Here in Australia, it is starting to warm up again; the sun is brighter, the creatures are happier and the humans are on the hunt for thirst quenching beverages to null the effects of the midday heat. It may be hard to say no to a lemon lime and bitters while dining out, but it is just as easy to make your own naturally fermented fizzy drink at home with no guilt and an abundance of probiotic benefits!
This homemade fizz depends on the action of friendly bacteria. They eat the carbohydrates in the honey and those bacteria make your natural sodas less sweet, slightly more tart, rich in B vitamins and probiotics and naturally fizzy!
Ingredients, as based on Nourished Kitchen:
For the Lemonade Soda
6 cups water
1 cup honey
1 cup lemon juice
½ cup fresh whey, kombucha tea or water kefir
Special Equipment
Flip-top Bottles
Instructions
Warm the water in a saucepan over low heat, keeping it just warm enough to dissolve the honey.
Whisk in the honey continuously until fully dissolved in the water. Turn off the heat, and remove the pot from the stove.
Whisk the lemon juice and whey/kombucha/kefir into the honey water until fully incorporated.
Pour the lemonade through a narrow funnel into three flip-top bottles. Seal the bottles, and allow the lemonade to sit at room temperature to ferment at least four and up to seven days. You can open a bottle to check for fizziness and flavor, keeping in mind that the warmer your kitchen and the more time you allow, the sourer and fizzier your soda will be.
This is, of course, a dryer soda, the lemonade is only slightly sweet and notes of honey play well with lemon. Serve it over ice, garnished with fresh lemon slices.