Organic Ginger Beer Plant (GBP)

Organic Ginger Beer Plant

The organic ginger beer plant produces a fizzy ginger beer with a great depth of flavour. Packed full of beneficial bacteria, it will often contain a modest amount of alcohol from the fermentation process. 

Organic ginger beer plant dates back to around the 1700’s and is not a plant at all. Instead, it is a living culture. This culture forms a gelatinous cluster which moves about within its jar naturally, and used correctly can allow you to make a lifetime’s supply of authentic, naturally fizzy alcoholic Ginger Beer that used to be commonplace in most UK households.

The ginger beer plant is made up of two organisms, the yeast Saccharomyces florentinus (Saccharomyces pyriformis) and the bacterium Lactobacillus hilgardii (Brevibacterium vermiforme). Ginger beer plant at first looks very similar to water kefir. However, it produces much more alcohol and carbon dioxide than water kefir can, resulting in a much more “beer-like” beverage. At first, it can be difficult to spot the difference between ginger beer plant and water kefir cultures. Ginger beer plant grains never quite get as big as water kefir grains and have a slightly more opaque look to them. The grains look more like a sandy sludge. The culture also grows much slower than water kefir does. Sadly you still find many people selling water kefir as ginger beer plant online. Here at Freshly Fermented we’re happy to sell authentic organic ginger beer plant to our customers.

How is GBP different from Ginger Bug?

Organic ginger beer plant is like Water Kefir in that it is a gelatinous symbiotic colony of microorganisms, in this case a SCOBY of Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces. However, they are different sub species to the ones found in ginger bug and are similar to those found in actual beer production. The main difference is in taste between the two ginger beers produced. GBP has a more tart flavour to it when compared to ginger bug, which produces a much sweeter tasting traditional ginger beer.

Organic ginger beer plant is more of a treat for us rather than something we consume daily. You can expect a batch to range from 2% – 5% alcohol content with some residual sugars left over too. We recommend it be drunk only by adults and if you’re sensitive to alcohol or need to abstain from it altogether, then we don’t recommend drinking it at all. So please be mindful of it. However, if you love ginger beer and want to try your hand at making your alcoholic version easily at home, we think your love our organic ginger beer plant culture as much as we do.

**PLEASE NOTE THIS PRODUCT WILL ARRIVE WITH A PIN PRICK HOLE IN THE BAG TO RELEASE GAS DURING TRANSIT – THIS MAY RESULT IN A SMALL AMOUNT OF LIQUID LEAKING FROM THE GRAIN BAG**