Fancy drinks are my weakness – not alcohol, but those pricey bubblies and San Pellegrinos that keep my chronic under-hydration at bay. When my wallet couldn’t keep up with my fizzy habit, I dove into the world of DIY fermentation, starting with kombucha.
Let me be clear: I’m no fermentation expert. I can barely bake banana bread (just ask my partner – his face says it all). But armed with a gifted kombucha SCOBY from a friend, I grabbed a glass jar with a spout from Canadian Tire and stocked up on black fruit tea and sugar. Game on!
The process seemed simple: steep tea bags, add sugar, cool to room temperature, combine with the SCOBY, and cover with cheesecloth. Let it breathe, right? Wrong. My first batch grew fuzzy mold – definitely not what I wanted. Round two, I channeled my inner scientist and sanitized everything twice. Two weeks later, I had a drinkable brew with added ginger for flavor.
But waiting weeks for a drink? That wasn’t going to cut it. Enter the ‘ginger bug’ – a simpler fermentation project promising fizzy drinks in less time. No mysterious mushroom-looking SCOBY required, just ginger, sugar, and water.
The beauty of a ginger bug is its versatility – you can use it to ferment anything from fruit teas to juices, adding both fizz and gut-healthy probiotics. The shopping list couldn’t be simpler: fresh ginger root and raw sugar.
Following my aunt’s wisdom (“never use metal spoons!”), I combined filtered water, chopped ginger with skin on, and sugar in a mason jar, stirring with a wooden spoon. Each day, I’d feed my jar a tablespoon each of grated ginger and sugar – like having a very low-maintenance pet.
After several days of nothing happening, Reddit’s fermentation community came to my rescue. The culprit? My budget-conscious choice of non-organic ginger. Store-bought conventional ginger is often irradiated, killing the natural bacteria needed for fermentation. One organic ginger purchase later, and boom! Within three days, I had bubbles, fizz, and a sweet-spicy aroma filling my kitchen.
This fermentation journey taught me two things: we’ve lost touch with traditional food knowledge in our convenience-driven world, and as a student facing rising food prices, these kitchen experiments are both fun and practical. It reminds me of being a kid mixing ‘potions’ in the back of the fridge (sorry, Mom and Dad!).
Next up: creating the perfect fizzy drink recipe with my ginger bug. Stay tuned for more adventures in fermentation!
