Probiotic Lemongrass Lemon Soda
This probiotic lemongrass lemon soda (any kind of probiotic soda for that matter) is our household's guilty pleasure. Yes, it is soda and it has sugar in it. But you have control over how much sugar to add. With it being probiotic, this delicious, refreshing soda will add healthy bacteria to your digestive tract, help to regulate your systems.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of Ginger Bug liquid
6 cups of filtered water
4 lemons/limes
3 stalks of lemongrass
1/2 cup of organic sugar
Two 1.5L bottles
Directions:
Boil 6 cups of water in a pot
You will need 4 lemons/limes. You can have more lemons over limes or all limes, depending on your preference.
Wash the skin of the lemons well with a water and white vinegar mixture; rinse it with water again
Squeeze the juice of the lemons/limes into the boiling water and add the “shells” of two of those lemons/limes into the boiling water
Wash 3 stalks of lemongrass and peel off the outer layer of the lemongrass that seems dry and brown. Cut off and discard the very bottom, then chop up the lemongrass into small bits. I typically use the white part of the lemongrass until the herb narrows up to the top.
Add the cut-up lemongrass to your lemon/lime water
Turn the heat down to simmer once the solution begins to boil
Simmer for 20 minutes
Turn off the heat and add ½ cup of organic sugar, stir the solution until the sugar is completely dissolved
Strain off the lemons/limes and lemongrass and bottle the liquid
Add enough ice cold water until you fill a little more than ¾ of the bottle
Close the bottle and gently shake the bottle (you want to even out the hot liquid with the ice cold water)
Touch the bottle and see if it’s comfortably warm to room temperature. If it’s too hot, it may kill the active bacteria in the Ginger Bug.
Put a strainer over the bottle. Now that the liquid is cool enough, add half a cup of Ginger Bug into the soda.
Leave it at room temperature. Depending on the temperature of your home/apartment, it may take between 12-24 hours, sometimes even 48 hours for your soda to carbonate.
Note: If you are using glass bottles as we did, keep an eye on your bottles. The pressure built up from the carbonation can cause a nasty explosion, leaving you a horrible mess to clean up. As a starter, you may want to use a plastic bottle to gauge how long it will take for your soda to ferment given your environment.
