How to Tell if Cranberries are Bad?

    How to Tell if Cranberries are Bad?

    Published: Oct 19, 2022 · Modified: Nov 23, 2024 by Eric Samuelson

    Find out how to know if the cranberries you got are bad and need to be tossed, or kept and used up in your favorite recipe.

    🚌 What You'll Learn In This Post

    A pile of fresh cranberries on a blue and white plate with some small leaves on top.
    • What things to look for to tell if your cranberries are bad.
    • Under what circumstances you should still use wrinkly berries.
    • A method for testing the freshness of your berries.
    • How long cranberries last when frozen.

    Did you realize that you have forgotten about the cranberries you bought in the fall. Maybe you got some extra for Thanksgiving or Christmas and didn't get around to using them.

    Now you are wondering if they are any good anymore.

    Let us talk about the various issues you can find with fresh cranberries and talk about whether you should keep them or toss them.

    Jump to:
    • 🚌 What You'll Learn In This Post
    • 🔴 Color
    • 🐘 Wrinkly
    • 🍄 Moldy
    • 🦨 Smells Bad
    • ⚓ Sink or Float?
    • 🥶 Freezing
    • 🍴 Cranberry Recipes
    • 🥔 More Produce Tips
    Bags of Bluewater Farms Cranberries at the grocery store.

    🔴 Color

    The telltale sign of a fresh cranberries is bright, red color. When they get older, the color of the berries begin turning darker to a dark red or dark purple color.

    If your berries are looking a little dark it's time to consider these other things -

    🐘 Wrinkly

    Most often the first thing you will see with cranberries going bad is they start to get wrinkly. I don't think that means the berries are bad, just getting old and drying out. Since I don't know anyone that just pop them into their mouth as a snack, the texture isn't going to matter when you cook or bake with them.

    I have made cranberry sauce in January from cranberries I had bought a month or more earlier and it was still good. Some of the berries were wrinkled.

    Verdict - Keep! You shouldn't notice a difference when you cook or bake with them.

    🍄 Moldy

    For me this one is a no brainer. If you see mold on your berries, it's time to toss them. No need to mess around.

    Do you need to toss the whole bag? If you find a couple berries that have gone bad, you could remove them and give them a rinse before using. If you are seeing fuzzy mold growing that is connected to multiple berries I would toss them all out.

    Verdict - Probably best to just toss them all out unless it's just a couple and that it isn't fuzzy mold. Use your best judgment.

    🦨 Smells Bad

    If the berries really shouldn't have much of a smell. So if they are smelling bad, then it's time to toss them. I have not experienced this issue myself. If they smell like wine, it's not a good sign!

    Verdict - Toss them all out.

    Fresh cranberries floating in the water in a cranberry bog.

    ⚓ Sink or Float?

    I have heard people to employ the sink or float test. When cranberries are harvested, the bog is flooded, and the berries are harvested off the top of the water. A berry that sinks is a sign that it's not fresh. Does that mean you should for sure toss them? I wouldn't say so for sure. I would look at the other things we talked about as a test whether or not you should toss or keep the berries.

    🥶 Freezing

    If you are worried they will go bad before you use them up, you can always freeze them. Also cranberries are only available for a small window each year, so freezing them to use in recipes throughout the year is always a good idea.

    You can freeze them directly in the bag they came in. You should get 3 months at least out of them. If you want to take it a step further I would seal them in a vacuum sealed bag. You could then get 6-12 months in the freezer.

    RELATED - When Can You Buy Fresh Cranberries?

    🍴 Cranberry Recipes

    Need some recipes to use up the rest of your cranberries? The most common use for them is cranberry sauce and of course I got plenty of those recipes on the blog including my Ultimate Guide to Homemade Cranberry Sauce.

    But if you are looking for a couple other uses that aren't just cranberry sauce, give these two a try:

    • Sweet Applesauce with Fresh Cranberries
    • Cranberry Curd Ginger Snap Tarts
    • BBQ Cranberry Sauce for Leftover Turkey Sliders

    Not enough? I have a list of 47 Different Uses for Fresh Cranberries featuring recipes from my fellow food bloggers.

    🥔 More Produce Tips

    Here are some tips on whether or not to toss or keep these fruits or vegetables.

    • Potatoes
    • Shallots
    • Peaches
    • Cauliflower
    • Peppers

    We also talk a lot about these topics on our podcast, Eat Shop Waste Not. You should check that out too.

    « Episode 035 - When Shallots Go Bad
    What is a Self-Basting Turkey? »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Lirva

      December 14, 2023 at 7:56 pm

      Thanks for sound advice! I'm new to this all so this was very helpful!

    2. Eric Samuelson

      December 16, 2023 at 11:53 am

      I am glad I could help!

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Nice to Meet You,

    Hi! I'm Eric : Father of 4, living just south of Ann Arbor, MI. I'm a reformed picky eater finding a new way to not conform. Eating what's in season is my jam (I also make it!)

    Categories

    Top Posts & Pages

    Creamy Caesar Pasta Salad with Crunchy Croutons
    Fresh Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
    How to Grill Pork Tenderloin So It's Always Juicy
    Asparagus Rice Pilaf in the Instant Pot

    Recent Posts

    • Creamy Caesar Pasta Salad with Crunchy Croutons
    • Fresh Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
    • How to Grill Pork Tenderloin So It's Always Juicy
    • Asparagus Rice Pilaf in the Instant Pot
    • Elote Topped Hot Dogs

    Reduce Food Waste in Your House

    Copyright © 2025 Eat Like No One Else on the Foodie Pro Theme