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Easy recipe for Hindu fermented lemonade, a lightly cultured traditional beverage to add probiotics and enzymes to any meal.
For those of you who are wanting to take the leap and start adding a daily probiotic element to your whole foods diet, this recipe for fermented lemonade, also called Hindu lemonade, is an all-time favorite of traditional foodies.
It is as easy as it is delicious, pleasing both child and parent alike.
This type of healthy beverage is also the answer to those sugar-laden, juice boxes that most kids have packed in their school lunches every day. Worse, that sugar is frequently a juice blend with added GMO high fructose corn syrup.
Even a 100% juice box is still just sugar in the final analysis. Once you pasteurize fresh juice, the nutrition is long gone and all that remains is obesity-promoting fructose and a sugar spike/crash for the child. Not the best choice for school lunch by any means!
How to Make Hindu Lemonade
Packing this homemade fermented lemonade, on the other hand, is a nice treat that will delight, nourish, and strengthen your childโs immune system.
Fresh whole milk a great choice for a school lunch (when the kids were young, I usually packed a thermos of cold, fresh milk โฆ sometimes I packed sipping bone broth too), but when you have run out temporarily or just want to pack a juice treat, this is a great choice.
Note that using freshly squeezed lemon juice produces the most reliable results. Using pasteurized store juice does work, but you run the risk of mold.
Why is this? Store lemon juice is pasteurized, which eliminates the natural probiotics and enzymes that faciliate the fermentation to โtakeโ properly.
Fermented Lemonade Recipe
Easy recipe for fermented lemonade that will no doubt be one of your familyโs favorites as it is rich in flavor and probiotics.
Ingredients
- 6-8 medium lemons or 1- 1.5 cups of lemon juice (preferably fresh squeezed)
- 1/2 cup sucanat
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg preferably organic
- 2 quarts filtered water
- 1/2 cup liquid whey
- vegetable starter optional. Use if you prefer dairy free starter.
Instructions
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Mix all ingredients together in a 1 gallon glass jug.ย
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Cover and leave on the counter for 2 days and then transfer to the refrigerator.ย
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The lemonade flavor improves over time, but is drinkable immediately after the 2 day fermentation period.
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If it is too tart compared with the overly sweet lemonades from the store, mix 1 or 2 drops plain liquid stevia to each glass until your family adjusts to the mildly sweet/sour flavor.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Limes or a combination of lemons and limes may be substituted for the lemons. The juice must be freshly squeezed.
Reference
More Information
Switchel: Natureโs Healthy Gatorade
How to Make Orangina (Fermented Orange Juice)
How to Make Ginger Ale
Brew Your Own Healthy and Traditional Root Beer
Thank you, I am so interested in reading and learning more about the fermenting. Which you have a lot of info on. I love sucanat, my kids prefer it by far when baking…as do I!
Hi Pavil, best to use sucanat else you are missing out on the wonderful minerals in the whole form of the cane plant.
Good job, Sarah. This sounds like fun.
Question though: What about using modern table sugar? Do bacteria care? If most of the sugar is consumed, do we care?
Hi Holly, a mild raw honey should work here nicely if you are avoiding sucanat. You could even ferment without the sugar completely and perhaps reduce the lemon/lime juice a bit and just add a few drops of stevia to each glass when you serve it.
Hi Sarah,
This looks wonderful. I am on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, is there something I can substitute for the sucanat? Thanks!
Hi Angie, you need to leave 1 inch at the top of the relish for air or the fermentation will fail. Yes, I used a gallon jug as it is easier to shake up without spilling. Just my preference but use a smaller jug if you would prefer.
Sara, you've inpired me and I'm trying very hard to ferment foods. I made the cranberry relish that you linked to and filled the jar to the top, will it still ferment ok or does it need air? I see here that you use a gallon jug but are only making 2 1/2 quarts.
Angie
The 1-2 g of sugar per 8 oz serving would compare the the 30 g or so of sugar in a typical juice box!!!!! No wonder kids drinking 100% juice boxes have the same obesity risk as kids drinking soda!
Hi Anon, the recipe makes approximately 2.5 quarts of fermented lemonade. Using 1/2 cup sucanat for the total recipe, there would be 1.2 tsp sugar per 8 oz glass (4-5 g of sugar). This is BEFORE fermentation. The fermentation uses up most of the sugar, so there would be at most 1 or 2 g of sugar per 8 oz serving after fermentation – I rarely drink a full 8 oz glass at one go, though. It is so hydrating and satisfying that 4-6 oz does just fine.
Now that I know it’s so hydrating I’m going to send it in my foreman husband’s lunch cooler – he’s been working in 116 (real-feel) degree heat and I think this will be great for him!
Hi Sarah,
What a great treat! What is the sugar content like once the fermentation is complete? Is this similar to kombucha in that (almost) all of the sugar is gone by the time its ready to drink? We are pretty sugar sensitive and try to avoid spikes. Thank you!