Soft drinks

Also called afurá.

Afurá is a refreshing drink of Bahian cooking. A fermented cake of rice ground on a stone is dissolved in sugared water.

1. Grind rice on a stone and form a cake
2. Leave the cake to ferment
3. Dissolve the cake in sugared water

• Wikipedia (pt), 'Afurá' (fetched 2026-10-16)

Also called agua agria.

Agua agria is a non-alcoholic Mexican beverage based on ground maize and water. FAO lists it among Latin American fermented cereal products as a beverage of ground maize and water. No source with process detail was found.

• Haard N.F. et al. 1999, Fermented cereals: a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, ch. 4, Table 1 (agua-agria, Mexico)

Also called ಅಂಬಲಿ, అంబలి.

Ambali is a finger millet (ragi) food of South India. Reviews list it among the fermented foods of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and describe a finger millet product called ambali as high in calcium and low in resistant starch, eaten in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. No study of ambali itself was found, and no source we read gives its method.

• Parthasarathi S., Hebbani A., Dharmavaram Desai P. 2022, Vegetarian ethnic foods of South India, Journal of Ethnic Foods 9 (ambali listed for Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh)
• Raali R. et al. 2026, Frontiers in Microbiology 17:1860268 (review; ambali, a finger millet-based product high in calcium and low in resistant starch, eaten in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu)

Also called atol shuco, shuco.

Atol shuco is a slightly sour atol of fermented dark 'negrito' maize from El Salvador. It is seasoned with salt, alguashte (ground squash seed), cooked beans and chilli and served in a gourd. Only a press account of one San Salvador stall describes it; no study of its fermentation was found.

1. Serve in a gourd (huacal) with beans, alguashte and chilli

• Martínez G. 2026, El mejor shuco lo vende La Zarquita, El Diario de Hoy, 8 March 2026

Also called carato de acupe, acupe.

Acupe is a Venezuelan maize drink that is lightly fermented and sweetened. FAO lists it as a drink of germinated maize, and the Spanish Academy's historical dictionary defines it as a slightly fermented maize drink, kept in a clay tinaja. No study of its fermentation was found.

1. Grind germinated maize and mix with water
2. Leave to ferment lightly in a clay tinaja
3. Sweeten

• Real Academia Española, Diccionario histórico, acupe, https://www.rae.es/tdhle/acupe
• FAO 1999, Fermented cereals: a global perspective, ch.4 Table 1: acupe (Venezuela) = beverage based on germinated maize, fermented and sweetened, https://www.fao.org/4/x2184E/x2184e10.htm

Also called champús, champuz.

Champús is a sweet-sour drink or dessert from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru made from maize, wheat or both, sometimes with fruit and spices. Lactic bacteria and yeasts ferment it lightly, so it carries some lactic and acetic acid and a little alcohol.

1. Ferment the maize (or wheat) base16.5 °C
2. Finish with fruit and spices and serve

Safety: A study of five producers found total coliforms, and in some samples E. coli and S. aureus, above Colombian microbiological criteria, and proposes improvement plans for small producers.

• López-Cadena Y.S., Valencia-García F.E., Restrepo-Escobar N. 2023, Microbiological and physicochemical characterization of a traditionally fermented corn product, "Champús", Vitae 30(3) (abstract)
• Osorio-Cadavid E., Chaves-López C., Tofalo R., Paparella A., Suzzi G. 2008, Detection and identification of wild yeasts in Champús, a fermented Colombian maize beverage, Food Microbiology 25(6):771–777 (abstract)
• Delgado-Ospina J. et al. 2022, Exploring the core microbiota of four different traditional fermented beverages from the Colombian Andes, Fermentation 8(12):733 (abstract)
• Haard N.F. et al. 1999, Fermented cereals, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, ch. 4 Table 1 (champuz row: "fermented beverage based on maize or rice")

Also called chicheme, chicheme chorrerano, chicheme colonense.

Chicheme is a sweet, spiced drink of hulled maize cooked for hours in water, then finished with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg and milk. Panama's culture ministry describes the La Chorrera version as cooked, with no fermentation step; some regional versions are described as soaked and left to ferment, but no study of that fermentation was found.

1. Hull the maize
2. Cook the maize for hours8–9 h
3. Add spices and milk
4. Cool and chill (La Chorrera) or serve hot (Colón)1 h

• Ministerio de Cultura de Panamá, Dirección Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural 2025, Gastronomía de La Chorrera, chicheme chorrerano (Sicultura cultural heritage record)
• Ruíz N. 2023, Etnia negra, chicheme colonense vs chorrerano, ¿son iguales?, Telemetro
• Wikipedia, Chicheme (outline and name origins only)

Jun is a modern relative of kombucha, made with green tea and honey instead of black tea and cane sugar. A SCOBY culture sours the sweet tea over several days, and the drink is often bottled a second time with fruit for fizz.

1. Brew green tea, cool it and dissolve the honey
2. Ferment with the jun SCOBY5–7 days · 21–27 °C
3. Bottle with fruit or honey for fizz (optional)24 h – 3 days

Safety: Jun is sweetened with honey that is stirred into cooled tea and not cooked. The CDC says honey can contain the bacteria that cause botulism and that honey or products made with it should not be given to children younger than 1 year; no source we read shows that fermenting jun removes this risk. Kombucha guidance (an acid start at pH 4.6 or lower from starter liquid, pH 4.2 or lower within 7 days, and discarding mouldy cultures) is the nearest comparison, but it was not written for jun; see the kombucha entry. Bottled jun also makes gas, and CSU Extension warns that capped kombucha left too long at room temperature can explode.

• Wikipedia, Jun (drink), read 2026-10 (outline; its process section cites no sources)
• BC Centre for Disease Control, Environmental Health Services 2015 (updated 2020), Food safety assessment of kombucha tea recipe and food safety plan (kombucha, not jun)
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Botulism prevention
• CSU Extension Staff, FoodSmart Colorado (Colorado State University Extension, reviewed October 2025), Understanding and making kombucha (kombucha, not jun)

Also called कांजी वड़ा.

Kanji vada is a Rajasthani festive dish of fried moong-dal fritters soaked in a sour, pungent mustard water. Ground mustard seed, salt, chilli and asafoetida are stirred into water and left in a jar for a few days, stirred daily, until sharply sour. Only home recipes describe it; no study was found.

1. Stir mustard, salt and spices into water and leave in a jar2–5 days
2. Soak fried dal vadas in the kanji5–24 h

• maayeka.com 2014 and whiskaffair.com kanji vada recipes (2–5 days)
• FAO Bulletin 134, ch. 6.3 (carrot kanji)

Also called smreka, kleka, brin, brina.

Smreka is a Bosnian drink of juniper berries left to ferment in water, 10 to 15 days in the recipe read. Lemon or citric acid is often added to help it sour, and the strained juice is tangy, bittersweet and pale minty-yellow. In some Balkan regions kleka is also the name of a homemade juniper-berry rakija (brandy). The only accounts found are home recipes; no study we found measured it.

1. Cover the berries with water in a jar
2. Ferment, stirring every couple of days10–15 days
3. Strain, bottle and chill

Safety: The European Medicines Agency's herbal committee does not recommend juniper berries (Juniperus communis) in severe kidney disease, or in pregnancy or breastfeeding, where safety is not established, and says use under 18 is not established. Its traditional herbal tea uses at most 10 g of berries a day. This recipe uses 12–14 ounces per gallon, and no source we read measures how much of the berries passes into the drink. The agency also notes that berries of other junipers, such as savine (J. sabina), are sometimes mixed in, so use only berries you know are J. communis.

• European Medicines Agency, HMPC, European Union herbal monograph on Juniperus communis L., galbulus (pseudo-fructus), revision 1
• European Medicines Agency, HMPC, Assessment report on Juniperus communis L., galbulus (pseudo-fructus), revision 1
• Balkan Lunchbox, Fermented juniper berry juice (smreka) recipe (read 2026-10-23)

Also called tobwa.

Tobwa is one of Zimbabwe's non-alcoholic cereal drinks, listed with mahewu and mangisi. A review table lists it as made without malt, with lactic acid bacteria only.

1. Mash leftover sadza with water into a slurry
2. Leave to sour

• Gadaga T.H., Mutukumira A.N., Narvhus J.A., Feresu S.B. 1999, A review of traditional fermented foods and beverages of Zimbabwe, International Journal of Food Microbiology 53:1–11 (abstract; lists tobwa with mahewu and mangisi as non-alcoholic cereal drinks)
• Ignat M.V. et al. 2020, Current functionality and potential improvements of non-alcoholic fermented cereal beverages, Foods 9:1031 (review; tobwa "without malt, only LAB")