Living foods fermented soda!

[Diana Cda]

I just posted a long message over in another forum. Hopefully folks won't mind my just posting the link to it, rather than reproducing the entire thing here:
http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/showthread.php?t=5294

I've provided what I found as the recipe for the soda beverage base. I'm on the lookout now for flavourings that fall within living foods principles. My soda "plant" (culture) is on day 2 so I have a few days to find some good recipes. I'll probably try just something like more ginger and date paste to add to the soda to make something like Ginger Beer, without the fermentation and hassle and cooking.

But will keep looking.

At any rate, enjoy! It looks really promising. I can just see having a soda plant at the back of the fridge that I "feed" once a week that is ready for us to use at any time. Awesome. :)

Let me know if you try this what your own findings are. Also if anyone comes up with any recipes, it would be great to share. I'll also report back anything I come up with.

[raweater]

I'm trying it now. I actually didn't have a large glass jar so I bought a $4 two liter pickle jar at the grocery store (the cheapest thing in a 2 liter glass jar I could find), flushed them down the toilet when I got home and used it to make the soda lol.

[EatRaw]

flushed them down the toilet when I got home and used it to make the soda lol.

LOL :D

Let us know how it turns out. Are you doing the ginger one?

dave

[raweater]

You need to start with ginger regarless of the flavor, the ginger it what provides the bacteria for the fermentation. I'll see what I do with it later, the rest of the recipe to flavor it isn't raw so I'll find a raw way to flavor it, but maybe it will have enough ginger taste to just leave it as it and maybe sweeten it with agave or honey.

I could have bought a 2 liter olive jar instead and maybe keep the olives, but they were $8, weren't raw and were likely loaded with chemicals (the pickels were) and I already had olives. I didn't mind paying $4 for a glass jar that I'll keep using often lol.

[iwuvmydoggy]

would sarsaparilla or root beer work?... i know that sarsaparilla was made from a plant... i just don't know HOW they made it! lol

awesome topic, though :D thanks!!

[spicyfull]

would sarsaparilla or root beer work?... i know that sarsaparilla was made from a plant... i just don't know HOW they made it! lol

awesome topic, though :D thanks!!

Its make from the Root of the Sasafras Tree. My Family, generations back, would make Sasafras Tea. That's why I never like Root Beer. They still Harvest it and make the Tea. I have a piece lying around somewhere.

[iwuvmydoggy]

Its make from the Root of the Sasafras Tree. My Family, generations back, would make Sasafras Tea. That's why I never like Root Beer. They still Harvest it and make the Tea. I have a piece lying around somewhere.

wow! i didn't realize it was a tree! lol wonder if there's any in my area. i'll have to look into it. thank you for the information! :D

[PeachyLove]

What about fruit puree?

Ingredients from an organic mango lemonade, with some tweaking this could be all raw.

water, cane juice, lemon juice, mango puree

vanilla creme soda
strawberry soda
mango soda
mint ginger lavender soda
pineapple soda
mint cilantro citrus soda
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

ok I have not read your link, so I could be way out in left field.

[Diana Cda]

I think all that will work! Thanks.

This is exciting. I added the last of the ginger and sugar this morning to my first soda plant. I tasted it the other day and it's _exactly_ like soda. The encouraging thing is knowing that it's a fermented drink and so has healthy bacteria yet despite the humidity, nothing tastes off! I know that that may be because I'm using commercial sugar that although it's organic and free trade, since it's cooked, less trouble with things like that going bad. But the reason that it's still encouraging is that the drink I made was not very sweet at all! That tells me that like Kim said in her video, that the sugar was metabolized by the organisms. That must be the case.

What I did was I poured 1/4 cup of the soda into a glass and then added the juice of 1/2 orange then I topped it off with purified water. Man, once we get the recipe and process down it'll taste like soda without the harshness and causticity of soda. The flavour was very soda-like and it even fizzed on pouring!

However, tonight I'll go ahead and refrigerate it. I have no details yet on what to do from the point forward as she didn't really cover this in the video, but I do know that we must "feed" the plant once a week. The only thing that I will do is to pour off the soda and strain off the ginger that is in the jar and then will put fresh ginger and sugar in for the week. Next Saturday, I'll again strain out the debris and add new sugar/ginger then.

The plant apparently will keep forever if we feed it once a week. I'll take 1/4-1/2 cup of soda at a time, I think, and just top up the jar each time. The trick will be to see how much soda the plant can have removed each week while still remaining at the same "potency".

Next drink trial will be to add some agave nectar and the juice of 1 whole orange, not just half. That should make a nice soda drink!

And then sometime down the road, rather than try making a true living foods plant from scratch, I'll probably just try substituting agave nectar once a week instead of sugar. That might be more do-able than starting one with agave nectar from the beginning since it would take a month to be ready! That's what Kim said in the video that if you use something like honey (or agave nectar, I imagine).

Anyway, let me know if you try it and your successes and thoughts on the process.

:)

[Diana Cda]

p.s., the ginger worked perfectly even though mine was peeled and Kim's was not. Forgot to mention that. Cheers. :)

[raweater]

Mine will be ready Sunday. I also found another recipe that uses bread yeast, it was like 1/8 tsp bread yeast in 1 liter of water with 1/2 of sugar and it said to use rootbeer extract so I just put ginger slices in to infuse. You put this in a plastic bottle and close it tight, after 3-4 days it will be pressurized like opening a regular soda bottle. It was pretty good.

Also as I posted in another thread I got a cream whipper and the same company also makes a soda device that's very similar but uses CO2 cartridges rather than N2O. Since both devices are essentially the same I decided yo buy the CO2 soda cartridges to try making soda in my cream whipper. I fill it with water, the juice of one lime, and stevia then filled it with CO2 and pour it into a glass, it was just like regular soda! Except it costs $1.30 in gas to make less than 750 ml of soda (the proper soda machine holds 1 liter which is the biggest difference between the machines). It also came out as white foam and took a few seconds to turn to liquid soda.

The fermented one will cost less and have healthy bacteria so I hope ot works well.

[raweater]

I just took mine that was fermented for 8 days and there's no bubbles or sparking whatsoever. Was it not supposed to be sparkling after a week?

Could it be because I have the AC set to the house doesn't get warm?

Thanks

[EatRaw]

I just took mine that was fermented for 8 days and there's no bubbles or sparking whatsoever. Was it not supposed to be sparkling after a week?

Could it be because I have the AC set to the house doesn't get warm?

Thanks


Bummer!...I've been watching this thread..

How cold do you keep it up there (north of me) hehe... I've found that the rawer (is that a word) hehe...the cooler I am, this may sound weird, but if I eat any SAD...I can tell my body temp rises...I can feel it PROFOUNDLY...I can also feel my heart working harder..OK...call me weird! LOL

Really...whats you temp settings...I keep my themo on 77f...perfect for me. But my son must set his on 72f...coz I freeze when I'm there...bone chilling

I suppose that could make a difference..

dave

[raweater]

I'm in Canada so we use celcius, I keep it around 21 celcius.

About your heart working harder on cooked food it's normal, it takes as much energy to digest 3 cooked meals a day as doing 8 hours of intense exercise.

Edit: I just did the conversion, 21 celcius is 70 f.

[EatRaw]

I'm in Canada so we use celcius, I keep it around 21 celcius.

About your heart working harder on cooked food it's normal, it takes as much energy to digest 3 cooked meals a day as doing 8 hours of intense exercise.

Edit: I just did the conversion, 21 celcius is 70 f.

Wow..21c/70f is cold IMO...I would think that it would need to be at least 75f/24c. I would be freezing there LOL...

I used to keep the thermo set to about 72f here...but since going raw...I can't do it anymore...just freeze...getting cold and freezing was part of my detox...ever since...I can stand higher temps with no prob. I actually feel right at 77f/25c.

I would think that 21c is a bit cool...would take longer to ferment...JMO

dave

[EatRaw]

About your heart working harder on cooked food it's normal, it takes as much energy to digest 3 cooked meals a day as doing 8 hours of intense exercise.

I didn't realize this...but man..I sure can feel it. My heart will beat with a fengence....I just feel it. Don't ever feel that if I just eat raw wholesome foods...give me something cooked whamo..

Thanks...

dave

[raweater]

I eat like 3000-4000 calories a day since I workout alot so my metabolism is really fast and keeps me hot, in winter I hold the temp at 17-19 celcius which is probably like 66 if not less, some people think I'm crazy having the temp so low but I get really hot if it's set higher, especially when working out.

[EatRaw]

I eat like 3000-4000 calories a day since I workout alot so my metabolism is really fast and keeps me hot, in winter I hold the temp at 17-19 celcius which is probably like 66 if not less, some people think I'm crazy having the temp so low but I get really hot if it's set higher, especially when working out.


I'm old man...hehe..my metab has slowed...don't take NOWHERE near as much cals...I don't even count um...I just eat whatever I want...but NOWHERE like I used to..very lite now...yeah winter is different for me...around 70-72f...I burn ALOT of wood...and just seeing the fire makes it warmer for me...funny how that is...but just seeing it makes me warmer...

I also understand your building muscle and trying to gain weight. I'm at this point just living!! LOL Needing to lose weight...and paying REALLY CLOSE to how food effects me...

anywho...

I do think your temp may be affecting your results..JMO

dave

[Chickadee]

I tried making lacto-fermented soda once and my base "plant" spoiled instead of fermenting. When I questioned my friend, he asked if I left the peel on, I said yes, then he asked if my ginger was organic, it wasn't. He said they treat non-organic ginger so it's slow to sprout, and that was probably why it spoiled. I never tried it with organic ginger, but I just wanted to pass along the info.

[raweater]

The ginger I used wasn't organic, I think my HFS has organic ginger, I'll try it again.

[Sheryl]

Without a top the gas will just escape... carbonation only happens under pressure. I would think that once you finished the process and put a top on it bubbles would appear. The same thing happens with Water Kefir (another way to make raw carbonated beverages). Kefir is a culture sort of like what you make yougurt wth, but more complex. You can order it from people on ebay.

[Tirza]

Also as I posted in another thread I got a cream whipper and the same company also makes a soda device that's very similar but uses CO2 cartridges rather than N2O. Since both devices are essentially the same I decided yo buy the CO2 soda cartridges to try making soda in my cream whipper. I fill it with water, the juice of one lime, and stevia then filled it with CO2 and pour it into a glass, it was just like regular soda! Except it costs $1.30 in gas to make less than 750 ml of soda (the proper soda machine holds 1 liter which is the biggest difference between the machines). It also came out as white foam and took a few seconds to turn to liquid soda.

My solution to all that is just to make soda water and add it to fruit juice. I guess the kefir or yeast versions are more healthy than CO2 (even though CO2 is what makes it fizz in either case) - but I am not so sure we should be consuming all that fizz - or juice. I have heard that it is not good if you are trying to keep from getting a belly and so much gas, acne and maybe cavities (like I did). Sweetened beverages are sweetened beverages...lots of calories without the fibre. I try to convince myself that I don't drink "so much" but I am an old juice and pop addict from 'way back, so that is too much temptation for me. I made myself appreciate the mellower flavor of good water, often flavoured with fresh lemon juice for a summer thirst quencher or sun-steeped herbal teas. Training my kids like that might have seemed pretty strict, and they did get some pop and juice of course, but I really tried to make it minimal. When they left home of course they went crazy on it for awhile, as well as with meat etc. But guess what - they pretty much reverted to what they were used to and don't drink much soda or eat much meat. They are asking me more and more about the rationale behind our ways and it seems to make great sense to them now.

[Diana Cda]

An update ...

The only "failure" I had was that after refrigerating the soda plant, about the second time I used it, the jar slipped out of my hands and spilled nearly half the contents on the counter! <argggghhhh!!> Disappointing, to say the least. But since I only take out 1/4 cup of soda plant at a time, I just put in 1/2 cup of fresh water every day till the jar was replenished which worked since I never take out a large amount at any given time to begin with.

I'm very happy with this whole thing. Though I had concerns at the beginning re using sugar, I'm okay with it now since without sweetener, the plant just isn't sweet at all by itself. I really do believe that the organisms may metabolize the sugar out.

So to recap, I use organic, fair-trade sugar.

After the first week of preparation time, I put the jar of soda plant, covered with a lid, in the refrigerator. Next time, after starting a new batch and I want to migrated from counter to fridge, I'll strain out the week-long ginger/sugar mix and put fresh 2 t chopped ginger and 2 t sugar and into a clean jar. I didn't do that the first week and the flavour wasn't as pure as it later has been once I started keeping it "fresh".

So every weekend, I strain out the spent ginger/sugar and add fresh. The trick that I tried re frozen ginger takes all the work out of it. A recap on that:

- I bought 2 "roots" of organic ginger to freeze
- I peeled the ginger
- put in a my magic bullet blender spice jar and made into a purée
- I have a cookie sheet that I use for freezing things and I lined it with a sheet of parchment paper
- I measured out mounds of 2 t of puréed ginger onto the lined cookie sheet, spaced so that these little "hills" or "balls" of ginger didn't touch
- I froze them for a few hours till they held together and were firm
- I removed each little pile of puréed, frozen ginger and piled them carefully on a plate
- I cut up the parchment paper lining into small squares and then I layered all the frozen puréed ginger balls into a jar, separating each one with one of these squares of parchment paper (the 2nd "R" in recycling, I RE-USED the sheet!)
- Easy as pie come the weekend to take the jar out, strain out the liquid, wash the jar and lid and then dry them, pour the liquid back in from its temporary holding jar, add 2 t sugar and one of the frozen ginger "balls" to mix (that I took out earlier in the morning to thaw).
- Shake.
- Put back in fridge.

EASY!

As always, when explaining things via typed word, it takes more time to write it out than to do <g>.

I have one more frozen ginger "ball" left so I'm going to buy a ton of ginger this time since the freezing experiment worked. This time around I'll have enough frozen ginger to last me several months.

Re the carbonation, etc. ... I've found that I don't need to bother to go on to the next step. I drink my soda like this straight out of the plant jar all the time and I'm perfectly happy with it, just adding these extra quick and very easy steps below:

- pour out 1/4 C ginger soda plant into a large glass
- add 1 T lemon juice (I juice several once a week or so and keep in fridge in a jar, easy)
- long squirt of agave nectar
- several ounces water to top up the glass
- stir the above

It's more a lemonade with a hint of ginger ale and I love it! It's the most refreshing thing I drink now and I feel good in my tummy. I also like the feeling that I'm getting the beneficial intestinal flora in and via a reliable drink. I've never had consistent luck with Rejuvelac but this seems to keep fresh-tasting and keeps going on and on! I suspect that it helps to not only to use peeled, organic ginger but to wash the jar and to strain out the old "food" once a week.

The soda fizzes and bubbles as it pours or when you shake the jar just like regular corbonated drinks would, though that effect doesn't last as long with the plant as it is (i.e., without bottling and exposing it to that pressure). But it fizzes enough to be interesting.

Good luck! :)

[Diana Cda]

Resurrecting an old thread here ... <g>

I just threw that old soda plant out. I'd forgotten about it in the fridge. Though it still smelled good, I didn't want to risk it. I'm starting a new batch this morning.

I'm planning to buy more ginger as I only have one piece at this time, and I'll freeze it in spoonfuls like before. That worked really, really well and made life quite easy. This time, I'd like to freeze even more, perhaps a large jar of ginger.

Here's the trick I learned from the cooked-food chef, the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, from the food network re freezing small items such as berries. This works well for portioned teaspoon-fuls of grated things like ginger. I peeled and grated the ginger then put a parchment sheet on a cookie tray then dropped teaspoon-sized portions spaced out all over the tray and popped into the freezer. In a few hours and once frozen, then dropped these frozen ginger "nuggets" into a jar and closed the jar and put in the freezer.

This technique works really well for berries. If you've ever just dumped a bag of blueberries into a jar then fought to take out only a small amount once they're frozen, this works really well as they stay pretty separate when frozen by themselves in this way, without clumping.

Cheers.

[Diana Cda]

I still have my new batch, though I'm _still_ forgetting to have it on a regular basis. I've not forgotten to feed it every weekend, so I'm getting there. My goal, though, is to have a glass of this every day and, so far, am remembering a couple of times a week. I'm currently trying to quicken my "curing" of my severe anemia. I'm hypothryoid and have had serious anemia for several years. Now that I'm 100% raw, it's coming along but I should take my iron tablet with an acid drink so this week doing better as I'm making my Lemon/Soda Plant drink (see below) and taking a tablet so I'm getting in the habit.

I'm "cheating" with the tablets since it's just to get me out of the deficiency a little quicker (I hope). Then I'll leave off. The raw food diet is so fantastic, of course, so I'm feeling pretty great despite test results and I know that now it's just a question of time.

But the soda plant is good for the stomach anyway. I think it's a good thing to do every day on top of all the rest I'm doing <g>.

My favourite way to prepare it is very easy, if I didn't already say so. I just take 1/2 cup of the soda plant and put it in a Magic Bullet blender cup (because of my sweetener).

Then I add about 2 T of date paste and 1 T of lemon juice. That may seem a lot of sweetener but I've found that less doesn't satisfy the same way. It doesn't taste as good (to me). Mind you, my date paste has water in it from the soaked dates so it's exactly a date paste but rather more like a date-and-soak-water paste! <g>

I whiz it up in the Magic Bullet and drink it right out of the cup. If you're using agave nectar or other smooth sweetener, just stirring the drink up with a fork would work as well.

I'm looking to see what other drinks I can make but this one is easy since I keep lemon juice on hand all the time as well as the date paste.

As soon as I finish one Magic Bullet cup-full of date paste (takes a few days), I put dates into a clean Magic Bulllet cup then fill with water and leave out for a few hours. Then I whiz that up and cover, then put in the fridge.

I buy about 6 lemons a week and juice them manually then put in a covered jar in the fridge.

So the drink is quick and easy to make. :)