This summer I made several different sparkling lemonades and I enjoyed all of them. You also can use the quantities in this recipe and swap out the strawberries for any other berries or fruit you like; I’ve had consistently good results this way, making lemonade sodas with blackberry, raspberry, cranberry, peach and others.
Admittedly, we are sort of past strawberry season now, but I enjoyed these so much I figured better late than never. And of course, before we know it, summer will be back!
My starter culture was gingerbug but you can certainly go with another option like water kefir. Have you seen my baby pinecone starter culture guidance?
Well, let’s do this!
You will need:
- Medium saucepan & wooden spoon
- Grolsch-style fliptop bottle (one-liter)
- 4-cup (one quart) measuring cup
- Bottling funnel
- Citrus juice press
- Fine mesh strainer
Ingredients:
- 3.5 cups filtered or distilled water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 lb. strawberries (fresh or frozen), tops removed
- Juice of two lemons (or 3 limes)
- 1/4 cup of ginger bug culture
- (I also added 20g of shredded ginger, totally optional)
Directions:
1.) Juice the lemons and set aside.
2.) In saucepan, combine water, sugar, and strawberries, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
3.) Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
4.) Remove saucepan from heat; quickly stir in the lemon juice, return cover to saucepan and allow liquid to come to room temperature. (If desired, place saucepan in refrigerator to speed up the process.)
5.) Once completely cooled, strain the liquid several times with the mesh strainer to remove fruit solids and fibers.
6.) Strain the ginger bug culture and then transfer the liquid to the bottle using the bottling funnel. Next, transfer the wort (the sweetened liquid) to the bottle. (You may have some excess.) Leave around 3 inches of headspace at the top.
7.) Seal the bottle and let it stand at room temperature for three days, then refrigerate overnight.
Contents under pressure! Open slowly, applying downward pressure on the cap so as to avoid spillage. You may need to release air and then quickly reseal a few times before the soda is settled and won’t overflow.
Enjoy!
Notes: Get your ginger bug culture good and bubbly before using. Take it out of the fridge and give it a serving of sugar several hours to a day before using. Serve this soda on ice with a lemon wedge. Cocktail mixer anyone?
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