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Probiotic Ginger Soda

Ginger soda is a great probiotic drink you can make right in your own kitchen. This way you can customize the sugar and flavor to your liking.
Prep Time3 d
Cook Time20 mins
Ferment3 d
Total Time6 d 20 mins
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Keyword: gingerale recipe, homemade gingerale, probiotic ginger soda
Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients

Ginger Bug

  • 2 cups filtered water
  • 1 tablespoon chopped ginger root
  • 1 tablespoon sugar

Syrup

  • 5 cups filtered water +4 cups filtered water
  • 1 ¼ cup sugar
  • 4-6 inches ginger root
  • 2 tablespoon fresh or bottled lemon juice
  • ½-1 cup dry hibiscus flower for ginger hibiscus soda

Instructions

Ginger Bug

  • In a glass jar that has a lid, put water, chopped ginger, and sugar.
  • Stir.
  • Put the cap on and set in a warm place on your counter (out of direct sun)!
  • One time a day add: 1 tablespoon chopped ginger 1 tablespoon sugar then stir and recap.
  • Do this until you see tiny bubbles gathering on top. (My last batch took 3 days.)
  • The time this takes could vary depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

Syrup

  • When your ginger bug is ready and bubbly, you are ready to make the syrup.
  • In a medium saucepan add 5 cups water, sugar, and chopped or grated ginger root.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Boil for 15 minutes.
  • Let cool completely.
  • Add lemon juice.
  • Strain your syrup to get out ginger pieces (I like to strain into a large pitcher or measuring cup). (*make sure syrup is cooled all the way or it will kill the ginger bug starter!)
  • Strain 1 cup of your ginger bug into pitcher or measuring cup.
  • Pour strained syrup and ginger bug into a large glass jar along with  4 cups filtered water (or two jars if you need to, depending on the size jar you have.) cap jar.
  • Set out of the direct sun on counter.
  • Stir one time a day.
  • When you start to see bubbles and hear it fizz when you stir, its ready to bottle!

Bottling

  • You may find that its easier to pour mix in a pitcher or measuring cup for easier pouring.
  • Pour your mix into glass bottles. (I have used flip top bottles, clean glass bottles from drinks we have bought, and even small mason jars.)
  • Make sure you leave about 1 inch headspace.
  • Seal the bottle tightly.
  • Burp bottle one time a day to release pressure.
  • Let it set on your counter about two more days (depending on the temperature of your kitchen). When you're burping and hear a pop or see that it's fizzy, you know its ready. Remember keep out of direct sunlight!
  • Transfer to the fridge.
  • This seems to last a while in the fridge. In my experience, it slowly continues to ferment and gets less sweet the longer it sets.

Notes

NOTICE this does contain small amounts of alcohol. From my research, it is a very small amount. My kids do drink this in small amounts.
*The syrup can be made just ginger, or add Hibiscus for ginger hibiscus soda!