When it comes to working with liquid, bacteria, sugar, and yeast, Amy Baltzell is into all kinds of things.
Amy: One daughter has to have the kombucha, one son needs a ginger beer. And then of course I need my root beer. So usually I have four or five different, you know, bottles of flavors of things. And I don’t do it just for the particular taste, right? There’s lots of reasons to do it.
For Amy, the biggest reason is health. Fermented non-alcoholic drinks are incredibly beneficial for our gut microbiomes, and these in turn boost everything from immune function to metabolic health and even mental health. Then there’s also the issue of plastics and packaging.
Amy: I’m reusing the glass bottles, I have like 50 glass bottles.
Elspeth: It looks like my house.
Amy: Oh my god, I got bottles everywhere, there's flip tops. Everyone knows, Amy loves a flip top, and you got a cool one that's like different, it's coming my way, and it's like the greatest gift of the world, you know, my flip tops. Anyway, you know I’m not sticking plastics in the world, so I have that.
But maybe the best part of fermenting these drinks, Amy says, is how creative she can be. Today, she’s making a fermented ginger tea and apple cider drink, which starts with what’s called a ginger bug:
Amy: I learned how to make this, I'd say 10 years ago with my son's best friend and he was sitting here and talking about his ginger bug. I said, “What are you talking about? Like I'm I have a scoby for my kombucha. What's a ginger bug?” He's like, “Oh, you take organic ginger….” And it’s really important that it’s organic ginger. Otherwise it won't ferment because all the bacteria's been killed if it's not organic, right? So you have your organic ginger. And do not peel it. Go online, they say peel it. No, all that bacteria is on the skin. Don't peel it. Use it.
I looked into this, and it turns out most of the non-organic ginger that comes into the U.S. is irradiated, which kills all the lactic acid bacteria and wild yeasts on the skin that are the key to kickstarting fermentation.
Amy: Let’s say we start with a quart of water, two tablespoons of diced up ginger, and it really doesn't matter how diced up it is, it doesn't matter sticks or slices, whatever it is, you could just put the whole chunk in there with two tablespoons of sugar. Sugar. Now we're using sugar, you think, oh, it's bad. But the thing is the fermentation, it has to eat the sugar to become alive, you know, and so you're not gonna be drinking all that sugar. The bug's eating up the sugar for you, most of it, right?
Elspeth: Thank you, Bug.
Amy: Thank you, bug. Thank you, bug. And then you leave it in room temperature. Just a mason jar with a top. I like a plastic top. Don't like plastic, but it's good for this purpose. It doesn't rust. Um and everyday you just add a tablespoon or two of sugar and the ginger.
After about four or five days of feeding the bug—a little faster in warmer weather or slower in cold weather--the mixture starts to look cloudy and bubbly—and that’s when you know you’ve got a ginger bug.
Amy: So then you have this beautiful quart of liquid. That's just it's like a think of a sourdough starter, and you can put it in any kind of um, the sky's the limit. Any tea you like you can create into a bubbly drink that's a pre or probiotic.
Today Amy’s made a strong ginger tea by just boiling ginger root in well-water—not chlorinated water—and is mixing it with fresh apple cider in a big gallon jar.
NOISES
Elspeth: So you’ll do like 50% ginger tea, 50% cider or something.
Amy: So you'll do like 50% ginger tea, 50% cider or something. So that's a great question, and sometimes, right? So it might be 50-50, it might be 75 cider, 25. I flipped it, I've done 75 ginger tea, 25. It really depends on your palate and what you like. But the beautiful thing is you can tell. So if you mix it together and you think, oh, like this tastes great, but it tastes really apple-y, cut it. Or it tastes really sweet, cut it.
Once you’ve got the flavor right, you have to think about temperature. The ginger bug needs to stay below 90 degrees or it’ll die—so you add it once the liquid is cooled to room temperature, along with some fresh ginger and a little bit more sugar if your cider isn’t too sweet. Then you cover the top with a dishcloth, put the bottles in a dark spot, because the bacteria don’t like too much light, and you wait. After a few days, you’ve got a bubbling drink that’s ready to strain and pour into single serving size flip top bottles for a secondary ferment—again feeding it with a little more ginger and sugar—and this time trapping the bubbles inside. After another day at room temperature, it's ready to drink.
Amy: And it's crazy delicious. It tastes like um, it just tastes like magic.
I tried it and now my whole counter’s covered in fermenting jars. I’m hooked.
