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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
Hi!! Loving your blog & learning:) I am just starting to add fermented foods to our diets. I made this lemonade the other day. Drank a little today & my stomach is tight & upset. Would you know why? Do I need to take it slow to get my body used to it? Thanks!!
I just saw the comment by anonymous on Sarah’s presentation skills and must reply that in my opinion Sarah’s style of presentation is perfection. I do not feel talked down to, appreciate that a measured speed allows me plenty of time to absorb the information (and reminds me that taking life at a relaxed pace is healthy,) and delight in hearing a public speaker with immaculate diction. Don’t change a thing!
Sarah,
I agree with Mo. I love your way of presentation. You seem so sincere and friendly.
Your videos are perfect for me to learn. Please do not change anything about them !!
Also, I’m new to the traditional foods and fermentation, etc. , and so it is so helpful when you might repeat something again. I was always afraid to try any of the recipes in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook for years now- really stagnated. – it seemed unattainable or way beyond my knowledge and skills. The way you have presented has helped me to be brave and try some of these ways and foods that I’d not been able to figure out how to make.
I appreciate all of your videos and newsletters. You are awesome ! I have never met you, but you are so wholesome and sharing of knowledge that it seems that I’ve know you all my life … a far away,friend. Thanks so very much for helping me learn very healthful recipes and how to actually make them myself.
I made this with honey. This weekend, I found out that honey doesn’t really ferment ๐ Can I use “Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Sugar” is this like Rapadura? Is this a good choice?
Thanks
That’s what I use – just a quality whole sugar – not white sugar. It works great. I’m going to try honey soon.
Not sure who told you that, but honey ferments beautifully. Just not by itself. In this recipe it would be fine.
Mines been sitting 24 hours and there is a grey cloud at the top which is falling to the bottom. I followed the directions except that my glass jar doesn’t have a lid so I covered it with a towel. Is the air causing a problem or should this be how it looks? THanks!
Sarah, I tried this. It tasted moldy and we didn’t wait the 2 weeks to get into it…what could I have done wrong? I still have it in my refrigerator in case there is a way to fix it. I used filtered well water.
Also, how long will whey stay “fresh” in the fridge? I made about 2 cups or so then realized I only needed 1/2 a cup for the recipe.
do you have a fermented beet recipe that doesn’t involve cabbage?
Thanks,
Jennie
Thanks so much for the post. Great.
Hi Sarah,
I was very excited to make this fermented lemonaide and it fermented pretty well with just a little bubble. But the next two times I made the lemonaide it just did not have that fermented bubbly quality. Do you have any idea why this might have happened?
Thank you,
Abby
P.S. I get so much from your videos plus we are doing the GAPs diet!
My family is in a very slow process of changing over to a “nourishing traditions” lifestyle. We do one major change per month this month is fermentation. Your videos are very helpful, but I am still scared I am going to do something wrong and poison us, this is all so foreign to me. I have some of this lemonade sitting on my counter. I know that you say 2 days on the counter more if it is really cold in the house, what if is really hot in the house? How do I know when it is ready, if it worked or if it is bad? Also, can non organic lemons or non organic nutmeg be used? Not ideal I know, but would it work still? Thank you!