Homesteader Depot

Tag: ginger bug

  • How to Make Probiotic Cream Soda

    How to Make Probiotic Cream Soda

    I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love a good, old-fashioned cream soda. It’s such a great treat, and hard to find a really well-brewed one these days.

    Earlier this week we wrote about a ginger bug which is the base for many kinds of probiotic sodas, and cream soda is one of the delicious, healthy, probiotic sodas you can make using ginger bug as a result!

    The really great thing about probiotic cream soda is that since you are fermenting it with a culture, the little bacteria in the culture actually eat the sugar, changing its metabolic structure, so it’s actually nothing like store-bought sodas that are full of sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. While it does still contain sugar, it’s a much healthier form.

    So, here is how you make it!

    Ingredients: 

    • 2 quarts filtered water
    • 3 cups white sugar
    • 3 tbs vanilla extract
    • 1 cup active ginger bug

    Directions: 

    1. When you are sure your ginger bug is active, meaning bubbly and fizzy, make this recipe right away.
    2. First boil your water, then remove from heat and stir in 2 cups of sugar. Once it is cooled a bit, so that it’s still warm to the touch but not at all hot, stir in the other cup of sugar until it dissolves.
    3. Then, pour the water into a half-gallon jar and stir in the vanilla, and finally, the ginger bug.
    4. Cover with the lid, and let sit on your counter for several days. Check daily for signs of fermenting, and stir.
    5. When it is bubbly and smells slightly sour and sweet, it’s time for the secondary ferment, which will make it bubbily. You can either keep in the same container and simply tighten the lid, and check every day until the lid no longer indents when you press it, or you can pour into specialized flip-top bottles for fermenting.
    6. Be very careful at this point, because the jar or bottle could explode if fermented too long! You might want to keep in a bucket, if you can, just to be safe. But all you need to do is to crack the lid or bottle top slightly to hear for a “hiss”, then you’re probably good.
    7. Put in the refrigerator to keep and to stop the carbonation process, and enjoy!

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  • Fermented Probiotic Soda Recipe

    Fermented Probiotic Soda Recipe

    You’ve probably heard of or even made your own probiotic kombucha drink, which has been all the rage among foodies and health-minded folks over the last few years. You can easily find it bottled in many grocery stores and restaurants these days, and you can also pretty easily brew it at home, as an easy, super-healthy, homemade probiotic.

    A lesser-known homemade probiotic drink is those that can be made using a ginger bug, which is a culture grown with ginger and sugar and used as the base for healthy, delicious sodas.

    Back in the day, this is how drinks like ginger ale, cream soda, and root beer were made, and you can make your own at home very easily using this simple recipe.

    How it works is that the ginger and sugar culture together and create a multitude of beneficial, living bacteria that can further ferment the ingredients in whatever soda you choose to make with it. While both the ginger bug and the sodas you can make with it require sugar to be made, the bacteria essentially “eats” the sugar, converting it to beneficial probiotics. So, this is not only a great alternative to the sugar and chemical-packed commercial sodas because it is probiotic, it also has significantly less sugar.

    Note: this is the recipe for the ginger bug, which is similar to the SCOBY of kombucha brewing or sourdough culture to sourdough baking. For the actual sodas, it is a different recipe that simply uses the product of this one. We’ll follow up with some delicious homemade soda recipes using a ginger bug so you can give yours a whirl! 

    How to make a ginger bug: 

    Ingredients:

    • 1-2 fresh ginger roots
    • 1/2 white sugar
    • 2 cups filtered water
    • mason jar
    • paper towel
    • rubber band

    Directions:

    1. Grate or finely chop part of your ginger root until you have about 2-3 tablespoons. Save the rest of the ginger root for upcoming steps.
    2. Put the ginger in your mason jar with an equal amount of sugar (note: using white sugar is crucial).
    3. Cover with 2 cups filtered water.
    4. Stir with a non-metal utensil, and cover with the paper towel and rubber band.
    5. This is where the culturing begins. Let your mixture sit overnight, stirring once or twice, and then the next day, add 1 more tbs of ginger and 1 more tbs of sugar.
    6. The culture is active when bubbles appear on the surface and you hear a distinct “fizz” when you stir it. This might happen the first day and it might happen on the fifth; but once it is ready, use in your soda recipe right away.

    We’ll bring you a recipe for how to use the ginger bug in the next few days, so you can make your own healthy, nutritious, delicious homemade soda.

     

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