Whydiss

Going to make some ginger beer following this recipe. Now we have to wait 4 weeks until it is ready.

MAKING THE STARTER
In a wide-mouthed, sterilised jar, place 1½ cups rainwater and add one tablesppon of ginger and one of sugar. You don’t have to be exact but be mindful that if you add a lot of ginger you’ll have a strong tasting drink and if you add too much sugar it will be very sweet.

Every day for seven days add the same amount of ginger and sugar and mix it in well. Fermented foods and drinks thrive in aerobic conditions, so make sure you give it a good stir and mix in a lot of air.

Depending on how much natural yeast is floating around your kitchen, by about day three you’ll notice small bubbles appearing in the ginger mix each day when you add the ginger and sugar.

On the seventh day, feed the plant, and using a wire strainer and some muslin, cheese cloth or loose weave cotton, strain the ginger mix through the cloth into a large bowl. Squeeze as much liquid as possible into the bowl.

When all the ginger starter is in the bowl, add four litres of water, 2 – 3 cups of sugar and the juice of two lemons. Mix well until the sugar has dissolved.

Bottle this using plastic bottles and let them sit on the kitchen counter for a couple of days to continue fermenting and develop the fizz again. Then add the tops and put the bottles in the fridge.

If you want to make an alcoholic version of this, add ¼ teaspoon of brewers yeast that you can buy at the local brewing shop.