Weirdly yummy: Kombucha

My sister introduced me to this odd drink... You either love it or hate it! I love it; it seems to both energize and settle my system. I also love natural food stores - not because I'm a econut, but because I love good, healthy food. So I'm glad I finally came down to Earth Fare in Greensboro because of a friend's recommendation *grinz*

Comments

[Denita TwoDragons]

1.

I used to make and drink my own kombucha when I was younger. You can get the spores for the culture that makes it online. You basically seed the culture into a mixture of strong-brewed black tea with brown sugar, and they grow into this huge soggy pancake-looking thing that turns the tea into kombucha drink. Then you can drain the liquid and refresh it with more tea and sugar mixture. Every once in a while the "pancake" spawns "babies" and you can either take them out and use them in another batch, or discard them in your compost pile.

I used to have three or four tubs going at once and I'd drink gallons of kombucha a week. It's great stuff!

--TwoDragons

[Denita TwoDragons]

2.

I just thought of something. If the drink you have there is unpasteurized, you should be able to start your own culture by adding some of it to a tea mixture. It would take longer to start because of the smaller amount of culture--maybe a month instead of a few days--but once you have it going you'd have a virtually unlimited supply!

--TwoDragons

[Kat]

3.

Well, it does say "raw" on the label (which I just resized - too big!). What kind of tea do you use? Lipton?

[Denita TwoDragons]

4.

It doesn't matter which brand, as long as it's black tea and doesn't have any oils in it (oils will kill the culture). Some people say you can use herbal teas but it's best not to take a chance... Use tea bags though, so there's less chance of bits floating around, or strain the tea through a coffee filter. Brew about a half-gallon of strong black tea, and add a cup of white (sorry--NOT brown!) sugar to it. Make sure it's completely dissolved, then pour it into a sterilized (make sure EVERYTHING is sterilized! And wash your hands, too!) nonmetallic container--a large pickle jar is best. Then when it cools to "baby bottle" temperature add a cup or two of the kombucha tea. Cover the top with two coffee filters and secure the filters with a rubber band around the lip of the jar. That'll keep airborne crud out of the jar. Then you'll want to set it in a darkened place where it will be undisturbed and where the room temperature doesn't fluctuate too much. (A cabinet in your kitchen will do just fine, as long as it isn't too close to the oven...or if you have a pantry, that would be perfect!) Check on it daily, and if it starts to develop a smooth pancake-shaped blob (usually floating on top, but sometimes it sinks) that's a creamy tan to brown color, then that is your kombucha "mother." It will be what you keep to make more tea from. Usually it's round, but it tends to take the shape of the container you brew the stuff in.

Once you have a good culture going, you shouldn't have to wait so long for the next batch of tea. Just take the pancake-mother-blob out, pour all but a cup of the fermented brew out of the jar, add more fresh tea to the remaining liquid, return the mother to the jar and cover it back up, and return it to the darkened spot for another few days. Strain what you poured out through a coffee filter to get the bits out, and store it in the fridge.

That mother (a kissing cousin of the mother used to make apple cider vinegar,) is a combination of yeasts and bacteria surrounded by pure cellulose, and it should look shiny on top and be completely free of mold or discoloration. If you see any mold or discoloration DO NOT DRINK THE LIQUID! Throw the whole thing away, re-sterilize your containers, and start from scratch. As with anything involving yeasts and bacteria and fermentation, you want to make sure everything you use to make the tea is as sterile as can be. I can't stress that enough!

The resulting fermented brew should taste a lot like cider vinegar, though some like it to have a stronger vinegary taste. It probably relaxes you because of the slight amount of alcohol in the brew, thanks to the action of the yeast. If you cover the fermenting mix with a proper lid, you end up with a beverage that has a slight sparkle to it, too. Kind of like tea champagne...LOL

--TwoDragons