Have you walked down the beverage aisle of a grocery store recently? The beverage industry is booming. There seems to be a lot of variety; soda, juice, "vitamin" drinks; but it's essentially all the same nutritionless sugar water in varying colours. It seems people don't know that water is an option to quench thirst anymore. We stopped buying juice a long time ago, and now beverage options in our house are pretty much plain or sparkling water, raw milk, or kombucha, and we recently venture into the world of homemade fermented beverages. Fermented beverages are the perfect substitute for sugary drinks like juice or soda: they're tart, fizzy and very subtley sweet. Don't be put off by the sugar that is called for in fermentation recipes. Most of the sugar is metabolized by good bacteria during the fermentation process, and the resulting beverage packs a big probiotic punch. The addition of whey (and sometimes sea salt) discourages the development of alcohol during fermenting, so the resulting brew has little to no alcohol (similar to kombucha), making it perfect for the whole family. Even Indy loves these tart beverages, and the trick for young children is to introduce them early to familiarize them with the taste. If the taste is too tart for them (or you, for that matter), add a drizzle of raw honey to sweeten it up before serving, or mix with a little fresh squeezed juice at first, until that tart taste becomes more familiar. 

This recipe is from Nourishing Traditions under the name Punch (it is essentially a fermented lemonade, also known as Hinu Lemonade)

You will need:

• 6 lemons
• 1/2 cup rapadura or sucanat
• 1/2 cup homemade whey
• 1/2 teaspoon organic nutmeg
• 2 quarts filtered water

Mix everything together in a glass jar (a one gallon growler is perfect for things like this, pictured above is a half gallon growler, but we transfered the lemonade from another container after we had already drank some, otherwise it wouldn't have fit). Let sit at room temperature for two days, then transfer to the fridge. You can start to drink it right away, but best flavour will develop in a week or two. It will become more tart and more fizzy as time goes on. Give it a quick shake before serving. 

Thank you to our dear friend, Katie, for recommending Lemon Tree Grocer in Downer's Grove the other day. We hit it up on Friday and grabbed some specialty items, including a pint of Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. Can I say enough good things about this artisan icecream? Pronounceable ingredient list, unique flavours (I had brambleberry crisp), and best of all. . .

It's made with grass-fed milk and cream from Snowville Creamery! This is the only grass-fed ice cream that I am aware of. The price is a little steep (10 bucks for a pint at Lemon Tree), but it is totally worth it! If you live in the area, I second Katie's recommendation to check out Lemon Tree, and if not, see if you can at least find a store that sells Jeni's near you, because someone's gotta try the salty caramel and tell me how it is!