Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
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
-
Mix all ingredients together in a 1 gallon glass jug.ย
-
Cover and leave on the counter for 2 days and then transfer to the refrigerator.ย
-
The lemonade flavor improves over time, but is drinkable immediately after the 2 day fermentation period.
-
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
I am wondering why you don’t cover the bottle with coffee filter or cloth so the lemon/lime solution could breathe like kombucha?
Just wondering after I bottle the lemonade. Does it have to be refridgerated? Or can I put it in the pantry? I bottled and forgot about it probably an extra 4 days. Or can it be bottled and put in a freezer?
It needs to be refrigerated after bottling. It’s probably fine if you left it in the pantry for only 4 days though. Just make sure it is really cold before you open it. Also, open it in the sink in case it froths over.
Thanks for the recipe. I’m so going to try this soon. One question though, can I leave the lemon peels in it during fermentation? And can I use the leftovers from the first fermentation to start a new batch?
Don’t leave the lemon peels in during fermentation as this would greatly increase the chances for mold. And no, you can’t use the leftovers to start a new batch for this particular recipe like you can with some other fermented drinks.
My question is this why couldn’t you add kombucha or jun to your lemonade or orangena instead of filtered water?
I never would have thought to pair nutmeg with lemon/lime, but I just drank my first glassful and wow – it’s so delicious! I made mine with kefir whey, as I’m just starting out on the fermented foods journey.
Hi Sarah,
I love your blog and videos
You state that the fermentation process uses up the sugar or digests it during the process…can you tell me how many carbs are left in an ounce of Kombucha or fermented lemonade or cabbage etc. I am on a cellular healing diet which promotes fermented foods as well and have lost 42 pounds in 2 months but I need to be able to count my carbs and protein as I progress to through the phases.
Thanks for what you do!
Deb
I have been making this for awhile. However, I’ve been sick for 14 days- bacterial sinsus etc. The whey I used didn’t have any mold in it. Didn’t smell funny. Everytime I drink my lacto-lemonade my throat hurts. I took my first dose of antibiotics yesterday and my throat stopped hurting and gland swelling went down- until I had a glass of lacto-fermented lemonade (same batch). I think my glands swelled back up and my throat started hurting.
Am I paranoid or could there be a bacterial ‘overgrowth’ in the lacto fermented lemonade that gave me a respiratory bacterial infection?
One guess is that you react ot dairy… I would try to work without dairy – and or check if there is a candida issue in the background… Am aware that you posted this quite a while back… but keep us up-to-date if you resolved it or found solutions. Thanks!
for how long can hindu lemonade be stored in refrigerator