The REAL Ginger Beer Plant
The REAL Ginger Beer Plant
The Ginger Beer Plant (GBP) is not a plant in the formal sense but a Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY, specifically Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces florentinus). GBP should not be confused with a purely yeast basted fermentation process and cannot be created outside of a lab. GBPs have historically been passed on to friends and neighbors when the plant has grown large enough to split and now can be purchased online.
Similar to kifer, kombucha, and tibicos, the GBP forms into gelatinous grains that can easily be transferred from one batch to the next. Standard recipes call for water, sugar, ginger, and lemon; which, when combined with the GBP and left to ferment for a few days, produces a naturally carbonated and slightly alcoholic beverage.
The exact origins of the GBP seems to be shrouded in mystery but we do know that it was first described by Harry Marshall Ward in 1892 and was a common household sight in pre WWII England. As mass produced, artificially carbonated, non-fermented soft drinks came into favor, the GBP quickly fell into oblivion. However, as current food culture moves away from heavily processed products to those more natural and produced by traditional methods, authentically brewed ginger beer is slowly gaining in popularity. There is even a Yahoo Group dedicated to brewing and sharing the Real Ginger Beer Plant as well as passionately dialoging the differences between the GBP and simple yeast brews.
