Sima is Finland’s traditional drink for Vappu, the May Day holiday on 1 May: a sweet, tart, lightly fizzy lemonade made by fermenting water, sugar and lemon with a pinch of yeast for a day or two in sealed bottles. A few raisins go into each bottle, and when they float, the sima is ready. It’s usually drunk cold with tippaleipä, Finnish funnel cakes. Although it’s sometimes called Finnish mead, modern sima is made with sugar rather than honey.
How Much Alcohol Is in Sima?
A little. In a 2009 Finnish test of store-bought sima, three products contained 0.7–0.8% alcohol, and two “light” versions contained none (MTV Uutiset). Homemade sima isn’t measured: the longer it ferments and the warmer the room, the more sugar the yeast turns into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Make it the traditional quick way – a day or two at room temperature, then cold – and it stays mild and sweet, but don’t assume a homemade batch is alcohol-free. That matters if you’re making it for children, during pregnancy or for anyone avoiding alcohol.
The Bottles: Fizz and Pressure
Sima gets its fizz because the yeast keeps working in a closed bottle. That’s also the hazard: left warm for too long, bottles build up enough pressure to burst. Use plastic bottles for your first batch so you can feel them firm up, or swing-top bottles made for carbonated drinks; refrigerate as soon as the raisins float or a plastic bottle is hard; and open them slowly over the sink. The same applies to other bottle-fermented drinks such as water kefir soda and ginger beer.
Variations
- Brown sugar or a little honey gives a darker, rounder flavour. If you use honey, remember that honey isn’t safe for babies under one (CDC).
- Orange: replace one lemon with an orange.
- Ginger: add a few slices of fresh ginger with the lemon peel and strain them out before bottling.
For another quick, low-alcohol fermented drink, see Mexican tepache or Russian kvass.