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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Recipes / Drink Recipes / Beverage Recipes / Fermented Beverages / Lightly Cultured Honey Lemonade

Lightly Cultured Honey Lemonade

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

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Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Which Honey to Use?
  • Fermentation Options
  • Comparison with Organic Store Lemonade
  • Cultured Honey Lemonade

A simple recipe for honey lemonade that is lightly fermented for a beneficial probiotic effect that adds to the tantalizing sweet-sour flavor.

fermented honey lemonade in crystal pitcher with plant background

I’ve been making fermented Hindu lemonade for many years.

Recently, however, I’ve adjusted the recipe to sweeten with raw honey instead of unrefined cane sugar (sucanat).

There are two benefits to making lemonade with honey.

First, the beverage becomes legal for those on a gut healing diet like “Full GAPS” or SCD.

Secondly, you can reduce the amount of fermentation medium (in this case, raw whey) because raw honey adds a probiotic element that facilitates fermentation.

During the hot summer, a lightly fermented beverage is so welcome to sip for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. It really is energizing!

This honey lemonade is lovely during meals as well. The probiotics and enzymatic effect facilitate the digestion of cooked foods.

Which Honey to Use?

I recommend orange blossom as the tastiest type of honey for this particular beverage.

However, if you don’t have it available locally, any mild-tasting raw honey (such as wildflower) will work well.

While raw manuka honey is highly therapeutic as a natural antibiotic, I don’t recommend it for this beverage as the flavor is quite strong.

I also suggest using liquid raw honey only. This guide on how to source honey locally may prove helpful.

While homemade creamed honey is tasty, it does not dissolve as well in water.

Fermentation Options

If you do not tolerate raw whey, leave it out and increase the lemon juice to 1.5 cups.

In addition, leave the honey lemonade on the counter for only one day instead of two.

This substitution will only slightly ferment the beverage…less so compared with using the whey.

Comparison with Organic Store Lemonade

To further illustrate why you should make your own lemonade, I did a quick comparison between this honey lemonade recipe below and organic store lemonade made with simple ingredients (filtered water, organic sugar, organic lemon juice concentrate, organic lemon flavor).

Commercial versions contain roughly 23 grams of carbs (as refined sugar) per 8-ounce glass.

By comparison, this homemade honey lemonade only has about 17 grams of carbs (as unrefined sugar) per cup. This is roughly 26% less.

What’s more, the mineral-rich sweetener is raw as well as fermented, meaning that the blood sugar effects are lessened considerably.

Organic store lemonade also has no probiotic or enzymatic benefits by comparison!

cultured honey lemonade in glass pitcher
3.67 from 9 votes
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Cultured Honey Lemonade

Simple recipe for honey lemonade that is lightly fermented for beneficial probiotic effect that adds to the tantalizing sweet-sour flavor.

Course Drinks
Cuisine American
Keyword easy, fermented, traditional
Prep Time 10 minutes
Fermentation 2 days
Servings 9
Calories 68 kcal
Author Sarah Pope

Ingredients

  • 1.25 cups fresh lemon juice 4-5 large lemons
  • 1/2 cup raw orange blossom honey or any mild tasting raw honey
  • 2 quarts filtered water room temperature
  • 1/4 cup liquid whey

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a 1-gallon bowl or jug until well blended. Take care to ensure the raw honey is completely dissolved. Using room temperature water makes this process easier.

  2. Cover and leave on the counter for 2 days. Stir once or twice during this time.

  3. Refrigerate in glass jars or bottles until well chilled.

  4. Serve with or without ice (without ice is easier on digestion!)

  5. Honey lemonade will stay fresh in the refrigerator for approximately one month.

Nutrition Facts
Cultured Honey Lemonade
Amount Per Serving (8 ounces)
Calories 68
% Daily Value*
Carbohydrates 17g6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
honey lemonade lightly fermented in a glass bottle with blue background
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Category: Fermented Beverages
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: the bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (4)

  1. wendell

    Jul 14, 2022 at 7:14 am

    5 stars
    Is sourwood honey too strong for this recipe?

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope

      Jul 14, 2022 at 9:05 am

      I’ve not tried this particular type of honey, so can’t say.

    • Maritza

      Dec 9, 2022 at 3:54 pm

      5 stars
      Can you use maple syrup and do you need whey?

    • Sarah Pope

      Dec 10, 2022 at 8:46 am

      The lemonade won’t be fermented without the whey. Yes, you can use maple syrup but the taste will be quite different.

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