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A glass of lemonade finished with a garnish of a slice of lemon.

Fermented Lemonade

This easy recipe for Fermented Lemonade is a delicious probiotic drink that uses just 4 ingredients!
5 from 3 votes
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Course: Fermenting and Culturing
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Fermented Beverages, Fermented Foods, Lactofermentation, whey
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Additional Time: 2 days
Total Time: 2 days 5 minutes
Servings: 8 cups
Calories: 62kcal
Author: Dolly | Little Home in the Making

Ingredients

  • ½ - ¾ cup lemon juice strained (5-6 lemons)
  • ½ cup whey or water kefir
  • ½ cup cane sugar
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 5-6 cups cool water

Instructions

  • Pour the freshly squeezed lemon juice through a fine mesh strainer to remove larger pieces of pulp and seed.
  • Add the cane sugar to a heatproof half-gallon jar (or divide it between two quart-sized jars).
  • Pour in 1 cup of hot water, stirring it together with the sugar until it dissolves.
  • Add in about 4 cups of the cool water, stirring to combine.
  • Stir in the lemon juice and whey.
  • Pour in more cool water until the jar is filled to within 1” of the top.
  • Add a plastic lid or pickle pipe (if your home is warm) and secure it.
  • Place the jar in a warm place and ferment for 2-3 days.
  • Once the lemonade has fermented you can add the jar directly to the fridge to chill or decant it into swing-top bottles for single servings.
  • Serve chilled and with ice (if desired). Keeps for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

Notes

Alternative starter cultures: If you don’t have any whey leftover from straining yogurt or kefir, you could use finished water kefir, kombucha, OR ½ cup of ginger bug if you don’t mind a lemon and ginger flavor.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 62kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 7mg | Potassium: 48mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 17IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 0.03mg