This is based on the elderflower fizz recipes we've been experimenting with- and here's an update on that, too: While just vinegar (no lemon or lime juice) works fine in these recipes, halving the sugar makes them pretty flavourless- which is a bit annoying, but never mind: The drink still did go fizzy- but it just didn't taste very elderflowery- and it did still get drunk!
This mint and lime fizz tastes a lot less sweet than elderflower fizz despite containing the same amount of sugar. It's a really great minimally alcoholic grown up drink- it packs a bit of a punch from the mint and is lovely for sipping in warm weather- or at least, when you're pretending it's warm weather...
Just to go on a bit more about how great these drinks are- I reckon they cost about 15-20p per litre- that's depending whether you use just vinegar or add fresh lemon or lime too- which is pretty good compared to posh soft drinks- and they taste better than those, too! Maybe we need to invest in some posh bottles to show the drinks off rather than reusing the same Aldi cheap pop bottles over and over....
Anyway, on to the recipe!
Have a read of the elderflower fizz recipe for the basic techniques
Ingredients
5 20-30cm stems of mint
1 cup sugar
2l tap water
juice of 1 lime
1tbsp cider or wine vinegar (you can use 2tbsp vinegar if you don't have a lime handy- or use lemon juice)
You will also need
2l clean fizzy drink bottle or 2x 1l bottles
a bowl or pan bigger than 2l
a clean tea towel
string or elastic to hold on the teatowel- optional, but can save you knocking the teatowel into the drink...
A sieve or tea strainer or cloth to strain the bits out of the drink
A funnel for pouring and jug with spout- optional, but helpful get the drink into a narrow-necked bottle.
Method
Put the water, mint (torn up a bit if you like), sugar, juice and vinegar into the bowl
Cover with the tea towel and leave for 2 days. This is where the wild yeasts get into the mix (if there aren't already enough from the mint) to make fermentation start.
Pour the drink through the strainer into the bottle (I pour through a sieve lined with a clean teatowel into a big jug then from the jug into the bottle).
Leave for 3 days-2 weeks at room temperature- release pressure regularly.
Refrigerate and serve chilled.
As ever, when making naturally brewed drinks remember to release the pressure in the bottles regularly, and only give them to children in the first few days after bottling as the alcohol content will rise the longer the yeasts brew the drink. Once you're happy with the flavour, put them in the fridge to slow fermentation and drink them within the next week or two- still remembering to release pressure regularly.
Hmm. This photo doesn't look all that fizzy. But I can promise that mint and lime fizz gets very, very fizzy: Enjoy!
Comments