Saturday, June 28, 2014

Home made strawberry soda, easy and fun...

Cultured Strawberry Soda

1/2 gallon filtered water
1 lb strawberries, rinsed and hulled
1 cup ginger bug (recipe follows)
1 to 1 1/2 cups raw sugar or regular is you want

NOTE: A wort is the soda liquid before the addition of your culture 
starter of choice. Tasting the wort will not demonstrate how your final 
product soda will taste. The wort will always taste sweeter. So, try it 
with this recipe 1 1/2 cup, and if the final soda is too sweet, you can 
decrease by as much as a 1 cup next time.

Place strawberries in cheesecloth or tea towel tied closed with cooking 
twine. Add water to a heavy bottomed pot and suspend sachet in water by 
tying twine to pot handle. Bring water to simmer and cover for 20 
minutes. Add sugar and stir to dissolve completely. Remove from stove 
and leave the pot covered for 30 minutes. Remove the strawberry sachet 
and discard.

When your strawberry wort has cooled to room temperature (approx. 75 
degrees F), add the ginger bug liquid (straining out the pieces of 
ginger) to your wort and decant into bottles. (I like to use old apple 
cider vinegar bottles for fermenting this soda.)

Place a tight lid on the bottles and allow them to ferment out of direct 
sunlight in a warm or room temperature spot in your home for 
approximately 2 days. If your home tends to be cool at night, consider 
getting a seedling heat mat – like this one. Watch for tiny bubbles 
rising to the top of the bottle and if you are unsure your soda is 
ready, give the lid a slight twist and listen for a gas release. If 
there is a hiss, it is ready.

Chill in fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.

Makes: 2 quarts
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Ginger Bug

3 cups water
3 tsp sugar
3 tsp diced ginger

In a quart size jar combine all ingredients.

Place a tight lid on the jar, give it a shake and allow it to sit in a 
warm or room temperature spot (72 to 80 degrees F).

If your home tends to be cool at night, consider getting a seedling mat. 
Place the jar on top of the mat and out of direct sun light.

Every day for the next week add 2 more teaspoons each of sugar and diced 
ginger. The liquid will begin to get bubbly towards the end of the week. 
If you are using a mason jar lid, you will be able to feel the top of 
the lid for pressure or even a distended lid. Give that baby a little 
burp. Once bubbly, it is ready to use.

Makes: 1 quart

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