The very first fermentation starter I had made was the ginger bug. I started this for the sake of making homemade soda and mead and it worked great. I had found the idea of the ginger bug on a blog page several years back and had never heard of it before that. It worked wonderfully for my homemade honey wine and for a long time, that is mostly all I used it for.
Then I quit alcohol and decided it was time to find new uses for my ginger bug and gave it a try in speeding up the process for my kimchi and other fermented vegetables and fruits and it worked amazingly well. Never again a failed batch of kimchi that ended up having to be tossed!
Along the way I have tried to grow my own ginger a few different times but it just will not grow in our area and I got to thinking about other ways to make a starter and I came up with the fruit idea after coming across an idea for using fruit to make a bread yeast. So I started experimenting. This photo shows the first three I tried, peach, strawberry, and raisin. They were all successful but I did find that the raisin was the most bubbly.
When starting three new batches this year, I went with blueberry, raspberry, and raisin and the raspberry got to the fizzy point the fastest though the raisin is still excellent. The blueberry seems fine but just not near as lively as the other two.
Now for the step by step on how to make your own:
Starting with a pint sized jar, fill the bottom with about a quarter cup of your choice of fruit. I recommend working with at least two or three different ones to compare side by side like I do.
Add just enough filtered water (NOT city tap water as the chemicals can kill the bacteria needed to get this going) to cover the fruit. I use rain water filtered with a Berkey filter.
Add about a tablespoon of organic evaporated cane sugar (NOT white sugar!) to the jar. You can either stir it in with a small wooden spoon or chopstick (I try to avoid metal when working with ferments) or you can simply put on a tight fitting lid and swirl it around.
Keeping the lid on, put your starter in a warm place. I usually just leave mine on the counter so I see it and remember to feed it. Several hours later you will want to add a bit more fruit, water, and sugar and mix well. For the next couple of days, repeat this process and usually by day three it should be ready to use. It can take up to five days or more in a cold house so do not get discouraged if you do not see anything happen by day three.
Once it is ready, you can store in the fridge until you need it, making sure to get it out a few hours ahead so it can get to room temperature and get lively again. When storing in the fridge, feed it once a week with about a tsp of sugar. Though I have gone a month or so without feeding it and had no problems getting it active again. If you think you will use it daily, then just leave it out in a warm spot but you must feed it every day if you choose to do this.
blackberry fermentation starter I have been using for a year
When you go to use it, you simply add 1/4 cup of the liquid to one quart of whatever it is you would like to ferment. Any fruit you strained out to get the liquid, add back to the jar, add more sugar and top off with water again. Let it sit for a few hours before putting back into the fridge.
There are so many things you can make with your starter from natural soda to breads, kimchi to wine. I have been working on my bread recipe that only has 4 ingredients and will be sharing that in the near future!
Hope you enjoyed this and learned something new. Again I apologize for being a bit MIA lately, my days just keep getting more busy and I am starting to look forward to the slower time of the year so I can have more time to STEEMIT!
Have a great weekend everyone! ~Heidi
