This low-calorie soda (60 to 80 calories in a 12-ounce can) falls somewhere between kombucha and less-sweet sodas such as the aptly named GUS (Grown Up Soda). Its hook is the use of fermented juices as its base, resulting in a more complex flavor than sodas and sparkling waters based on plain juice.
$1.25 at Whole Foods. I’m in.
My interest in fermented foods partly derives from learning about a similar product. At a Fancy Food Show a few years ago, I learned about someone who wanted to develop a high-end non-alcoholic alternative to wine. He found he couldn’t get enough complexity without fermentation. That emphasized to me how our food preferences — in this case, a desire for complexity — push us to eat fermented foods.
Is carbonation itself a substitute for fermentation? The tingle from kombucha feels a little bit like carbonation.
That’s because the tingle from Kombucha *is* carbonation.
You also get the same carbonation from normal yeast ferments, using whey, and kefir-water grains.
If you really want to answer your own question, try drinking some club soda and see what you think.
Then shake some kombucha to make it go flat – but keep it cool, and try that.
There is simply no comparison, and that is why so many “gourmet” foods, the world over, are fermented.
Ikea sells a fermented pear soda. The food department manager in the area store told me it’s very popular and they have a hard time keeping it on the shelves.
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