Fermented Lemonade – Amazing Recipes From The World

Sima, Smreka, Chanh Muoi, Peri-Peri, Indian Mint Lemonade and the unique Brazilian Lemonade with Condensed Milk.

You know how the saying goes right?

“If life gives you lemons, make fermented lemonade with them!”

So that’s exactly what we are making today in this article.

We are going to take some well known lemonades of the world, zest them, spice them and ferment them up a little.

A little change, a twist, some zing, are often all it takes to transform a very common ( some would say rather boring ) drink into something your guests will compliment you for.

Before we get started let’s get the obvious out of the way.

Lemonade, the real thing I mean, is made with freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar, water and sometimes flavouring agents like herbs or spices.

On top of that home made lemonade can be drunk as is or made into a more concentrated syrup to dilute in water or soda.

That’s it: no numbers, no preservatives, no nasty chemicals.

So if all you drank so far came from a bottle or a can, there is a chance this article will change your life forever..

Well, your lemonade life at least…

If you can, choose organic lemons, especially if you plan to use the zest too, and organic or wild foraged herbs.

The type of lemon does not matter; use whatever you have and like

Sugar wise the choice is 100% yours and if you are willing to play with different varieties your lemonade will “show” it.

In fact, each and every one of them will leave its flavour footprint in the drink, so feel free to be adventurous.

Right, on with the recipes.

IMPORTANT: for the lemonades on this page please use plastic bottles only.

Oh…whilst you are here check these other AMAZING RECIPES we shared.

→ Blaand: the alcoholic wine made with whey
→ Ginger Beer: wild fermented and delicious
→ Beetroot Kvass & Bread Kvass right from Russia

SIMA – Finnish fermented lemonade

Sima is so nice and refreshing you will just keep making it over and over again.

Plus, making it, is as easy as dropping all the ingredients in a jar and let them do their thing, so why not?

*** to be able to use the recipe for any amount you desire follow these proportions: 1-2 lemons + 2 heaping tablespoons of sugar + 10-15 raisins for every litre/quart of water ***

INGREDIENTS

• Water
• Organic Lemons
• Sugar
• Sulphite free raisins

STEPS

1. Heat up the water and pour the sugar in it to dissolve
2. In the meantime peel the zest off 1 whole lemon
3. Juice all the lemons
4. When water has cooled to room temperature add lemon juice and zest
5. Stir and pour into a sealable glass jar
6. Add the raisins
7. ( optional ) add some starter
8. Seal and allow to ferment for 48 hours at room temperature
9. Shake the jar vigorously a couple of times per day
10. Bottle and refrigerate

TIPS

The starter can be anything you have handy: water kefir soda, ginger bug, sourdough starter and so on.

As you have noticed from the recipe it is not mandatory, but if you use it, it will kick start and fast track the fermentation.

On the other hand, if you chose not to use it, the yeasts living in and on the raisins will have to do all the work by themselves.

Not a big deal really, it will just take a little longer.

After 48 hours of fermentation your sima lemonade will still contain a decent amount of sugar.

If you like it on the sweet side you can start enjoying it, on the contrary, if you like it better with a tangier taste ferment for additional 48-72 hours.

Keep tasting it and when it is close to how you like it refrigerate it to almost completely stop the fermentation process.

For a fizzier result just add half a teaspoon of sugar in every bottle; it will carbonate the Sima beautifully.

DO YOU FEEL LIKE A VERY SPECIAL SIMA LEMONADE?

Try adding some hop or hazelnut catkins during or after fermentation.

You will completely transform the drink into a much more complex and layered one, where the bitter aftertaste will make you ask for more.

Out of this world.

CHANH MUOI – the salty Vietnamese lemonade

The very famous Vietnamese salty lemonade is all based around the preserving slash fermenting of the lemons in a salty brine.

You are meant to cut the lemons in 4 without separating the slices completely, add some salt inside each of them and placing them in a jar to ferment.

The whole process lasts about 3 weeks at Vietnamese temperatures.

The method is awesome if one intends to preserve winter lemons and use them in summer, but quite lengthy if we intend to drink our salty lemonade asap.

So here is our cheat method.

PRESERVING THE LEMONS

INGREDIENTS

• Organic lemons
• Salt

STEPS

1. Wash the lemons and pat dry them with some paper towel
2. Remove both ends of each lemon
3. Cut every lemon into very thin slices
4. Take a jar and sprinkle salt on the bottom
5. Form a 2 cm / 1inch thick layer of lemon slices over the salt
6. Sprinkle some more salt then form another layer of lemons
7. Continue layering until you run out of lemons
8. Salt must be the last layer
9. Seal and leave it at room temperature for 3-4 days
10. Shake and turn the jar upside down a couple of times per day

At this point the salt should have pulled out a decent amount of juice from the lemons and it should be very visible inside the jar.

PREPARING THE SALTY LEMONADE

With all probabilities there will be still a lot of juice trapped inside the lemon slices so this is what I advise you to do.

• Take a colander and filter the salty brine
• With your hands squeeze the lemon slices to extract the juice

Depending on your preference and on the type of lemons you decided to use ( some are very bitter ) you can either discard the peels or blend them.

• Once blended add them to the salty juice you have collected
• Place the jar in the refrigerator

So now, every time you feel like drinking some delicious salty lemonade you just need to do this.

11. Prepare as much water ( I suggest sparkling water or soda ) as you need
12. Add some salty lemon juice ( and pulp ) to taste
13. That’s it!

One of the most delicious lemonades full of beneficial electrolytes at your disposal.

Trust me, it’s not by accident that this salty lemonade is so famous all over the world

Portuguese PERI-PERI lemonade

This quite uniquely flavoured lemonade is exceptional at cooling you down when it’s hot and, thanks to its mature flavour, it also becomes the perfect soft drink for any meal.

As you might know Peri Peri is a type of quite hot chilli, specifically African Bird’s Eye chilli, that is mainly grown in Mozambique and in other African countries.

But is now available all over the world and is widely known thanks to a famous brand of hot sauces.

Obviously, for our special lemonade you can use ANY hot pepper you like.

In this recipe we are going to prepare a “lemonade concentrate” that you can refrigerate and use at your convenience.

INGREDIENTS

• Lemons
• Lime
• Sugar
• Honey
• Salt
• Peri Peri chillies ( or any hot pepper you prefer )
• Fresh coriander ( cilantro ) or mint leaves

STEPS

1. Juice lemons and limes
2. Pour the juice into a container
3. Add 1 tablespoon of honey and one teaspoon of sugar for every lemon you juice
4. Mix well to dissolve honey and sugar
5. Add 1 pinch of salt for every lemon you juice
6. Mix well
7. Slice the peri peri chillies and add them to the mix
8. Seal the container and let it ferment for 3-5 days at room temperature
9. Refrigerate

Serve with sparkling water or soda, a generous amount of ice and a few mint or coriander leaves to garnish.

A word of caution

Peri-Peri hot peppers are actually pretty hot, habanero-like hot, to give you an idea.

If you are not used to climb that high on the scoville ladder this is not the moment to be a hero.

Start with minuscule amount of peri peri or move down the scale and swap chilli completely for a milder variety.

SMREKA – the Balkan juniper lemonade

The original recipe of Smreka produces an infusion rather than a fermented lemonade, so we, being the ferment-aholics we are, took some liberties and mixed things up a bit.

In this recipe we will prepare the fermented juniper drink first then magically transform it into a lemonade.

The taste of juniper berries can be quite intense, therefore I advise you not to go overboard with the first batch.

You can always use more more berries in the future brews.

IMPORTANT: only wild forage the juniper berries if you are sure about what you are doing. If in doubt, for your own safety, purchase them from a trusted seller.

And now let’s prepare Smreka.

INGREDIENTS

*** use a small handful of juniper berries + 2 tablespoons of sugar for every litre/quart of water ***

• Juniper berries
• Sugar
• Water

STEPS

1. Mix water and sugar and stir do dissolve
2. Place the juniper berries in a jar
3. Pour the water and sugar mix on top
4. Stir vigorously to incorporate oxygen
5. Seal the jar
6. Let it ferment for 2-3 days at room temperature
7. Refrigerate

TIPS

For a more prominent juniper taste crack some berries before adding them to the water.

During fermentation make sure to shake the jar at least once or twice a day.

And once it’s completed taste the Smreka: ideally you would want it to still taste somehow sweet without being too sugary.

If it is on point you can refrigerate and use it any time you desire to make some lemonade ( or any other drink you like of course ).

To complete our Smreka lemonade recipe:

8. Prepare some ice in a glass
9. Add soda or sparkling water
10. Add as much lemon juice as you like
11. Add 2-3 rosemary leaves or some fresh thyme
12. Fill up the glass with chilled fermented smreka

ENJOY!

P.S. I am sure you have already guessed how good it would be with some added vodka or mixed in a fermented cocktail, right?

Indian fermented lemonade with MINT

The idea of using mint in lemonade is very tested, very solid and very delicious.

As we don’t really like to be “too normal” we dug, browsed the world and travelled to the beautiful continent of India to find a quite peculiar mint lemonade.

And to make things more our own we also fermented it.

*** to use this recipe for any amount use the following proportions: 1-2 lemons + 2 tbsp of sugar + a handful of mint leaves for every litre/quart of water ***

INGREDIENTS

• Lemons
• Sugar
• Salt
• Mint
• Water
• Some starter ( optional )
• Ground black pepper
• Cumin seeds

STEPS

1. Warm up some water on the stove and add the sugar
2. Mix well to dissolve it
3. Juice the lemons and pour the juice in a blender
4. Wash mint and add it to the lemon juice
5. Blitz until mint is finely chopped
6. Empty the blender into a jar
7. When water has cooled down pour it in the jar
8. ( optional ) add some starter
9. Stir well
10. Cover the jar with paper towel
11. Leave it on the counter for 24 hours
12. Stir vigorously
13. Seal the jar and ferment for 2-3 days at room temperature
14. Refrigerate

When you are ready to drink this oriental mint lemonade you can enjoy as it is or dilute with sparkling water or soda.

Serve it this way

15. Fill up a tall glass halfway with ice
16. Add a pinch of black pepper
17. Add a few cumin seeds
18. Cover the ice with sparkling water or soda
19. Fill up the glass with your cold fermented mint lemonade
20. Garnish with a couple of mint leaves

Memorable drink, believe me.

Lastly, a “bonus lemonade” from Brazil, that is not fermented but is so quirky we could not leave it out.

Brazilian lemonade with CONDENSED MILK

Yes you read that right.

This lemonade, actually it’s a limeade, mixes citrus and condensed milk in a very very unique drink.

To make it the Brazilian way you really need a high speed blender as you will have to blend the whole lime.

You will also need a pitcher or a jug in which you’ll serve the limeade as soon as you made it: this drink, in fact, needs to be consumed very quickly.

***The recipe will produce about 2 litres – ½ a gallon of lemonade***

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 L / 5 cups of water
• 150 gr / ½ cup of condensed milk
• 6 limes and 1 lemon
• Ice cubes

STEPS

1. Take your pitcher and fill it to 1/3 with ice
2. Peel off some of the zest of the lemon and drop it the pitcher
3. Juice the lemon and 1 lime and pour the juice in the pitcher
4. Place condensed milk and 5 limes in the blender
5. Blend very very shortly ( no more than 15 sec )
6. Strain the mix right in the pitcher
7. Stir and serve immediately

TIPS

LET’S TALK LIMES.

Lime peel can be incredibly bitter and it becomes even more bitter when blended for a long time.

That is why it’s paramount that you ONLY blitz them for a few seconds.

If you are unsure and are afraid you won’t like a bitter-ish limeade use only the juice and discard the peel.

All you need to do is blend condensed milk and lime juice together then pour everything in the pitcher.

Problem solved and Brazilian limeade saved!

For a more complex and layered flavour reduce the amount of condensed milk to a half and add 40 grams or 3 tablespoons of a dark natural sugar ( panela, muscovado.. ) to the blender.

So here they are.

The coolest 5+1 lemonades to enjoy this summer.

Which one will you be making first?