The Good Life: A Guide to Fermenting at Home
Making your own kombucha, ginger beer and coconut yoghurt will save you hundreds – and you'll have barrels of fun too
Haven’t you heard? Acting like your Nan has become the in thing. Jam, marmalade, pickles: it’s all coming back and you too could be a part of the fun. Self-sufficiency is so in vogue. Boycotting supermarkets in favour of local markets does mean you’ll need to get reasonably savvy in the kitchen, but it’s pretty simple to ease into making things for yourself. Plus, your health will likely benefit from a more holistic life approach too.
Buy some bits and pieces
It’s true that sometimes you need to spend a little money to make a little money. Or in this case, to save a little money. Assuming you already have very basic kitchen necessities, you won’t need much else to get started. Easy-to-find items like a large jug, jars of varying sizes (some small, some not so small) and muslin cloth will make your fermentation projects far easier.
If you’re really not keen to buy anything, however, there are substitutes you can make. Where muslin is required, you can use paper towels or a clean, thin tea towel. If a recipe calls for a large jar, recycle one that once housed something else, and so on.
It’s true that sometimes you need to spend a little money to make a little money. Or in this case, to save a little money. Assuming you already have very basic kitchen necessities, you won’t need much else to get started. Easy-to-find items like a large jug, jars of varying sizes (some small, some not so small) and muslin cloth will make your fermentation projects far easier.
If you’re really not keen to buy anything, however, there are substitutes you can make. Where muslin is required, you can use paper towels or a clean, thin tea towel. If a recipe calls for a large jar, recycle one that once housed something else, and so on.
Ginger beer
No other drink cures all ailments quite like ginger beer. It’s also – to my mind – a fabulously bubbly antidepressant for those winter blues, and great with a nip of vodka in the summer.
Ginger naturally settles the stomach and by making it at home you’ll be able to reduce the sugar to an amount that won’t turn your kids into tiny human firecrackers. This recipe is a little more complex than the others because it begins with a pre-fermentation to make a ginger bug: a culture that will add fizz and essential probiotics.
To make it, grate three or four tablespoons of ginger into a medium-sized jar. Add the same amount of white sugar (3-4 tablespoons) and two cups of water. Cover the top with muslin and tie with string to seal from fruit flies. It will take anywhere between five and eight days to activate in a warm, dry space: be careful of mould, though a little bit can be scraped off easily enough. When the mixture starts to fizz, you’ll know it’s ready to use.
Keep the bug alive and it will be able to be used over and over again. Feed it with sugar and ginger – a tablespoon at a time will do the trick.
No other drink cures all ailments quite like ginger beer. It’s also – to my mind – a fabulously bubbly antidepressant for those winter blues, and great with a nip of vodka in the summer.
Ginger naturally settles the stomach and by making it at home you’ll be able to reduce the sugar to an amount that won’t turn your kids into tiny human firecrackers. This recipe is a little more complex than the others because it begins with a pre-fermentation to make a ginger bug: a culture that will add fizz and essential probiotics.
To make it, grate three or four tablespoons of ginger into a medium-sized jar. Add the same amount of white sugar (3-4 tablespoons) and two cups of water. Cover the top with muslin and tie with string to seal from fruit flies. It will take anywhere between five and eight days to activate in a warm, dry space: be careful of mould, though a little bit can be scraped off easily enough. When the mixture starts to fizz, you’ll know it’s ready to use.
Keep the bug alive and it will be able to be used over and over again. Feed it with sugar and ginger – a tablespoon at a time will do the trick.
Making the actual ginger beer requires a few steps and two fermentations. One in a big container to release essential enzymes, and another in a bottle to create carbonation.
For two litres of dry ginger beer you will need:
A big knob of ginger (7-10 centimetres), grated
1/2 cup of sugar (to feed the starter)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 litres of water
1/2 cup of your ginger bug
For two litres of dry ginger beer you will need:
A big knob of ginger (7-10 centimetres), grated
1/2 cup of sugar (to feed the starter)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 litres of water
1/2 cup of your ginger bug
- Dissolve the sugar in about a quarter of the water. Add the grated ginger (skin and all), ginger bug and lemon juice.
- Pour the rest of the water, and this mixture, into a large jug. Cover with muslin and tie with string. Leave somewhere warm and out of direct sunlight for a few days to ferment.
- Strain and bottle the mixture under tight caps. It will need to undergo a secondary fermentation to carbonate (2-3 more days). Refrigerate.
Kombucha
The cornerstone of holistic wellness: at least that’s what you could conclude if you spent even a little time on the internet. Kombucha – or booch – is a gut-health enhancing tonic made from fermented tea, sugar and, if you like, ginger.
To start, you will need to track down a Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast, or SCOBY. This will be the starter for your kombucha. If you’ve never seen one, they look like alien jellyfish. It is possible to grow your own from the dregs of a store-bought bottle of booch, but it’s easier to steal a baby from someone else’s mama SCOBY.
The cornerstone of holistic wellness: at least that’s what you could conclude if you spent even a little time on the internet. Kombucha – or booch – is a gut-health enhancing tonic made from fermented tea, sugar and, if you like, ginger.
To start, you will need to track down a Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast, or SCOBY. This will be the starter for your kombucha. If you’ve never seen one, they look like alien jellyfish. It is possible to grow your own from the dregs of a store-bought bottle of booch, but it’s easier to steal a baby from someone else’s mama SCOBY.
You will need:
3-5 tea bags (black)
1 litre water
Sugar to taste
SCOBY
1.5 cups old kombucha
A small knob of ginger, grated (optional)
3-5 tea bags (black)
1 litre water
Sugar to taste
SCOBY
1.5 cups old kombucha
A small knob of ginger, grated (optional)
- In a large jug, brew tea as you normally would, but with a ratio of one litre of water to three to five tea bags, depending how strong you want it to taste – I usually use four.
- Add about a cup of sugar, dissolve, and allow mixture to cool completely. If you don’t, the SCOBY may burn to its untimely death.
- Plop the SCOBY and old kombucha into the same jug as the tea and cover with muslin. Tie with string to seal.
- Leave in a warm place for a week or so – keep tasting to make sure it doesn’t over-ferment and turn to vinegar. When it tastes good and balanced to you, it’s ready to bottle. Before you do though, add the ginger if you’re using it.
Also before you bottle, make some more tea – exactly as you did before, with sugar and tea bags – and when it’s cold add a little bit of the kombucha you just made and the SCOBY.
You’ll need to keep making the brew to keep your starter alive.
Bottle the rest of your first batch and seal tightly. Then re-ferment under cap to allow for carbonation – this will take around three days. Refrigerate.
You can be pretty cowboy with your ratios after the first batch as long as you’re constantly brewing to keep the culture alive.
Forget paying NZ$6 a pop for a bottle of the stuff at a health food store. Just make it yourself.
You’ll need to keep making the brew to keep your starter alive.
Bottle the rest of your first batch and seal tightly. Then re-ferment under cap to allow for carbonation – this will take around three days. Refrigerate.
You can be pretty cowboy with your ratios after the first batch as long as you’re constantly brewing to keep the culture alive.
Forget paying NZ$6 a pop for a bottle of the stuff at a health food store. Just make it yourself.
Coconut yoghurt
The rise in demand for this probiotic treat seems to be two-fold – the focus on health and lifestyle has gone mainstream and coconut is delicious, something that seems to have only just become apparent to people.
I’m poor, which is why I make my own coconut yoghurt. You may be a millionaire, but you should still make your own – it’s ludicrously easy to do yourself.
The rise in demand for this probiotic treat seems to be two-fold – the focus on health and lifestyle has gone mainstream and coconut is delicious, something that seems to have only just become apparent to people.
I’m poor, which is why I make my own coconut yoghurt. You may be a millionaire, but you should still make your own – it’s ludicrously easy to do yourself.
You will need:
1 can coconut cream
2 tablespoons kefir or store-bought kefir yoghurt
A jar with a lid
With help from Viva
1 can coconut cream
2 tablespoons kefir or store-bought kefir yoghurt
A jar with a lid
- Heat the coconut cream in a pan to about 40 degrees – or so it’s warm to the touch.
- Put it into a jar with the kefir and give it a good shake – with the lid on, obviously.
- Leave in a warm, sunny place for a few of days then chuck it in the fridge to thicken up more.
With help from Viva
Once you’ve mastered this basic recipe, which will no doubt take you very little time to do, you can start playing around with other flavours.
Vanilla is one I’m particularly fond of: it’s an obvious complement to coconut. Scrape the seeds from a vanilla pod and add them into the thickened yoghurt.
Stir through fresh fruit: strawberries, mango or blueberries in summer, and rhubarb or Nashi pear in winter.
You’ll need to keep making the yoghurt, just like the other two recipes, to keep the kefir ticking over. But if you forget about it, or simply get bored of eating it, you can just buy more starter and begin again.
TELL US
What do you think of these home-made fermentation recipes – will you try them yourself? If you do, tell us about your experience in the Comments below.
Vanilla is one I’m particularly fond of: it’s an obvious complement to coconut. Scrape the seeds from a vanilla pod and add them into the thickened yoghurt.
Stir through fresh fruit: strawberries, mango or blueberries in summer, and rhubarb or Nashi pear in winter.
You’ll need to keep making the yoghurt, just like the other two recipes, to keep the kefir ticking over. But if you forget about it, or simply get bored of eating it, you can just buy more starter and begin again.
TELL US
What do you think of these home-made fermentation recipes – will you try them yourself? If you do, tell us about your experience in the Comments below.
Lacto-fermentation is what happens when the natural bacteria in and on our food feed on sugars and starch, creating lactic acid. It’s not only a wonderful preservation technique, but the by-products of this process include probiotics, beneficial enzymes, vitamins and fatty acids. These are all essential for maintaining gut health, and it’s likely that you won’t get enough of them from your weekly supermarket shop.
Try these ideas to start incorporating fermented foods into your diet.