Ours is dug out of the ground in DeFuniak Springs, and we juice it ourselves.
Ange runs Golden Garden up there and sells at the Seaside Farmers Market on Saturdays, same as us. We're a few booths apart. Somewhere along the way it turned into a trade. She brings the turmeric, we bring the kombucha, and nobody gets out a wallet. That's been going for a while now and it's one of my favorite parts of the week.
Fresh turmeric is a different thing from the powder. It's brighter, more peppery, and it stains everything orange. It also has a real earthiness that mango needs. Mango on its own is sweet and a little flat. Turmeric gives it a floor to stand on. Lime keeps it sharp.
How we make it
The base is organic green and white tea, cane sugar, and our culture, fermented for two weeks. Then the second ferment: mango juice, fresh juiced turmeric, and lime go in and the whole thing ferments for another two or three days. The culture works on the fruit sugar and the flavor gets pulled into the tea instead of sitting on top of it. It comes out cloudy and gold.
What it tastes like
Mango up front, tropical and a little sweet. Then the turmeric shows up, warm and earthy, with a peppery edge you don't expect. Lime on the finish. It's the flavor that sounds like it shouldn't work and then does.
What to do with it
It's a morning drink for a lot of people. It's also good with spicy food, anything with cumin or chili, tacos, curry. For a cocktail, it wants tequila or mezcal. Two parts Turmeric Mango, one part tequila, lime, salt on the rim.
The details
Ingredients: filtered water, organic kombucha culture, organic cane sugar, organic green tea, organic white tea, organic mango, organic turmeric, organic lime. No powders, no extracts.
12 oz cans, six to a pack, free shipping anywhere in the US. Or say hi to us and Ange at Seaside on a Saturday.
