Another reason I enjoy making them is that they are ridiculously easy. Of all the things I ferment in my kitchen, sodas are the least time intensive. Besides sugar, water and a starter culture, all you need is one simple ingredient.
I also used them together in a few batches as well. I also used a few different starter cultures to see how that impacted the final flavor too. So I simmered about 6 quarts of water, dissolved in the sugar, then added the sugar water to five different quart-sized mason jars, then added different combos of ingredients and let them ferment at room temperature for about 4 days.
After four days I bottled them in soda bottles as seen in the cover pic and let them ferment and carbonate for a few days longer at room temperature. Hands down, my favorite batch was batch 2 which was the one that used the ginger bug. It had a bright, crisp wonderful vanilla flavor that tasted like, well… cream soda. The silver medal went to batch 1, which used the champagne yeast. But it was definitely drinkable. It was also the most fizzy. The batches that used whey were my least favorite, which surprised me, especially because in two of those batches I combined a vanilla bean AND a tablespoon of vanilla extract.
The previous sodas I made were all fruit sodas and probably had enough flavor from the fruit itself. In the case of fermented cream soda, perhaps the vanilla and sugar needed a slight flavor boost from the ginger bug to really make it work. As far as the one batch that used lemon juice, it was god awful. It gave the soda an off-tasting citrus flavor. If you try it, please comment below and let me know how it turned out.
Was there something else I did wrong here? Now all of this is not to say that this is exactly how you should do it. Fermentation is an inexact science. Slightly different ingredient amounts, room temperature variations things ferment faster in warm weather compare to cool and variations in the micro-organisms in each starter culture will affect the final flavor.
However, it does take days to make a ginger bug. Not that making a ginger bug is hard! Making whey or using champagne yeast is certainly quicker and easier. And champagne yeast comes ready to go in little packets. As opposed to conventional sodas which manually add carbonation , carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of the lacto-fermentation process. Pattie Cinelli is a holistic health and fitness consultant who likes to create success outside of the box.
She challenges stereotypical assumptions and creates new beliefs and ideas about health, fitness and aging well. You may contact her at [email protected]. Pattie will be on summer vacation for the next two months. Her column will return in the September Hill Rag.
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In Celebration of Gottlieb Simon. Share on Facebook. Add other herbs or spices if you like. Simmer, covered for minutes. Let the liquid cool and strain into a bottle. Add half a cup of active soda starter to the bottle. Seal tightly and allow to ferment for 1 -6 days depending on the temperature , checking regularly. Check your bottles often and open the lid to let the fizz out. Be careful if you use glass bottles!
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