pineapple mixed berry fermented ginger bug soda
This is basically a homemade version of a well known gut friendly soda brand.. if you know you know! Fermented soda is pretty simple, but first you need something called a “ginger bug”. Don’t know what that is? Find my ginger bug blog post to learn all about it and then come back here for this homemade, probiotic filled, gut friendly soda that you’ll make time and time again. Kids love it too!
What is “fermented soda”?
“fermented soda” is basically when good bacteria and yeast breakdown sugar. Ginger bug soda is created with sugary fruit juices, which is then combined with a bit of ginger bug. The juice and ginger bug mixture is stored in an airtight bottle and rests for roughly 24-48 hours. The mixture plus the air tight bottle allows carbon dioxide to form, creating carbonation naturally! after a few days, you are left with a probiotic-rich drink that’s so tasty and curves that soda craving! Fear not, even though these sodas have a good amount of sugar in them, the yeast and good bacteria feed off of it, allowing to ferment and make these drinks not as sugary as you may think!
In this jar is my ginger bug! The ginger bug will get added into the juice that is simmering on the stove top! Follow the recipe below if you’d like to make your own pineapple mixed berry ginger bug soda at home!
Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cup ginger bug, you can leave out the ginger chunks or keep them in. We prefer to leave them out unless the soda we make contains ginger specifically. (I have a recipe posted if you want to learn how to make one)
1 whole pineapple, skinned and cut into chunks
3 cups of mixed berries ( I had about a cup of strawberries and 2 cups of blueberries and blackberries on hand so that is what I used here. Feel free to use whatever mixed berries tickles your fancy. My family loves strawberries and blueberries so I made sure to add those in)
3 cups of sugar
1/2 gallon of water or 2 quarts
a mesh strainer definitely comes in handy when straining the juice so you don’t have chunks, But you can always use a ladle to scoop out the fruit if you don’t have one on hand.
large stock pot
3-4 1 liter air tight bottles (I will have the ones I use linked at the bottom of the page)
How to make
Prep you fruit- cut up your pineapple into chunks with the skin off. Your berries don’t necessarily need to be cut up, but as you mix it on the stove be sure to squish the berries as much as possible to releaser the juices.
once your pineapple is cut up, add it and the berries to your stock pot with 1/2 gallon of water. Turn the stove top to med-high heat and allow your water and fruit mixture to come to a boil, stirring frequently and mashing the fruit as you stir. Bringing the water to a boil may take some time.
Once the water begins to boil, allow to boil for 10-15 mins stirring and mashing the fruit continuously. Once the fruit looks somewhat pale as if most of the juices have been released, lower the heat and allow the juice to simmer and reduce for another 10-15 mins.
Take the pot off of the heat and immediately add the sugar. Mix the sugar until completely dissolved.
Allow the juice to cool to room temperature and add in ginger bug, mix well.
add the ginger bug juice mixture to your bottles. You may need 3 or 4 depending on how much you let the juice reduce down. When filling the bottles, only fill it right under the shoulders of the bottles (where the bottles start to round out and curve in at the top. This will allow extra space in the jar for carbon dioxide to form. Also, when you burp the bottle to release the pressure, there may be a lot of bubbling to the point where it may fill to the top and spill!
once all bottles are filled, seal them with the airtight lid and allow to rest on the counter for 24-48 hours. The longer you let it rest, the more fermented and carbonated it will be. Be sure to BURP YOUR JARS every 8-12ish hours. Burping is simply just opening your jar to release the pressure and then sealing it back. If you do not burp your bottles you run the risk of your bottles potentially exploding from pressure build up. If you are worries about your bottles exploding and you’re not used to making fermented sodas, I would recommend burping your bottles frequently so you can get a feel of how much pressure can build up over a certain amount of hours. Maybe burp your bottles after 2 hours to get a feel. and then let it go 6 hours and burp again. You should be okay with burping every 8 to 12 though. Always burp over a sink or outside to avoid spills or the seal flying off and breaking something. Do not point the bottle towards yourself of others when you burp!
After 24-48 hours place your bottles in the fridge to slow down fermentation and cool. At this point you can drink your fermented ginger bug soda!!!
Putting the soda in the fridge won’t completely stop fermentation, so if you’re not drinking it daily I would recommend still burping it every few days to release the pressure.
that’s it!
Here are a few items I recommend using for your ginger bug sodas (I make a small commission on these items)