Our latest fermenting class, Crazy About Kraut, was a success. And now I am hearing from students who are addicted to kraut, beet kvass and fermenting in general. It really is so easy and rewarding to make your own homemade ferments. Our favorite sauerkraut recipe includes green cabbage, fresh burdock root, ginger root, fresh turmeric root, and daikon radish- yum and super good for you!
In our home we have recently been making loads of ginger beer which is a wild fermentation. Our most current batch is turmeric root beer (an idea I borrowed from a student- thanks Amy!). The end product turns out a hundred times better than any store bought ginger beer and you can experiment with any roots or herbs you might want to add. Tweaking the recipe each time is the fun part. I am interested in trying elderberry/ginger beer- for immunity, hawthorn/ginger beer- as a heart tonic, astragalus/schizandra/ginger beer- for adaptogen benefits...the possibilities are as broad as your imagination.
Basic Ginger Beer
Ingredients:
Fresh organic ginger root
Organic sugar
Raw honey
Filtered h2o
(we also add a bit of sarsaparilla root for that root beer taste)
-Per liter: 1/3c organic cane sugar and 1/3c raw local honey.
-Boil grated ginger (2-3" root per liter) with the water and sugar for about 15 minutes or until it has reached desired spiciness.
-Let cool, add the honey and strain into bottles or mason jars and add about 1/4-1/2c of the previous batch as a starter. If this is your first batch, go here to learn how to make your own ginger bug.
-Leave them at room temp for 2-3 days until they are very carbonated (check after 24 hours) and then put into smaller bottles and refrigerate. Enjoy!
*Make sure to check the bottles or jars each day, you may need to open the lids to let out a bit of pressure or you can use an airlock lid. If you are worried about the bottles exploding (which should not happen if you are checking them!) you can put them aside in a Rubbermaid bin with a lid.
Happy fermenting!
It is really nice post and wonderful photos. Thanks for providing
ReplyDeleteThank you for the inspiration. I had forgotten how delicious this homemade brew was! We just made some more and I barely got to taste it before the kids drank it up. Now we're experimenting with a lavender brew by making lavender syrup and adding our ginger bug. I think we're addicted :-). Thanks again.
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