Herbal Flower Sodas
We have 3 varietal Flower Soda blends to try in this wild-fermented home brew recipe. These recipes use what is called a ginger bug.
It’s an old traditional way of using wild yeasts that eat sugar, begin to proliferate and bubble making them fizzy like soda. Unlike our store bought sodas, these have lots of health benefits. The herbs and flowers are packed with healing properties, the ginger is an excellent digestive and the fermentation has wild strains of lactobacillus bacteria that also aid the gut in its digestive work. The bacteria eat up most of the sugar as they convert it to delightful bubbly fizz.
Brewing the Bug
Use equal parts fresh peeled and grated ginger, unrefined cane sugar and filtered water. I like to start with a big batch of 1 cup of each and throw it all in a blender. Pour 1/4 cup of the mixture in to a glass jar, cover with a cloth and leave out on the counter. Put the remaining mixture in the refrigerator. Daily, add a 1/4 cup of the mixture to the jar on the counter until it is visibly bubbling. If it is cool in your kitchen, it might take up to a week to get the bubbles but I usually see them in about 3 days. You now have a live ginger bug.
Varieties
✦ Rose + Honey Soda- Harvest fresh rose from areas that are free from pesticides and busy road ways. Check out all the great health benefits of rose in our herbs for summer section.
✦ Red Clover + Hyssop Soda- We like to wild harvest red clover and grow hyssop every summer. If you don’t have access to these herbs fresh, both are usually available dried in herb stores.
✦ Flourish Herbal Blend- This aromatic and up-lifting floral blend from Anjali Apothecary includes lemon verbena, chamomile, passion flower, calendula and rose.
Herbal Soda Recipe
Ingredients:
4 cups filtered water
1/4 cup dried or 1/2 cup fresh herbs and flowers
(See varieties above or make up your own!)
1/4 unrefined cane sugar or honey
1/4 strained Ginger Bug
Directions:
Bring the water to boil then add the herbs and flowers. Turn off the stove and let the herbs steep for about 10 mins.
Strain the liquid and discard the herbs. Then, stir in the cane sugar until it dissolves.
Let the mixture cool to about 103 degrees or what would feel just slightly warmer than your own body. Stir in the Bug.
Pour into 4, half pint-size flip-top glass bottles. Set these on a counter in your kitchen out of direct sunlight and allow to ferment for 3-5 days. The longer it ferments, the less sugar will remain and the more tart the flavor will be.
Chill in the refrigerator before serving. These will keep for about 6 months in the refrigerator.
This flower blend is cleansing, cooling and up-lifting. It is a inflammatory and regulates the nervous system.
Ingredients: lemon verbena, chamomile, passion flower, calendula, rose
