Natural Juice Soda
Make a fruity, probiotic soda at home with a combination of carrot juice and natural wild yeast fermentation! We use our favourite Nama J2 juicer to prepare fresh juice but you can use any store-bought juice and ferment it for a bubbly, gut-healthy soda sweetened naturally with fruit juice. Use any juice as the base and adjust fermentation time based on your environment.
Takes 6 days 30 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the Juice
- 5 carrots
- 2 apples
- 1 pear
- 1 orange
- 1 lime
For Fermentation
- 1 apple
- 2 oranges
- 1 thumb sized piece fresh ginger
Instructions
- Peel the orange and lime: Remove the outer skins of 1 orange and 1 lime.
- Juice the base ingredients: Using your Nama juicer, juice 5 carrots, 2 apples, 1 pear, 1 peeled orange, and 1 peeled lime. You should yield approximately 600–700ml (2 ½ – 3 cups) of juice.
- Prepare the fermentation jar: Roughly slice 10g of fresh ginger (leave out the ginger if you prefer) and quarter 1 apple and 2 oranges. Add these to a 1-litre (4¼ cups) jar.
- Combine and ferment: Pour the freshly prepared juice into the jar over the prepared fruit and ginger. Close the lid tightly and leave the jar to ferment for 3–5 days.
- Fermentation timing: At room temperature (20°C / 68°F), fermentation takes approximately 3 days. In cooler conditions, it may take up to 5 days.
- Strain and bottle the soda: Once fermented, strain the juice and use a funnel to decant it into 1–2 swing-top lid bottles. Seal the lids securely.
- Secondary fermentation: Allow the bottles to ferment for 3–7 days at room temperature, burping them daily to release carbon dioxide. Burp by opening the lid for 1–2 seconds.
- Fermentation timing: Warmer environments speed up fermentation, while cooler environments slow it down. Monitor the carbonation and taste until it reaches your desired fizziness.
- Refrigerate and enjoy: Once the soda is fizzy and to your liking, transfer the bottles to the refrigerator. The soda will keep for up to 1 week in the fridge.