Growing up I moved around quite a bit (well, actually, a lot…13 schools in 12 years!), mostly between California and New Jersey…two completely different places with very different food cultures.
One of my biggest food memories of living in New Jersey (besides the amazing NY style pizza!) was going to our local bagel shop and getting a toasted plain bagel slathered with butter and a bottle of ice cold Orangina. I visited this fall for a high school reunion and took my daughter to the same bagel store for the same treat!
I can vividly remember cracking open the bottle of Orangina and loving the subtle sweetness of the sparkling orange beverage. I realize you can buy Orangina many places but for me, it will always be associated with New Jersey and bagels. It seemed ‘fancy’ to me at the time, a step above other traditional American sodas.
Unfortunately, in the US, the second ingredient in the drink is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. Yuck!!
I have been looking for a way to make a simpler, healthier version at home.
One easy way is to simply mix fresh orange juice with sparkling water. You could also add a splash of grapefruit and lemon juice as well. But I wanted to go even healthier!
I saw in the book Nourishing Traditions that there was a lacto-fermented orange juice recipe of an ‘Orangina’ type drink. This seemed promising. Having a tasty, sparkling orange beverage WITH added benefit of good bacteria, enzymes and vitamins!? Why not! You know, here at Oh Lardy, we love our lacto-fermented foods and all the benefits that come with them!
I gave the Nourishing Traditions recipe a go, but the end result was too salty for me and seemed to be a tad complicated of a recipe for such a simple beverage.
I ended up making my own simple recipe for lacto-fermented orange juice. My daughter absolutely LOVES this drink and I feel it is much better for her than plain juice. It is full of probiotic goodness, deliciously sparkling and subtly sweet.
Lacto-Fermented Orange Juice (an Orangina-like beverage)
- Take 1 quart mason jar.
- Add approximately 2 1/2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice (I cheated and bought the fresh squeezed oj at the store instead of juicing my own)
- Add 1/2 tsp powdered culture starter (or 2 tbsp whey)
- Fill with approximately 1 cup room temperature filtered water, leaving 1 inch or so of headspace.
- Cover tightly , give a quick shake to mix and leave at room temperature for 48 hours.
- Refrigerate and enjoy!
- Be sure to open carefully as gases do build up during fermentation!!
***Update: if your kitchen is warm, it may ferment faster. Look for pressure on your lid and bubbles. 48 hours worked fine in my 70 degree kitchen with halogen under-cabinet lights turned on.
Also, it really should be fresh squeezed orange juice, not from concentrate and not things like the refrigerated 100% juices. They may turn out tasting a bit different. Click here to read more on bottled orange juice.
Variations:
- I did the same process except used all oj (no water). This turned out great, but it fermented much quicker…24 hours. This was a little bit more ‘sparkly’ but I felt I could get more for my dollar by doing the recipe above with added filtered water.
- Instead of all orange juice, you could do a mix of mostly orange juice and add a bit of grapefruit, lemon and mandarin juice to get closer to the Orangina flavor.
- You could easily double this recipe and use a 1/2 gallon mason jar if you wish.
- If you like to imbibe every now and again, this is AMAZING with vodka
For more information on fermenting foods, check out our other posts: health benefits, what are the bugs in our belly, what you need to ferment foods at home, how to use fermented foods and more fermented recipes!
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This sounds great! We just got a shipment of oranges from Florida from my mom. Can’t wait to try
Perfect idea for your oranges! Hope you like it!
I can’t wait to try this! We are building a house on an old orange grove, so this will come in handy. I am so happy to know that it is ok to make it without the salt. I tried NT’s recipe and didn’t like it so much, but this sounds delicious!
Hope you enjoy it! I didn’t like NT’s version either. It was too salty for me.
I’m excited to try this! I’m always getting tons of oranges from my grandma’s orange grove and fermented orange juice sounds amazing!
Hope you enjoy it!
Yum … we love Orangina too, at least when we were in Italy
.. thanks!
You are welcome! Enjoy!
This looks really good! I’m so glad you shared it on Wildcrafting Wednesday, I can’t wait to try it myself!
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This is probably a silly question, but… could I use OJ that I have previously squeezed and frozen?
I have never done that. But I have had success with previously frozen fresh berries for fermented berries. It’d be worth a try! Let me know how it turns out!!
Just made 3 quarts. Can’t wait until it’s “cooked/fermented”. Thanks for making it so easy to get the culture starter and mason jars. I just clicked on your links and ordered them.
You are welcome! Hope you enjoy it!!!
How do you know when it is ready?
I let it ferment 24 hrs using all freshly juiced oranges. There were little bubbles on top. I just checked the taste and it has a sharp taste, somewhat unpleasant. Not like alcohol, more like the difference between sharp and mild cheddar. I left in a warm spot. Did I leave it too long? This is my very first fermenting attempt.
Hmmmm…it shouldn’t taste too sharp. Fermented foods can have a bit of an ‘unpleasant’ taste but my oj did not. I would describe mine as ‘sparkling’. I think It should be fine. It might have fermented fast if it was warm. I let my taste buds be my guide for fermenting…if it tastes truly horrid, I toss it.
It tastes kind of like grapefruit juice. I just skimmed whey off the top of my yogurt without straining (no cheesecloth!). Could that have done it? Thank you for your help!!!
Sounds like it turned out right. Maybe it has a slightly different flavor if there was yogurt in the whey….Hope you like it!
I would love to try this, but am new to lacto-fermented foods… when you mentioned the powdered culture starter, are you referring to one in particular?
I usually use body ecology brand. Good luck!!!
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We’ll be trying this soon! Yum!
I made some today! It is yum! Hope you enjoy it!
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This was my first attempt, drianed the whey, squeezed the oranges, two days later no bubbles, still just tasted like pretty regular OJ nothing sparkly about it. My house is kept pretty cold 69/70 at the warmest, drops to 65 during the day, I left it about 52 hours. Could it need more time? I put it in the fridge now just because I don’t know what to do, can I take it back out and let it sit, maybe put it near a heater for a day?
Maybe leave it out one more day? It should still be fine to drink. I have 3 quarts on my counter now that are going on 24 hours underneath halogen cabinet lights and, while there are no visible bubbles, the canning lid is bursting with pressure.
just giving an example of the quirkiness of fermenting!
Fermenting is such a quirky thing! Sometimes you just have to try again. I have a friend who has been fermenting for 10 years and for whatever reason, she can not get things to ferment with whey in her house. She has tried everything. She has fermented things at other people’s houses with whey just fine. She thinks it is something weird with her house’s microbial environment.
Not saying you can’t ferment with whey
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I love this recipe! I’ve done kefir soda and kombucha and this is by far the easiest! Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks!
We’ll be trying this soon! Yum!
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I attempted this and it tastes bad to me (tastes like oj gone bad), am I just not used to fermented foods?
Maybe? Fermented foods do have a touch of a ‘gone bad’ flavor. People who are used to very sweet things may find that difficult at first. I do find the orange juice is one of the easiest to start with. Hmm…it shouldn’t taste like oj gone bad…just like less sweet but sparkling oj. Did you use fresh squeezed orange juice? (as in you squeezed oranges yourself?) Many store bought orange juices have been pasteurized and you will not get a consistent result fermenting it.
yes- i squeezed fresh organic oranges- it doesn’t taste sparkling to me at all
Might have to give it another try…maybe my kitchen was too warm and it over fermented?
Possibly! That is one of the quirks of fermenting…sometimes things go bad and it is hard to figure out why! Good luck! Hopefully it works out for you next time as it is pretty delicious!
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Finally getting to try this. I used the Vitamix and not a juicer, so it’s pulpier than a straight juice would be. Looking forward to the results. I’m not quite ready to DIY kombucha yet but the store-bought is $$, so this would be a great substitute.
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Let me know how that turns out with the pulpy juice! Sounds delicious!
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