”Pineapple weed is a type of chamomile that is everywhere. I made a wild soda with other wild flavours. It came out very very special
GeorgeFlavour Fred
🌱SWEET WOODRUFF 🌱 (Galium odoratum)
Tepache is a popular drink in Central America dating back to the Mayans and essentially is a natural soda fermented from pineapple, amongst other ingredients.
A true journey into a foragers mind right here. I started off wanting to use Pineapple weed (introduced species of chamomile) to make a wild Tepache. But I lost my way and used all the wild ingredients I could find. This experiment is more of a wild soda than a Tepache but I imagine these changes and substitutions are the birth of many other recipes. Anyhow…
Given the aroma of pineapple from pineapple weed (Matricaria discoidea) I just had to try the substitution and that’s were my mind started to get lost in wild flavou. Elderflowers are out now so that just made sense quickly followed by larch cones and sweet woodruff. I felt like I’d completed the ingredients list so headed home to get the fermentation going with the wild yeast all over everything I’d collected and using my noble fir molasses for the sugar.
So this is no longer a Tepache experiment but a wild soda substitute. It tastes great and I’ll be sure to make another video with the process but very happy with the fresh flavour at present weirdly reminded me of cherry coke for a second. Just gonna see how it develops.
