Dandelion Soda Recipe (Naturally Fermented with a Ginger Bug) (2024)

FAQs

Is ginger bug soda good for you? ›

In the same way the beneficial bacteria in kombucha, yogurt, and kimchee aid digestion, natural sodas made with ginger bug culture support a healthy gut.

The Fermentation Process

Place the dandelion flowers in a clean, sterilized glass jar. Prepare a brine solution by dissolving sea salt in water. The brine should be salty to the taste. Pour the brine over the dandelion flowers, ensuring that they are fully submerged.

Add 1/4 cup ginger bug starter to your mason jar. Fill jar with juice of choice to the neck of your jar. Cover and ferment 3 to 7 days or until it tastes good to you. If you like carbonation, you can move onto secondary fermentation and fill swing top beer bottles with your fermented juice.

The basic recipe for ginger bug drinks

Add that to sweetened tea, lemonade or water in which you simmered a lot of ginger and then sweetened. You can try adding it to juice also. I haven't tried juice because I don't buy juice.

Ginger Bug can be used straight up, in cooking, teas, tonics or added as a flavour to beverages including kombucha, water kefir or other brews. To keep your Bug alive, you will need to feed it regularly. You can also 'rest' it in the fridge and feed it a tablespoon each of ginger and sugar once a week.

Keeping Skin Healthy

The study used a fermented dandelion broth to help repair the skin damage. The results suggest the dandelion broth served as an antioxidant, reduced skin inflammation, and promoted healing of the skin barrier.

Dandelion greens can be eaten cooked or raw and are an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and K. They also contain vitamin E, folate, and small amounts of other B vitamins. Dandelion greens provide several minerals, including iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium ( 1 ).

In the past, dandelion roots and leaves were used to treat liver problems. Native Americans also boiled dandelion in water and took it to treat kidney disease, swelling, skin problems, heartburn, and upset stomach.

Growing your ginger bug starter culture is a 5 day process where you feed your starter daily and let it ferment covered with cheesecloth at room temperature. After 5 days the culture is ready to be used and can be stored refrigerated with a solid lid in-between batches.

Why isn't my ginger bug fizzy? ›

If you're not seeing bubbles after a few days, it's possible your ginger bug was contaminated, had traces of chlorine, or was sterilized by harsh direct sunlight. We'd recommend starting over on your ginger bug.

Once your bug begins to form and bubble and smell slightly yeasty, it's ready to use for making soda. 4. You can either use your bug right away to make soda or keep it in your fridge for up to a week.

To start off your ginger bug you need about three tablespoons of chopped organic ginger. I chopped mine into small pieces, leaving the skin on. Put it in a jar that can hold about a litre of liquid. Add three tablespoons of pure white sugar and two cups of non-chlorinated water.

It is not advisable to drink ginger beer or ginger ale for weight loss. These drinks usually contain high amounts of added sugar. However, drinking or making ginger kombucha or kefir without added sugar may be beneficial. These drinks contain natural probiotic bacteria.

For the Ginger Bug: 2 to 3 tablespoons peeled and diced fresh ginger. 2 to 3 tablespoons granulated sugar. 2 cups distilled or filtered water.

Zevia Zero Calorie Ginger Ale

Based on the nutrition label, this ginger ale is the healthiest with 0 of everything. It's made with carbonated water, stevia, natural flavors, citric acid and ginger extract.

Highlights: Most Healthy Soda

Coca-Cola Life, with 35% fewer calories than leading colas, is considered a healthier soda option. Diet sodas, despite having zero calories, are not necessarily healthy due to the artificial sweeteners used.