Smreka Recipe: A Bosnian Fermented Beverage
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- Опубликовано: 7 апр 2021
- Smreka is a simple and delicious fermented beverage from Bosnia. All you need to make it is juniper berries, water, and a bit of time. If you’re looking to add some additional fermented goodness to promote gut health, look no further than smreka. In this video, Mason, from @HerbRally will teach you how to make it, and how to add some fun ingredients to make it even tastier.
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Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world.
Please make more videos like this. Especially simple fermented drinks
I second that!
AGREED too!
Thank you so much for the positive feedback! Definitely plan on making some more :) ~Mason
Agreed
I JUST got that same book; that thing is a treasure trove of information!
Love the snazzy strainer - sprouting screen. I'm definitely using this tip. Love all things Mountain Rose Herbs! Thanks for the education, inspiration, and resources.
Our pleasure, thanks for watching! ~Mason
Clear, precise, interesting,easy, enjoyable video,thank you for that! Also I enjoyed your relaxed instructional demeanor,it's been a pleasure hanging out, learning new intriguing ideas;) 💡🫐🌱🌝✨
We kids also called them grandpa berries as usually old men would go to the mountains and pick the juniper berries. I just set some to ferment one batch with unprocessed sugar and lime and another batch with cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves for a “spiced” flavor.
Also found a good cheap source to buy the berries for 11$ per pound.
"Grandpa berries" is an amazing name! I love that image of men going to pick berries up in the mountains! Thank you for sharing :) Your addition of spices sounds delicious! - Gracie
Great!
Can't wait to try this !! Thanks for the tutorial !!
You bet! Let us know how it turns out if you try it :) ~Mason
Mason rocked this video! Love it. Will definitely try it
Thanks Jiling! :) ~Mason
I love how simple you make the process!! Thanks so much Mason
You bet Tracy!
This is excellent - as you say: simple and effective - juniper berries ordered - thank you
Right on Petra! Let us know how it goes :) ~Mason
Thank you. Very informative. Inspired. Doing it.
Yay! Let us know how it turns out :) ~Mason
Mason, it’s so good to see your face! Thanks for sharing a unique fermented bev to add to our routine for wellness. Great job on the demo too
Thanks for the sweet words, Dee! Hope you're doing well ~Mason
Thank you so much!!!
You bet! Enjoy! ~Mason
We have juniper trees so I will definitely be making this.
Nice! Let us know how it goes :) ~Mason
Hey FarmerCee! Lookin' forward to interviewing you on The Herbalist Hour. I'm curious if you ever ended up making smreka? ~Mason
I've been doing mine with dried kumquats and dried tangerine peels. The flavor is nice with good carbonation. I use white sugar.
This sounds like such a great combination, thanks for sharing!
I definitely have to give that a try! ~Mason
This in the second brew for kombucha would be amazing
Good call! ~Mason
I really like your kitchen.
Thanks! Always wanted a yellow and blue kitchen so I made it happen :) ~Mason
Love this video! When you mention ginger and hibiscus do you mean to add this to the juniper tea or follow the same process as this using ginger or hibiscus in place of juniper?
Loved the video.
You're easy on the eyes. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching Shelly! ~Mason
Thx
you are half-way in making of Slovak national brandy called Borovička :)
I'll have to look into that! ~Mason
I've made this a couple times now. Love it with just a squeeze of lime. I have some going now and this time there's kind of a cloudy look to it. Wondering if its OK?
left out he most important part, temperature. probably the same as cabbage. but still always good to tell people.
Thanks for catching this! I'll include it when I write the blog :) ~Mason
Yes, more ferments please! I created an accidental "mother" in my rosehip syrup.....what to do?
Looks beautiful! Have you ever tried brewing it with fresh ginger? Do you think the yeasts from the juniper berries play nicely with those from the ginger?
Hi Jay! We haven't tried brewing smreka with ginger yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work! Like a delicious cross between smreka and a ginger beer :) If you try it, please let us know how it goes for you, we always love a good crossover! - Gracie
I really really enjoying this drink. Is that okay to add dried elderberry, dried shishandra berries, and dried whole rosehip(break the berries) to your juniper berry fermenting?.
As we have not tried this addition to our smreka, we cannot guarantee the success of this. However, using dried berries/herbs would likely not pose any issue to the fermentation process, so I'd say go for it! Just ensure you're "burping" and checking the mixture regularly to watch out for anything growing in there that shouldn't be. We hope this helps, cheers! ~Indigo
@mountainroseherbs Thanks for your input! I already made it but I wanted to check in with you to make sure that mixed of berries are okay together. It's my daily medicine and I'm keeping it going. Afterwards, I added raw honey and lemon like you suggested!! Please when you can share more videos herbs fermenting. Thank you so much!
Would you like to make a video with elderberries & juniper together as a tincture? No-one has made one. Thank you, that looks good.
Awesome, can you do a kvass at some stage?
I've never personally made a kvass, I would assume that you could add in the dried juniper berries when you're adding in the raisins or as a replacement. Smreka is not cooked over the stove, so the application and flavor may be different. Let us know if you end up trying this method, we'd love to know how it turns out!
Could i add botabicals in ferment stage? Lemon zest, fresh rosemary? I've been trying to make non/very low alcoholic gin for weeks and discovered Smreka recently. I'm wondering if i could Smreka as a starting place for that gin.
While I've never tried making it this way, I know Mason is all about trying out new recipes and additives in his smreka! I would be cautious adding in fresh herbs during fermentation stage because of the water content in fresh plants. Maybe by making sure to smell your ferment each time you burb it to make sure nothing else is growing in there as well you would help to curb this. Let us know how it goes for you if you do choose to play around with this recipe, we always love new ideas :) - Gracie
Where is my order!! Lol just kidding good video.
I have tons of juniper berries ready to harvest in my backyard! Should I dry them before attempting this recipe or does it work with fresh? Thanks 😊
Fresh is always better
And u can put a lemon together in the jar to give a nice acidic aftertaste.
Is there a written recipe somewhere?
Hi Yvonne, we are going to be writing a blog post on it eventually! Stay tuned :) In the meantime, I hope the video suffices ~Mason
👍
My juniper berries do not have the grey/white ish coating, they're just clean blue and purple. Does that mean there's not enough yeast on them to ferment?
It's hard to say for sure, but I would assume there is enough yeast on the outside of the berries along with the sugars in the berries to still ferment. If it were me, I'd give it a try! If you are worried about wasting your berries, you could always get more. At the very least, I think you'll have a delicious juniper berry juice :) - Gracie
Can you do the same with other berries, e.g. elderberries, or even dried cherries?
That is a fantastic question! I've heard of others adding different berries with the juniper. However, keeping them solo I've never done. I would suspect some sort of fermentation would happen, but can't vouch for the final product. Let us know how it goes if you try it! ~Mason
can you do this kind of fermentation with other berries
We haven't tried this yet, but I'd assume so! The reason this works with juniper berries is because they have that dusty white coating on the outside of the berry. You may have seen this on similar berries like blueberries before! The white coating is a natural yeast that helps to ferment the berries with their sugars. So anything similar would likely work. Let us know what you try! - Gracie
are they dried juniper berries? can you use fresh berries?
We used dried juniper berries for this recipe! I'm sure you could use fresh, though you may want to keep an eye on any mold or bacterial growth since the berries will be fresh. Happy crafting!
Do you put the honey in while it’s sitting? Someone else put it in while it’s fermenting. Coming back to watch this again because I just put in the berries and water
Can the juniper berries be interchanged with red cedar berries?
Hi Isabella! I've never tried this before with red cedar berries but I don't see why not. They may work better once dried! Let us know how it goes if you try it, it sounds so intriguing! - Gracie
How come it's fermented without sugar? And also the salt and the lemon don't kill the bacteria?
Hi there! If you've ever closely looked at juniper berries (or blueberries!), they have a white dusting on them. This is actually a natural yeast and this is what causes the juniper berries to ferment along with the sugar inside the berries! I hope that helps :)
Can I make this in bigger batches?
Yes indeed! ~Mason
What specific species of Juniper berries?
We used Juniperus communis in our smreka! 🌿
fresh or dried berries? Woudn't it ferment faster if you put some sugar in it?
We used dried berries for this because it was easier! You could always use fresh as long as you're sure of the ID on the berries. The sugar in the berries is what is causing fermentation here. Adding more sugar would likely speed up the process but may give you a higher alcohol content and would make the final product much sweeter. This recipe with dried berries and no sugar is closer to a kombucha and has a very bright, tart flavor :)
I have to be honest I have never heard of smreka, so I was here for the video :) So it is just juniper berries and water, huh? You also mentioned ginger, did You do only ginger or did You add ginger to the juniper berries? Just trying to learn here :)
I feel this go well with the water kefir for the second fermentation?
For sure! Yeah, when I've done ginger, I did fresh ginger slices. And I infused it in the smreka after it was "done", just for a few days. There's probably lots of ways to do it, but that was my creative way to do it. Thanks for watching! ~Mason
@@GreenLifeInDublin That sounds good, but I've never tried. If you do, can you let us know how it goes? Thank you again! ~Mason
What are the health benefits of juniper?
It is a great anti inflammatory:)
Thanks for watching! I really like Guido's storytelling on juniper here>> ruclips.net/video/7ZhTNw4kIsY/видео.html He also covers some of the health benefits :) ~Mason
while it is fermenting can you add hibiscus????
Hi there Anderson! Mason usually makes a concentrated hibiscus tea and adds it in at the end for flavor, but I don't see why it couldn't work to ferment it as well. Let us know if you try it this way! - Gracie
Are the juniper berries fresh or dried?
Hi there Aida! Mason likes to use dried juniper berries to avoid any possibility of contamination. You can use fresh if you'd like, just be sure of your plant ID :) - Gracie
Will it ferment in to an alcoholic drink, like Kombucha does?
Thanks for the question, Fanny. My research has shown that it is similar to Kombucha. Although, I have never tested the final alcohol percentage. I will say, I have never felt remotely tipsy from it :) ~Mason
@@mountainroseherbs Sadly, I can't deal with alcohol. Was a huge disappointment to try kombucha, and immediately getting a severe headache from it not understanding why. A week or so later, FDA apparently had razzias at Whole Foods etc for selling it without disclosing alcohol content.
I've been suspicious of fermented foods ever since, which is sad since I probably need it for gut health.
Juniper berries contain very little sugar. Even if all that sugar ferments, I sincerely doubt the final ABV will be beyond 0.5%
@@elricthebald870 what if u add sugar in at the start? Will it be fizzier
Fresh or dried berry's?
Hi Tim! We used dried berries to prevent any mold or bacteria growth. You can use fresh but will need to keep a closer eye on the jar :)
@@mountainroseherbs Thanks from western Colorado!
Can I use dry berries
Hi Kasia! We actually recommend using dried juniper berries! Let us know how your smreka turns out :) - Gracie
Cool. I found dried berries in the polish shop. We use them for marinating meat for roasting
What's the AVB?
Hi there! We haven't tested for ABV is this recipe but my best guess would be
@@mountainroseherbs That's great, thanks. If i was to add honey and an airlock, is there enough yeast on the juniper berries to convert it to a higher percent, or would you have to add extra brewers yeast?
That's a great question that I unfortunately don't know the answer to. The waxy white coating on things like juniper berries or blueberries (called the "bloom") is partially what is creating the fermentation process along with the sugar in the berries. I would assume that adding honey will add to the fermentation process and help to increase the percentage. This might be something you'd have to play around with or consult a wild harvested fermentation expert to say for sure. I would love to know how it goes for you if you do try this out! Smreka is so tasty, it would certainly make a fun adult beverage :)
@@mountainroseherbs Thanks for the in-depth answer. If i ever make it, i'll let you know. I found your page recommended by the nerdy farm wife.
Hello! Does it have alcohol?
Hi there! While we haven't tested this for alcohol content, I'd expect it to be similar to a kombucha which is usually around 0.5% from the fermentation of the sugars in the berries. Hope that helps! - Gracie
Ok no honey in first. Thanks!
Love this video! When you mention ginger and hibiscus do you mean to add this to the juniper tea or follow the same process as this using ginger or hibiscus in place of juniper?
Great question! I would suggest taking the fermented smreka, and then making a hibiscus infusion, and mixing it together. For the ginger, I have just taken fresh ginger slices, and combined it with the completed smreka and infused it for a few more days, then strain. Please let me know if you have more questions! ~Mason