Fermented Whey Soda
A fun and bubbly way to use up your extra whey from cheese or yogurt making. This recipe is simple, cost effective, and great for your gut thanks to the lacto-fermentation.
Equipment
- 1 Gallon sized mason jar
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 Funnel
- 8 16 oz swing top bottles
Ingredients
- 1 cup whey (Here's my Raw Milk Yogurt Recipe!)
- 1 quart juice (any flavor of choice) fresh squeezed or bottled
- ¾ cup sugar (or honey) *see notes
- 2-3 quarts filtered water
Instructions
- In a gallon sized jar, add 1 cup of whey, 1 quart of juice (any flavor), and ¾ cup sugar (or honey) *See notes.
- Fill the rest of the jar with cool filtered water (about 2 ½ quarts) Mix gently with a wooden spoon until fully combined.If you don't have a gallon size jar, you could use a very large bowl to combine everything.
- Once combined, use your funnel to add the mixture to your swing top bottles, (can also use mason jars here, if they seal well).
- Leave the jars on the counter to ferment for 2-7 days, until they carbonate.
- During the fermentation period, burp and mix the jars once per day. To do this simply open the top to release pressure. You’ll notice it getting more and more carbonated every day. Once you close the lid gently, tip the jar over 3-4 times to keep mixture combined.
- Check them daily because the fermentation time can vary a lot, they will explode if left alone for too long. Once carbonated, store them in the fridge and enjoy!
- *If you see a white film on top of your drinks at any point, don't worry. It's kahm yeast from the fermentation process, gently tip your jars over to re-incorporate is (use caution as they start to carbonate.)
Notes
* The amount of honey or sugar can be adjusted to taste, as some juices are naturally sweeter than others, while some are completely unsweetened. You may need slightly more or less depending on what you use. I don’t recommend going much below ½ cup of sweetener, as a certain amount of sugar is necessary to fuel fermentation and create carbonation
Flavor Recommendations:
- Apple cinnamon - Use apple juice for the flavor, then place a cinnamon stick in the bottles during fermentation time.
- Cherry Vanilla - Use Tart Cherry juice for the flavor, add 1 tbsp of vanilla extract to the mixture. You may need a tad bit more sugar for this flavor as tart cherry juice isn't sweetened. I recommend stepping up to 1 cup of cane sugar.
- Blueberry Lavender - Use the recipe below to make your own blueberry juice, and add a sprig of lavender to each jar.
- Strawberry Lemonade - Use the recipe below to make your own strawberry juice, and add the juice of 3 lemons to the mixture as well.
- Add 3 cups of the fruit you choose (ie strawberries, blueberries, mango, etc) to a stock pot with 4 quarts of water, and ¾ cup sugar. Simmer mixture for 20-30 minutes. Strain out the fruit and pour the juice into your gallon size glass jar. Add 1 cup of whey and then bottle the mixture.