diff --git a/cpp/CMakeLists.txt b/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
index 3f349c63..a7693fb6 100644
--- a/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ option(MULTITHREADING "Enable multi-threading" ON)
 option(TESTING "Build tests" ON)
 option(ENABLE_ASAN "Address sanitizer for debugging tricky memory corruption" OFF)
 option(BENCHMARKS "Build benchmarks" ON)
+option(SERIALIZE_CANARY "Enable serialization checks" OFF)
 option(FUZZING "Build fuzzing harnesses" OFF)
 option(DISABLE_TBB "Intel Thread Building Blocks" ON)
 option(COVERAGE "Enable collecting coverage from tests" OFF)
@@ -43,6 +44,10 @@ if(CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR MATCHES "aarch64" OR CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR MATCHES "a
     set(DISABLE_TBB 0)
 endif()
 
+if(SERIALIZE_CANARY)
+    add_definitions(-DENABLE_SERIALIZE_CANARY)
+endif()
+
 if(FUZZING)
     add_definitions(-DFUZZING=1)
 
diff --git a/cpp/cmake/barretenberg.cmake b/cpp/cmake/barretenberg.cmake
index 9a2793e9..85013208 100644
--- a/cpp/cmake/barretenberg.cmake
+++ b/cpp/cmake/barretenberg.cmake
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ ExternalProject_Add(Barretenberg
     BUILD_ALWAYS TRUE
     UPDATE_COMMAND ""
     INSTALL_COMMAND ""
-    CONFIGURE_COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --preset ${CMAKE_BBERG_PRESET}
+    CONFIGURE_COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --preset ${CMAKE_BBERG_PRESET} -DSERIALIZE_CANARY=${SERIALIZE_CANARY} -DENABLE_ASAN=${ENABLE_ASAN} -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}
     BUILD_COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --build --preset ${CMAKE_BBERG_PRESET} --target barretenberg --target env
     # byproducts needed by ninja generator (not needed by make)
     BUILD_BYPRODUCTS ${BBERG_BUILD_DIR}/lib/libbarretenberg.a ${BBERG_BUILD_DIR}/lib/libenv.a)