Lacto Fermented Lemonade

Many people associate lemonade with summer, and rightfully so – it is delicious, refreshing and full of vitamins that help replenish fluids. Technically, lemons are harvested throughout the year, with winter being one of the more active seasons, so there is no reason why lemonade shouldn’t be made whenever fancy strikes. Plus I think I lose more fluids during the winter with the heating systems running 24/7, when I feel constantly thirsty. I don’t care for overly sweet stuff, which is mostly what you can buy out there; I also don’t like most of the recipes I’ve tried for homemade lacto fermented lemonade because they take it a bit to the extreme with the sour/salty thing.

Using whey, which is a by-product of milk fermentation, to speed up the vegetable orfruit fermentation doesn’t seem right to me. Lactose and plant sugars are created differently, and it takes different bacteria to break them down. I use kombucha to kick start the fermentation, a little bit of salt to keep away unwanted bacteria and to add electrolyte effect. Sugar is used to feed the good bacteria so that I can get the benefits of their hard work – additional minerals, vitamins, and probiotics.

My lacto fermented lemonade tastes perfect – slightly tart, slightly sweet, fizzy, and very refreshing. I never hoped that my toddlers would be interested in it, but they just love it, to my complete surprise.

HOW TO MAKE LACTO FERMENTED LEMONADE

Ingredients
6 lemons
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, plus 4 teaspoons
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup kombucha (how to make kombucha, or buy already made plain kombucha)
Filtered water (enough to fill the jar after the rest of the ingredients are in)

Equipment
Lemon juicer (I use this one and love it, but this kind will work well; I don’t like using squeezers, they extract oil from the peel, which can add a bitter taste). You would get about two cups.
Half gallon mason jar with an air tight lid (like these; I have more of them than you can imagine! 🙂 )
Four flip top bottles (I use these, but you can find a better deal at your local home brew store; or look at stores like TJ Max. If you pay $2 or less for a bottle – it’s a good deal)
Funnel with a small spout that fits your bottles
Fine strainer

Instructions
Juice the lemons; put juice into the mason jar. No need to strain it from pulp that got in.
Add 1/2 cup sugar, salt, kombucha and enough water to fill the jar to the curve. Tighten the lid and shake until sugar and salt dissolve.
Leave at room temperature for two days. The lemonade will develop some bubbly looking, and not too pretty, dark yellow/brown froth on top. It’s normal.
Strain the entire batch through a fine strainer to another jar (or a large bowl, then back to the original jar). This will get rid of the pulp, and froth.
Add 2 tablespoons of sugar, close tightly and leave at room temperature again for 2-3 days. More yellow/brown froth will develop (you can remove it with a spoon, or not).
Once you notice white pretty bubbles forming on the top along with the usual froth, you can transfer your lemonade to the bottles using a funnel and strainer.
Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to each bottle, pour more plain filtered water to bring the level of liquid to above the curve (like on the photo), cap, and transfer to the fridge.
Lemonade is ready once it’s chilled. It will develop more carbonation the longer it sits in the fridge, but nothing too dramatic. These bottles are designed to handle carbonation. You will hear a ‘pop’ when opening them.

Save

Save