Summertime is just around the corner, and the weather is finally warming up here in the Chicago area. Spring days quickly turn into steamy days here, and that got me think about some new refreshing kombucha flavors! Enter Cucumber Watermelon Kombucha…
Cucumber Watermelon Kombucha is incredibly refreshing with a “cool” taste, a subtle sweetness, and lots of cooling carbonation. This is the perfect recipe for your mid-yardwork break. It also has great potential for mixing into some poolside cocktails this summer!
Cucumber Watermelon Kombucha: Tis the Season!
Summertime is just around the corner, and that means watermelon season is here too! I’m not sure about you, but we look forward to watermelon season all year long in my household. It is our favorite delicious and nutritious bedtime or post-workout snack, and it is so refreshing!
Cucumber in this recipe means we are doubling down on the refreshing! Both of these wonderful ingredients have very high water content, so I recommend pureeing them to ensure you get a full ¼ cup per bottle of the flavor and sugars in your watermelon as well as about 1/8 cup of pureed cucumber. I have also found that cucumber slices can get a little too pickle-tasting for my liking, and pureeing them seems to tame this. I also recommend starting with just a 2-day fermentation for this reason.
This recipe will contain a higher volume of fruit/veggie matter than usual due to the high water content in each. This is totally fine—if you are worried about an explosion, you can always check your bottles a little earlier than usual.
If you are familiar with our recipes, go ahead and skip down to the recipe card! If you’re new here, you may want to read the notes below first. Happy fermenting!
Primary Fermentation + Airtight Glass Bottles
FYI, this is a second fermentation kombucha recipe. That means you need to have kombucha that has already completed the initial fermentation process on hand. Both are truly very simple—waiting for your primary fermentation kombucha to work its own magic is the toughest part. If you don’t know where to begin with brewing kombucha, no worries! We offer a Kombucha Starter Kit with everything you need to brew your first batch and instructions to walk you through the process.
This recipe also requires airtight glass bottles. These are a staple for kombucha home brewers. I recommend getting 16 oz swing-top bottles; our recipes are written for them, they are a convenient size for drinking directly from the bottle, and they work well with kombucha overall.
Scale to Your Batch
This recipe is written out for a single 16 oz bottle. If you are brewing kombucha by the gallon, you should end up with enough to make 6-7 16 oz bottles of this recipe. We generally multiply the recipe by the number of bottles we plan on using, slice and/or puree all of the ingredients at once, and split the ingredients evenly between the bottles afterwards. Do whatever is easiest for you!
Cucumber Watermelon Kombucha Recipe
Watermelon cucumber kombucha is incredibly refreshing with a“cool” taste, a subtle sweetness, and lots of cooling carbonation. This is the perfect recipe for your mid-yardwork break. It also has great potential for mixing into some poolside cocktails this summer!
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Watermelon juice or pureed watermelon Make sure you use a full 1/4 cup after it has been pureed –watermelon has a high water content so this will provide the sugar needed to fuel the fermentation!
- 1/8 Cup Pureed cucumber
- 12-14 Ounces Fermented Kombucha
Instructions
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Puree your watermelon pieces & add 1/4 cup of puree/juice to each bottle with a funnel
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Puree cucumber slices & add 1/8 cup to each bottle
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Fill remainder of each bottle with fermented kombucha, leaving approx. 1 inch of headspace at the top of the bottle.
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Seal bottle and move gently to combine ingredients
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Allow kombucha to ferment in a dark, warm space for 2 days*. Then, begin tasting daily.
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Once kombucha meets your flavor preferences, refrigerate it and enjoy! Allow it to thoroughly cool in the fridge prior to opening.
Recipe Notes
*I recommend tasting this beginning on day 2. I find that watermelon & cucumber ferment quite fast, & this keeps the cucumber from getting too much of a pickled taste
That’s all there is to cucumber watermelon kombucha! Enjoy!
How did you like this recipe? We would love to know! Please share your feedback by rating the recipe and/or commenting below. 🙂
