I am on a fermenting roll!!
Last week I set up a whole slew of things to ferment, and many of them are ready! Yay! The Ginger Carrots were ready first, and this Lemonade was ready second. Here’s how I made it!
I gathered up 6 lemons, some local honey, whey, and filtered water. I used 4 Meyer lemons and 2 regular organic lemons.
I juiced the lemons first.
Then, I added in about a half cup of whey and 1/4 cup of honey. I didn’t add too much honey because the Meyer Lemons were already pretty sweet.
Into the jars they went!
The jars were then filled up with the filtered water, closed, and left to ferment!
A week later…
Bubbles galore!
I strained it out before I drank it.
It was delicious!! Subtly bubbly, tangy yet sweet. When John tried it, his eyes opened wide and he said, “AWEsome!”
WIN!
This post was featured on Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Seasonal Sunday at Real Sustenance, and Pennywise Platter with The Nourishing Gourmet!
March 9, 2011 at 3:08 am
What? This is a new one! I'll have to try it!
March 9, 2011 at 6:46 am
I love how you strained your lemonaid – very clever!
March 10, 2011 at 4:36 am
We make ginger lemonade water kefir. I will have to try this one too! I don't think I could use honey b/c we only use raw honey and the antibacterial propteries of raw honey do not mesh well with fermentation. Hmmm…
stopped by from Real Food Wednesday
March 11, 2011 at 5:31 pm
Megan,
Just add the honey after fermentation. We do this with our “kefir soda”. mis it with a few tablespoons of warm water and put it right in!
Nina
March 12, 2011 at 2:26 pm
I so want to try this, but I have a couple of questions:
How did you know it ws ready? Was it by the bubbling?
Also was there a lid on the mason jar with the rings?
Looks yummy! Thanks 🙂
March 12, 2011 at 5:34 pm
I make lemon lime and raspberry lemonade water kefir that is pretty tasty, too. This looks tasty, but good lemons are always so pricey around here. Still, neat idea!
March 12, 2011 at 9:02 pm
@Megan: Raw honey will ferment just fine (in fact, it doesn't even need an inoculant; Raw honey in water will ferment into mead. It's just quicker with an inoculant/starter.) I often make mead, as well as a lime-aid similar to the one posted here. I inoculate the lime-aide with water kefir, rather than whey, because I don't use dairy products.
March 14, 2011 at 1:33 am
That is so cool! I've made fermented blueberry soda, but my kids didn't care for it. I will have to try lemonade. Thanks for sharing this!
March 14, 2011 at 3:11 am
@Anonymous
Great questions! I didn't realize how little information I actually gave in the post. There was a lid on the mason jar, and that's how I knew it was ready. When the lid was on, it was flat. After a few days, it was a little rounded, kind of like the pop-up buttons on jars. Then, when I opened it, it fizzled like soda.
November 4, 2013 at 2:05 pm
Great tips, I have had trouble finding lemon flavored lacto fermented drinks, seems everyone uses ginger, glad to find something my kids might actually be excited by!