What is a ginger bug starter? How do you make a ginger bug? What is a good ginger bug recipe? What can you use a ginger bug for? I’ve done some research and a lot of experimentation and I want to share with you what I found out!
What is a ginger bug?
If you make a fermentation starter from water, ginger, and sugar is called a ginger bug. By adding sugar and ginger, and feeding it often, you allow a wild colony of bacteria and yeast to grow there.
What can you use a ginger bug for?
A ginger bug can be added to a beverage to kick start the bacterial process. This means you can make sodas from things like juice or tea using the wild bacteria that you wrangle into your starter.
Can a ginger bug grow botulism?
Botulism cannot grow in an acidic environment. Fermentation creates an acidic environment. A pH below 4.6 is considered acidic. If you’re concerned at all, buy some of these pH testing strips for piece of mind. Do what I did, learn as much as you can about food borne illness and safe home food preservation. With a great understand comes confidence. With experience comes competence.
Can you make ginger bug soda?
I sure have! I have used my bug to make many kinds of sodas, starting of course with ginger beer. It’s easy once you know how.
Ginger bug root beer?
Root beer is my second favorite option for making soda with a ginger bug. Root beer is a tea that can be made with sarsaparilla, sassafras, licorice root, ginger and many other healing herbs. You sweeten it with sugar and inoculate it with your ginger bug and ferment it. There are many other ways to make root beer as well. Using a bug is a traditional fermented root beer method.
Ginger bug uses?
Ginger bugs can be used for making soda of course, but it can also be added to soda water for a quick drink. You can toss it in to any recipe where you’d like a little sweetness and spicy ginger added. It goes well in a stir fry sauce. If you have a stomach ache or a sore throat, taking a spoonful of ginger bug straight out of the jar can help. Probiotics and concentrated ginger. Win win. Try using it to start a fermented applesauce, you won’t be sorry you did.
Homemade ginger bug.
A ginger bug is so easy to make at home. It only takes 3 ingredients and one of those is water! The hands on time is very minimal and it’s a very forgiving “pet” to keep. Like with a sourdough starter, a ginger bug recipe needs some attention and maintenance. However, there is a huge range of acceptable ways to care for and maintain it.
Ginger bug soda recipe.
Homemade fermented sodas are great. Once you understand the basics of how a ginger bug works you can try experimenting with different sodas. If you want to start with a basic ginger beer, check out my post How to Make Homemade Ginger Beer.
How to start and maintain a ginger bug.
Ingredients, Day 1 to Start
- About 2 Tablespoons chopped or grated organic ginger
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups water
Ingredients, For Regular Feedings
- 2 Tablespoons chopped or grated organic ginger
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
Equipment
- pint size mason jar like these
- measuring spoons, I use this kind
- grater or sharp knife
- cloth, coffee filter or loose fitting lid like these
- rubber band, if using the cloth of coffee filter
Get started!
Finely chop or grate ginger, no need to peel it. You can wash it first if it’s dirty, just make sure to use cool water. Too hot of water will kill some beneficial bacteria.
Dissolve 2 tablespoons sugar into 1 cup water. You can easily double this if you know you have a recipe you want to try that will use a lot. You won’t need to double the feedings though, just this starting batch.
Add the 2 tablespoons ginger and stir well. I like grating my ginger, but when I feel too lazy to wash my grater I just chop it really fine with a knife instead.
The hard work is done!
Cover with cloth or coffee filter and rubber band. I used to always use a coffee filter but now I more often use a reusable plastic lid that fits a mason jar. These are great for everything except holding liquid in when your jar tips! This is what makes them perfect for this application. Fermentation causes gases and you don’t want to trap them in the jar. using one of those plastic lids lets gasses escape, but keep fruit flies out of my bug.
Ferment, stirring at least a couple times a day. I stir daily when getting my bug started, but I don’t always stir daily after it’s established. I think stirring is a great way to get to know your bug as it’s growing. If you are new to fermentation I recommend checking in with all your ferments at least once a day.
Watch for signs of fermentation. Bubbles on the surface, ginger floating up and down, fizzy sound when stirred. Usually about 1-4 days. Open the jar, inspect, stir, inspect again. Don’t forget to smell and listen! Take it in with all your senses.
Now move on to maintenance mode.
After it becomes fizzy and active, feed 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of ginger to it everyday. Stir often. Use it to start ginger beer or root beer anytime after it becomes active and bubbly.
When using your bug, save at least 2 tablespoons liquid starter liquid to add to your new ginger bug so you won’t have to start building your bacteria colony from scratch. For your new batch, follow the same instructions above, but just also add the 2 tablespoons reserved ginger bug starter as well.
What if it isn’t bubbly?
Most ferments will be pretty active for a period of time right when they get going. After that, the bubbles will mellow out and not be so showy. This doesn’t mean you killed your ginger bug. They are really hard to kill! Stir it and then listen to it, that’s the best way to tell if it’s still active. You will be able to hear the gentle bubbles. It’s alive!
Do I have to feed this thing everyday forever?
Until it’s well established, I feed my starter daily or every other day. If you don’t need it, you can move it to the fridge. When you want to make soda you will need to plan ahead and pull it out of the fridge and feed it for a couple of days to get it going again.
In reality, I’m not really following the recommended care schedule.
To be honest, I keep a ginger bug on my counter and I barely ever feed it. Before neglecting it I already had the bug well established. It doesn’t grow mold. I stop by and say hi to it sometimes. Give it some sugar and ginger. I smell and listen to it often. Take a spoonful of it when my stomach hurts. Use a teaspoon or two to start my fermented applesauce (post on that coming soon!). My bug is forgiving and always springs back to get ready for soda making with just a couple days of feeding.
Don’t ever be discouraged because you think something will take too much time and effort. Most information out there isn’t covering the realistic way we can grow and use this in our home. Find a way that works with you and your schedule. This can be done!
How to Start and Maintain a Ginger Bug
Equipment
- glass mason jar, 1 pint
- measuring spoons
- grater or sharp knife
- cloth or coffee filter
- rubber band
Ingredients
- Ingredients Day 1 to start
- About 2 Tablespoons chopped or grated organic ginger
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 cup water
- Ingredients For regular feedings
- 2 Tablespoons chopped or grated organic ginger
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
Instructions
- Finely chop or grate ginger, no need to peel it.
- Dissolve 2 tablespoons sugar into 1 cup water.
- Add the 2 tablespoons ginger and stir well.
- Cover with cloth or coffee filter and rubber band.
- Ferment, stirring at least a couple times a day.
- Watch for signs of fermentation. Bubbles on the surface, ginger floating up and down, fizzy sound when stirred. Usually about 1-4 days.
- After it becomes fizzy/active, feed 2T sugar and 2T ginger to it everyday. Stir often.
- Use ginger bug to start ginger beer or root beer anytime after it becomes active and bubbly.
- When using your bug, save at least 2 tablespoons liquid to add to your new ginger bug so you won’t have to start building your bacteria colony from scratch.
- For your new bug, follow the same instructions above, but just also add the 2T reserved ginger bug starter as well.
Notes
*If you don’t use it often, you can keep the bug in the fridge after it is established. Just feed it at least once a week.
Hi Lanni, thanks for the great set of instructions. Do you think I’d be able to use frozen ginger for the regular feedings? Thinking of buying ginger in bulk and keeping it until needed for feedings.
Yes! I have a friend that was using frozen ginger and it was working just fine. Brilliant idea!