Probiotic Fermented Lemonade With Berries | PantsDownApronsOn (2024)

Published: Jul 20, 2020 · Modified: Jun 30, 2021 by Charlé Visser · This post may contain affiliate links · 5 Comments · 1617 words. · About 9 minutes to read this article.

If you like a little bit of berry fizz in your life, you will love this naturally probiotic fermented lemonade with fresh berries. Sexy it up with cherries and tarragon, and we have ourselves a perfect summer drink or co*cktail base or healthy homemade soda.

If you made my recipe for citrus lemonade or strawberry lemonade, you know how good it is and will probably find it hard to believe it can get better.

Well, yes it can. And, the best part is it won't require much effort from you.

Instead, the natural yeast present on the strawberries will do all the hard work for you and turn this into delicious fermented lemonade.

What is fermentation

Fermentation is the process where microbes turn foods or drinks into something else even more desirable.

When the correct microbes "consume" and "digest" sugars they produce beneficial by-products that help transform foods into something healthy, delicious and useful to us.

There are different types of microbes responsible for different ferments. Fermented lemonade is a wild yeast fermentation but also has healthy probiotic bacteria like lactobacillus and acetobacter.

These microbes all prefer a slightly acidic environment while bad bacteria can't stand it. Giving us the perfect opportunity to let the good gut-healthy bacteria thrive.

Types of everyday fermented foods include the following.

• Sriracha made from fermenting chillies.
• Wine from fermented grapes.
• Beer from fermented malted grains.
• Classic pickled cucumbers.
• Sauerkraut from fermented cabbage.
• Soy sauce from koji.

Useful equipment

• Flip-top bottles
• Airlock

Preparing your equipment

There is one golden rule when it comes to fermenting anything.

Cleanliness.

You mess that up and any ferment will turn bad. The dark side is much stronger when it comes to microbes when you give them the opportunity.

For fermented strawberry soda, it's fine to just make sure everything is washed with soap and water including your hands.

You will need:

• A 3-litre glass jar
• 4 x 500ml swing top bottles

Ingredients needed

For the fermented lemonade, we will start by using the strawberry lemonade ingredients as a base and just let it naturally ferment.

When that's done we will do a secondary in-bottle ferment where the soda gets naturally carbonated and also take on the flavour of the tarragon.

• Strawberries - Use unblemished fresh ones. Fermentation can not bring dead strawberries back to life.
• Citrus - Oranges, limes and lemons.
• Sugar - Regular white granulated sugar
• Herbs - Mint and basil for the first ferment then tarragon for secondary fermentation and garnish.
• Cherries - Optional but good.
• Water - Clean drinkable tap water is fine.

How to make it

Making fermented lemonade happens in a few stages. None of which are hard to do or require any specific skill.

Step 1: Make the base

1. Wash the citrus and strawberries thoroughly under cold running water.
2. Bring to the boil 250g water and 250g sugar until dissolved. Zest as much citrus as the recipe calls for and add it into the hot sugary water along with a few sprigs of fresh mint and basil. Add 1750g of cold water to cool the liquid down along with the citrus juice.
3. When infused strain through a sieve into a suitable 3-Litre container.
4. Cut 500g strawberries in half and add to the "lemonade". Cover the container with a loosely fitting lid, plastic glove or lid with an airlock.

Step 2: Ferment it

• Let the mix ferment at a temperature between 21°C or 77°F and 30°C or 86°F. The time it takes will depend on the temperature. Colder slower and hotter quicker. Mine fermented in 4 days with a day temperature of 27°C or 80°F and night temperature of 18°C or 64°F. You might see some calm yeast form on the top of the surface. It's a white layer that looks almost like mould but it's harmless. If you're not sure then send me a pic on Instagram and I will tell you if it's ok or not.
• Once fermented it should taste less sweet as the yeast consumed most of the sugars. It should have a slight fizz and fragrant ripe almost wine-like strawberry aroma.

Step 3: Bottle it

1. Strain the fermented strawberry liquid through a sieve and pour into 500ml swing-top bottles along with a teaspoon or 4 grams of sugar. This is so that the yeast has enough sugar to ferment in order to produce carbon dioxide as a by-product which in turn carbonates the soda. Add in a few sprigs of tarragon too.
2. Close the bottles and leave at room temperature for another 3-4 days.
3. Test one bottle by opening it to see if it's nice and fizzy. If not close and let it go for longer. If it's nice and bubbly then chill it well for a few hours in the fridge before drinking.

Carbonation fact

Gass leaves chilled liquids way slower than warm liquids. Which is why you should always keep sparkling wine very well chilled to avoid it going flat too quickly.

The same goes for any other carbonated drink. Especially naturally carbonated like this soda.

Variations

You could make a few simple adjustments to this fermented strawberry soda recipe in order to get completely different results.

• Berries and fruit- You can use any berry, cherry or fruit your heart desire. Berries with smooth skins like blueberries, currants and cherries generally have more natural yeast than porous ones like blackberries, strawberries and raspberries. Other fruits like apricot, peach and plums are all great contenders.
• Citrus - We need the citrus to lower the Ph level in order for the soda to safely ferment. So pick at least one or use sour berry juice like sea buckthorn or red currants. Citrus is much easier to come by and also less expensive.
• Herbs - You can totally leave out the herbs if you like or play around with things like elderflower, lavender, rosemary, or lemon verbena.

Frequently asked questions

• Red sangria
• Strawberry jam
• Sourdough starter
• Summer fruit salad
• Borodinsky rye bread

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