On the ranch a lot of our work outside is during the hottest times of the day and there is no better treat mid day than a cold honey soda, except for the evening ‘DAILY MARGARITA’.
Honey is produced by bees of course, but what we know and love as honey is made only from the ‘honey bee’. Honey is a substance made and excreted by the bees from their consumption of nectar, the sweet liquid produced by flowers to attract pollinators, that the bees in cold months use to help insulate themselves and feed off of. Honey itself will last almost forever, but once water is added raw and unfiltered honey has all the yeasts and carbohydrates needed for fermentation.
Once Water is added to honey you open up a world of possibilities. Yeasts; added, present in the atmosphere, or in the honey itself will feed off of the carbohydrates and will produce carbon which is what makes what we think of as soda. Most of the time though sodas are force carbonated with C02, but this recipe is a path to producing and capturing that carbon naturally. Being a soda, it is a drink that is a pretty early stage of fermentation, but if left for a longer period would continue it’s process from soda to alcohol, to vinegar.
We love to make honey sodas because they are the perfect template for us to extract and showcase the various endemic plants found here in the high desert southwest and their specific yeasts while supplying us with energy and nutrients. Each flower or fruit untreated will have it’s own world of yeasts present that have evolved with the plant for hundreds of years. Each variation you add will change the ferment and the final product. Some of our favorite things to use in our sodas are ( wild hops, cota, juniper berries, plum blossoms, dandelions, wild roots, bee pollen, y todo )
From our understandings well timed honey, in any form, is very good for us. Almost as good as it tastes. I won’t go too into it, but honey is a pretty magical food and if you are on the fence at all about it I would urge you to dig into why it is so good for you, especially if you are leaning towards an animal based diet.
This soda is a launching point to capture the magic of honey.
NOTE:
For this batch we tried using the blossom from the plant Showy Milkweed ( Asclepias syriaca ). This batch is only for personal use. All milkweed species contain cardiac glycosides, making them varyingly toxic to humans in their raw state. However, showy milkweed is the least toxic and can be eaten when properly prepared.
RECIPE ↴
HONEY SODA
↓ INGREDIENTS
200g Raw unpasteurized honey
1900g Clean well or spring water ( don’t use chlorinated or fluoridated city water )
20g Wild flowers or herbs or nothing
2L Growler or glass jar
↴ METHOD
Fill your glass vessel with all three ingredients listed and top the vessel with an airlock or some breathable fabric and let sit for an hour or so in the sun.
After an hour or so, put a cap on the vessels and shake it or stir it until the honey dissolves into the water. Put the airlock or fabric back on and bring it inside and let it sit somewhere in ambient temperatures out of the sun.
Each day shake or stir the mixture up to 1-3 times and continue to let it sit. The initial fermentation usually takes 2+ days, we like ours 2-4 days. ( Each variation of honey and yeasts present on the flower or material will change the fermentation. )
Once your soda begins to bubble, strain out the herbs, and then transfer the liquid to bottles. ( we use old Budweiser bottles found in dumpsites in the mountains that we cleaned vigorously and cap those, but stoppered bottles work great also )
Allow your beverage to ferment at room temperature capped for another 12 to 24 hours, and then move it to the refrigerator for storage.
Once chilled, your soda will be ready at any point, but we like to let it sit for it to gain carbonation. We like to give it a week in the bottle before drinking. Drink within 9 months.
Like all our recipes are a launching point. When we are making batches we go more by our intuition and taste then we do anything else. Follow the recipe, but also feel free to play around!
