Making Kombucha - Want a SCOBY?

Have you ever tried Kombucha? Not only is it ueber-yummy, it also is ueber-healthy for you. It tastes a bit like bubbly apple-cider. A German would say, "zischt wie Appelsaft"-Schorle.

It is made from sweetened tea through the fermenting process of a bacteria-yeast symbiosis.

Basically, you take sweetened tea, add the SCOBY (the bacteria-yeast-symbiosis) and let this sit in a dark place for at least one week. Then you harvest, strain, drink and be merry. You can store the finished product in your fridge for two weeks.

A SCOBY is a living thing; I refer to it as a kitchen pet. You need to feed it (put it in sweetened tea) to ensure it stays alive.

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:

1 gallon (4l) container
3 quarts (l) of ideally filtered water
6 bags of black tea or 6 tablespoons of loose tea
4 bags of green tea or 4 tablespoons of loose tea
1 1/2 cups of organic sugar
1 SCOBY

How to brew Kombucha:

For a one gallon container, I bring 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large stockpot. Then I add 1 1/2 cups of organic sugar and let it boil covered for another three minutes.

Then I turn the heat off, and add 6 teabags (or 6 tablespoons) of black tea and let it steep uncovered for 5 minutes. After these 5 minutes, I add 4 teabags (or 4 tablespoons) of green tea and let this all steep uncovered for two minutes. After that, I remove all teabags and let the sweetened tea cool down for 6-8 hours with the lid on the pot.

When the tea is cool, I pour the tea into the one gallon vessel, add 2 cups of Kombucha from a previous batch and the SCOBY. Place a towel over the vessel and secure it with a rubberband and store this in a pantry.

Personally, I harvest after 7 days but there are people who wait up to three weeks and enjoy it then.

The longer you wait, the stronger and more vinegary the Kombucha will become, also, it will be more benefitial for you.

There are plenty of uses for Kombucha: from drinking it s it us (which I prefer), mixing it with other beverages (martinis, margaritas, etc..) to further fermenting it with fruit juices or using it in your vinegrette to using Kombucha as facial toner. This stuff is the BOMB!

What happens during fermentation? The SCOBY feeds on the sugar and the caffeine in the tea, while creating the ferment and reducing sugar- and caffeine-levels.

A super healthy Kombucha SCOBY

Note:
It works best with black tea.

If you want to use a different tea, you may wanna add black tea to ensure, SCOBY has some nourishment.

Do not place a lid on the fermenting Kombucha, because the liquid expands and might explode the vessel.




Want a SCOBY? Let me know.... we sell them for $10 a piece. And yes, we mail them anywhere in the US.... eMail k@gardensofchange.com in case you are interested.



"Nature never says one thing and wisdom another." Decimus Junius Juvenalis