Scrap Berry Soda
This is a delicious way to give your berries a second life! This naturally fizzy scrap berry soda uses the bits of fruit you might normally throw away, harnessing wild yeast occurring naturally on the skin of berries to create a fruity, refreshing drink with a gentle natural fizz and lots of beneficial probiotics .
Takes 7 days 10 minutes
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 punnet blueberries 125g
- Tops from 1x 250g punnet strawberries
- 1 handful redcurrants or berries of choice
- 100 g caster sugar
- 1 Ll water
Instructions
- Save your scraps: After eating your strawberries, keep the leafy tops and any little bits of strawberry flesh attached. Add them to a clean glass jar along with the blueberries and redcurrants.
- Add the sugar and pour over the water. Give everything a good stir to help dissolve the sugar.
- Cover the jar loosely with a clean cloth or lid that isn't tightly sealed. Leave at room temperature for 2–4 days, stirring once or twice a day.
- You should start to see bubbles forming and the mixture should smell fruity and lightly fermented. The natural wild yeasts present on the organic fruit are what kick-start the fermentation.
- Strain the liquid through a fine sieve, removing all the fruit.
- Pour the fermented berry liquid into a clean, swing top bottle, leaving a little space at the top. Seal and leave at room temperature for another 1–3 days. This second fermentation allows the soda to become naturally fizzy. Make sure to burp each day, meaning just open the lid to release any excessive gas build up and close (this should take approx 1-2 seconds!).
- Once nicely carbonated, and you are happy with the taste, sorry in the fridge to slow the fermentation..
- Serve chilled and enjoy your fizzy, fruity prebiotic soda.