Homemade Gingerale
(Adapted from Homegrown & Handmade by Deborah Niemann – comments from Hannah Larsen)
½ cup honey
2 Tbsp finely grated ginger root
Juice of half a lemon
1/8 tsp yeast (the same stuff you use for bread)
Gently heat honey to help it to dissolve easily. {I usually put the honey into an equal amount of boiling water and stir to dissolve.} Add some cool water and shake/stir to dissolve honey and to cool it so the yeast doesn’t get ruined. Place honey water and remaining ingredients in a repurposed 1-L plastic bottle. (Please don’t use glass as it could burst under pressure.) Add enough cool water to fill the bottle. Screw on lid. Gently shake bottle to dissolve yeast. Set it aside in your house and half-forget about it. The bottle will feel somewhat soft initially but will harden as the gingerale ferments. Check it periodically. Once the bottle feels hard it should be refrigerated. For us this has been as soon as half a day and sometimes as long as three days, depending on the temperature of the house. Don’t forget about it as the bottle could explode!
Use Sugar Instead. You can make this with sugar instead of honey. BUT we find that using honey improves the flavor, the fizziness, and helps it ferment quicker.
Open wide. We typically use a ~1 L juice bottle (Bolthouse Farms) because it has a wide mouth. The larger opening makes for easier filling and cleaning.
Double Your Recipe. Use an empty plastic 2 L pop bottle and double all your ingredients except the yeast.
Lime it up! Use lime juice instead of lemon and add some grated lime zest too – a fun variation!
