How to make a ginger bug

“A ginger bug? what the H. E. double hockey stick is that… and how are people making drinks with a BUG???” I’m here to clear it all up for you as simply as I can as well as help you make one yourself so you too can start making your own healthy, fermented, and DELISH sodas at home!

Here is my ginger bug. A mix of water, sugar, and ginger… THAT’S IT!

A ginger bug is a bubbly, yeast starter used to make fermented drinks! Sort of like a sourdough starter but for drinks!

You add a bit of sugar and a bit of ginger to a jar of water consecutively for about a week and over time wild yeast and good bacteria from the ginger and the air start to grow. after about a week of “feeding”, ginger bugs are typically bubbly and ready to use!

Ginger bugs are typically added to a sugary juice (homemade or juice from the store). The ginger bug feeds off of the sugars, making a fermented juice! Adding the juice into an air tight bottle allows the fermentation to build up carbon dioxide naturally, which will carbonate the juice. Be careful though… carbon dioxide build up in a bottle for too long will cause the bottle to explode from the pressure! This is where the term “burping” comes in. burping your homemade sodas is ESSENTIAL. “Burping” is basically opening the jar every few hours to allow some of the carbon dioxide to escape and releasing that pressure. After a few days of your soda sitting on the shelf, it should be fermented enough to have become fizzy and drinkable!

ginger bug recipe

What you’ll need

• large jar

• 2 cups filtered water

• 7 TBSP organic ginger root (1 TBSP per day for 7 days)

• 7 TBSP organic cane sugar ( 1 TBSP per day for 7 days)

HOW TO:

• Wash your ginger VERY well, removing all of the dirt and grime. Finely chop up all of your ginger, leaving the skin on. save 1 tbsp. of ginger for the bug and put the rest into a container into the fridge. This way, you have already chopped ginger ready for the week ahead.

• Fill your jar with about 2 cups of water. Add a 1 tbsp. of sugar into your water and stir well until fully dissolved. Add the 1 tbsp. of ginger that you set aside to the sugar water mixture and stir.

• place a LOOSE FITTED lit over the jar. I would even suggest no lid, but a paper towel secured with a rubber band. Having no lid will help the bug receive good bacteria in the air.

• Continue to feed your bug 1 tbsp. sugar and 1 tbsp. of ginger every day for the next 6 days, stirring as you add.

• It may get thick and slimy, that’s okay. Keep your eyes peeled for mold on the top of your bug. Mold is not good and you’ll need to discard. you way see white residue start to build up on the bottom of your jar, this is great! The white build up is actually yeast!

• after 7 days, you should have a ginger bug starter that bubbles when you stir! This means it’s active and ready to be used. Congratulations, you can now make fermented sodas at home!

  Check out my ginger bug soda recipes! I will also have everything I use linked below

  Bottles for ginger bug sodas- (go big or go home with bottles. These sodas get super fizzy and I’ve learned using 1 liter bottles are great because you have extra room for the foam and there’s less risk of losing some of your soda when you burp it.

  Get bottles here ( this is an amazon link and I will make a small commission from your purchase) https://amzn.to/4r4nljy