Natural Fermented Soda

 

Equipment:

4 Quart Pot

Pint size glass gar (or larger)

Metal spoon

Glass bowl or pitcher

Fine metal sieve or cheese cloth

Flip-top glass bottles (enough for 4+ quarts of liquid if making both recipes)

Herbs:

Mountain Rose Herbs - online

Five Flavor Herbs - Oakland

 

Ginger Bug Starter:

~2 cups Ginger Bug

To Start the Bug:

  • 2 cups filtered water

  • 2 teaspoons sugar

  • 1 ounce/ ~1/4 cup fresh organic ginger, diced

To Feed the Bug:

  • 5 tablespoons sugar

  • ~2 1/2 ounces fresh organic ginger, diced

To Use the Bug:

  • 7 1/2 cups fruit juice or sweetened herbal tea

  • 1/2 cup ginger bug, strained

Directions:

1.              Warm the water in a saucepan over medium heat, and stir in the sugar until it dissolves fully. Cool the sugar water to room temperature.

2.              Start the Bug: Place the 1 oz. ginger into a pint-sized jar and pour in the cooled sugar water. Seal the jar, and let it culture at room temperature for one day. Ideally, the room should be between 65-75 degrees.

3.              Feed the Bug: The next day, and each day for 3-5 days, stir 1 tablespoon filtered water, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 tablespoon ginger into the jar, and then close the jar tightly. Between 3 and 5 days, you should start to see bubbles forming, and your bug should smell yeasty and gingery. When you see bubbles, your bug is ready to use.

4.              Use the Bug: Strain 1/2 cup of the liquid and mix it with 7 1/2 cups liquid such as fruit juice or sweetened herbal tea, bottle and ferment up to 3 days. You can use between 1 tablespoon and 1 cup sugar depending on desired sweetness. See recipes for Strawberry Chamomile Soda & Root Beer.

5.              Store the Bug: Ginger Bug can be stored in refrigerator with sugar feedings every 10 days or so.

 

Strawberry Chamomile Soda

Makes 2 Quarts

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups strawberries, fresh or frozen

  • 1/2 cup sugar

  • 6 cups filtered water

  • 3 tablespoon dried chamomile (or 3 tea bags)

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

  • 1/2 cup active ginger bug

Directions:

  1. Add water to saucepan with strawberries, chamomile, and sugar.

  2. Cover and bring to a boil on high heat, then reduce heat and simmer at lowest setting for 20 minutes. Mash strawberries halfway during cooking time, return lid to cover.

  3. Remove strawberry mixture from heat and allow to cool. Strain through fine mesh strainer or bowl lined with a few layers of cheesecloth.

  4. When liquid is completely cooled (this is important), add ¼ cup strained ginger bug.

  5. Fill glass swing top bottles 2/3 full of strawberry ginger bug liquid and make sure bottle seals.

  6. Allow soda to ferment in a warm place away from direct sunlight for a few days. Be sure to burp bottles 1-2 twice/ day to prevent a soda explosion. After 2-3 days, when soda is bubbly, refrigerate for another 2-3 days so bubbles set and fermentations slows.

  7. Soda will keep for 7-10 days in refrigerator, losing sweetness as continues to ferment

Root Beer

Makes about 2 1/2 Quarts

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon licorice root

  • 1 tablespoon ginger

  • 1 tablespoon dandelion root

  • 1 tablespoon birch bark

  • 1 tablespoon wild cherry tree bark

  • 1 tablespoon juniper berries

  • 3 tablespoon sarsaparilla

  • 1 pod star anise

  • dash cinnamon

  • dash allspice

  • ¼ cup sassafras bark

  • 1 cup cane or coconut sugar

  • 1/2 cup active ginger bug

 

Directions: 

1.     Add filtered water to pot with all herbs from licorice to allspice, except sassafras, and bring to boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer for 20 minutes, then add sassafras and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes to make herbal infusion.

2.     Remove from heat and strain the infusion through a fine-mesh sieve or a colander lined with cheesecloth into a pitcher. Stir unrefined cane sugar into the hot infusion until it dissolves and allow it to cool until it reaches room temperature.

3.     Once the sweetened infusion has cooled to room temperature, stir in the ginger bug and pour into individual bottles, leaving at least one-inch head space in each bottle.

4.     Allow the root beer to ferment for 3-4 days at room temperature, then transfer to the refrigerator for an additional two days. When you are ready to serve the root beer, be careful as it is under pressure due to the accumulation of carbon-dioxide, a byproduct of fermentation. Open it over a sink as homemade sodas have been known to explode under pressure. Serve over ice and enjoy!