Make Delicious Homemade Soda With a Ginger Bug (2024)

FAQs

How to make soda from ginger bug? ›

Here's a general rule: Once the ginger bug has cultured, use a ratio of ¼ cup "ginger bug" starter per quart of sweetened herbal mixtures for ginger ale or root beer or diluted fruit juice for fruit flavored sodas. Bottle and wait 1-2 days.

Shake and burp your bug twice a day. Around every four days, you will need to add 25g of grated ginger root, 25g of sugar, and 25 mL of water. To use your bug as a starter for other drinks, add 50mL of strained ginger bug to every 1L of fruit juice or sweetened tea. Ferment is a screw top jar, burping once a day.

In the same way the beneficial bacteria in kombucha, yogurt, and kimchee aid digestion, natural sodas made with ginger bug culture support a healthy gut.

Here are a few different ways to add flavor to ginger bug soda: Juice: I recommend clear juices, like blueberry, apple, or pomegranate. If you want a sparkling lemonade then use 1/2 cup of lemon juice mixed into filtered water. Avoid juices that have added preservatives, as they will slow down or stop the fermentation.

1. Wash and pat dry ginger, then finely grate ¼ cup worth (including the skins) and add it to a clean Mason jar. (Note: Do not use antibacterial soaps to clean anything, including your hands, as it can kill the active natural yeast.) Add ¼ cup of sugar and 3 cups (750 mL) of filtered water to the jar.

If you see no bubbles at all after a full 24 hours, then something may have gone wrong (try adding another "dose" of Ginger Bug and letting ferment for up to 24 hours until the bubbles form).

Day 1: In a 12-ounce glass jar, add 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger (skin and all), and one cup of water. Stir to combine. Cover with finely knit cheese cloth or butter muslin and secure with a rubber band. Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

Over the 5-7 days the ginger bug will likely be cloudy and start to get small bubbles developing on the surface. These appear like white foam and can look a little strange. The smell will start to develop to and become more yeasty and gingery. You will also see small bubbles rising from the bottom of the jar.

A 'ginger bug' is a wild, lacto-fermented starter culture (a collection of beneficial bacteria and wild yeast) that is used to initiate the fermentation process for authentic, probiotic, ginger beer, like ours.

Can I use distilled water for ginger bug? ›

Grate 3-4 tablespoons of ginger and put into your jar. Add your 2 tablespoons of raw sugar. Then cover with distilled water. You'll want to allow air to circulate for this ferment, so no need to use an air lock.

Possible Interactions

Blood-thinning medications: Ginger may increase the risk of bleeding. Talk to your doctor before taking ginger if you take blood thinners, such as warfarin (Coumadin), clopidogrel (Plavix), or aspirin. Diabetes medications: Ginger may lower blood sugar.

If you will be traveling or simply cannot feed your Ginger Bug daily at room temperature, you can store your culture in the refrigerator and feed it weekly.

Once you have a healthy ginger bug, you can add it to a sweetened beverage like fruit juice, lemonade, or sweetened herbal tea. The ginger bug will consume the sugar in the drink and transform it into a healthy, bubbly, probiotic-rich soda.

As soon as your ginger bug is fizzy, you can use it to ferment sweet drinks (juices, herbal teas, decoctions, etc.). Filtering before using is optional. The proportion to use is about 5% of the volume of your recipe (50ml per liter or 1 cup per gallon).

Replace the liquid by adding 1/2 cup water to the ginger bug jar. You can put the ginger bug to "sleep" by storing it in the refrigerator or begin the fermentation process again with daily feedings. For the first 2 days, use 1 teaspoon each of ginger and sugar, then 2 tablespoons each for the remaining 4 to 6 days.

Give the ginger bug a good stir once or twice a day. After 3 to 7 days it should start to bubble. Once it's started to bubble, feed it 1 Tbsp of sugar and 1 Tbsp of grated ginger each of the next two days. When it is really bubbly you are ready to make ginger beer or ginger bug sodas.