March 25, 2020

Kombucha

Kombucha

I made Kombucha! I’m pretty proud of myself! 😊 OK, it wasn’t really very hard…lol I actually used to make it/keep it up about 5-7 years ago…not sure why I let it go. I think maybe we went on vacation & it got forgotten about, out of the habit, etc.

Kombucha is “a beverage produced by fermenting sweet tea with a culture of yeast and bacteria.” It has a lot of health benefits including being good for your gut. A SCOBY is “short for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, is a syntrophic mixed culture of bacteria and yeast used in production of several traditional foods and beverages.”

Anyhow, I am excited to have a batch going again. And now I can experiment with flavors…like cranberry & Elderberry. Yum!

Start with a SCOBY & 1 Cup of Kombucha (set it aside, the hot water you use to brew the tea will kill it, you will add it at the end when you have cooled the tea to room temperature)
Brew 8 tea bags (I used green tea) in a 1 gallon jar **Note – it is important if you have a tiny baby SCOBY, yo only use black tea with no flavorings, etc for your first ferment. Once the SCOBY gets bigger & for future ferments, you can experiment with different flavored teas**
After the tea has had 10 minutes to steep, remove the tea bags & add in 1 cup of sugar, mixing until it dissolves.
Fill with water most of the way, saving enough room for the SCOBY & starter liquid. After it has cooled to room temperature, gently pour the SCOBY & Kombucha in & cover with breathable fabric (not cheesecloth). Put in a dark cupboard at a stable warm temperature & leave for 5-7 days.

It can take up to 20 days to get to where you want it. The longer you wait, the less sugar is left & the more “sour” it tastes. So keep tasting it every couple days until it has the taste you want.

After 5 days
After 7 days…see the “strings” hanging down? You want those!

When the Kombucha has the taste you want, scoop off 1 C of starter liquid to start the next batch & the SCOBY. You only need 1 per batch, so you can either start another batch or give it to a friend. It doesn’t hurt to leave more in, either, as you can see from my pictures, I have several SCOBYS.

The bottle your Kombucha & store it in the fridge, in glass bottles. You can flavor it with fruit puree or fruit juice, or just drink it as is! It lasts 1-3 months in the fridge.

And, I just discovered that you can make a sourdough starter & sourdough bread with just flour & Kombucha! I’m heading to go start it right now! I’m excited! 😊 (It’s good to find pleasure in the little things.)

**Note, don’t refrigerate the SCOBY! Just the finished product.**

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