Making my own kombucha
With my water kefir reliably producing two quarts every forty-eight hours now, I turned my attention to making my own kombucha.
Kombucha is very similar to water kefir in that it is a fermented sweetened liquid but in this case, it also includes tea as its main source of food.
The star of the show is the scoby (a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) an alien looking thing that will slowly feed on the sugar, nitrogen and caffeine in the tea mixture to produce a slightly effervescent and tart drink laden in healthy probiotic and beneficial yeasts.
A healthy scoby
Once you have grown a healthy scoby you can produce a batch of kombucha in 8 to 13 days. Then you can bump the flavour up and the carbonation by secondary fermenting the kombucha tea with fruit juice or raw fruit to produce all sorts of amazing flavours.
Around the world
Used for thousands of years around the world kombucha brings with it the legend of healing properties, given names like “poor man’s medicine” and touted for helping people with severe digestion issues, high blood pressure and acid reflux, to name a few. We subscribe to the idea that your gut and digestive system are key players to good health and strong immunity. Kombucha is said to make antioxidants more bio available and help cleanse the system bolstering your immunity.
Beneficial impact
There is no doubt, kombucha has had the same beneficial impact on us that kefir water does. Its tart and sweet flavour makes it very satisfying and it seriously redefines the word refreshing.
I can pretty safely say that commercially produced “pop” is behind me, now that I can drink something with more flavour, bubbles and it is actually good for me!
Once the penny dropped a world of ideas opened up to me and I started waking up with flavours on my mind; cherry cola, pomegranate hibiscus, wheat grass. Different combinations of organic green, white and black tea, organic sugar, honey, maple syrup, the possibilities are exponential.
But wait, you don’t have to stop there. kombucha can be used to make all sorts of things like soap, beer and wicked vinegar (if you over-distill it). The scoby can be used in things like facial scrubs or masks and can also be consumed. As gnarly as the thought may be to some, it is definitely no grosser than preparing liver or some kind of meat and provides more cellulose. Slicing the scoby thinly you can dehydrate it to make a scoby jerky or you can dice it and incorporate it into a salsa, hummus or a smoothie. Sustainable sushi is also an interesting take or how about vegan leather.
According to Kombucha Kamp, the scoby can also be used as a living band aid for burns, abrasions and cuts, staving off bad bacteria and aiding in healing the skin. Scobys also make great Scooby snacks and can supplement your pet’s diet.
So what would you pick, a drink that can dissolve a penny overnight and clean your toilet (kombucha vinegar is also a great cleaner) or drink raw, organic, living kombucha that actually makes you feel great and can sustainably supply a pantry of food and remedies for pennies?
If you’d like to try your hand at making your own kombucha, you can purchase a kombucha scoby
That looks… well… disgusting.
The scoby doesn’t look appealing but the kombucha it produces is delicious and good for you 🙂
Very interesting. I’ve heard of kombucha, but your in-depth comments were enlightening. I might try buying some first at the supermarket.
Thanks for your comment Carole. You should try the store bought stuff first, it takes some getting used to the taste.
That’s some versatile stuff! Learn something new every day.
Glad we could facilitate that 🙂
I think it’s entirely fascinating. Who ever thought this up and what an amazing array of things it can make better! I’d love to try some – maybe not make it, but try it.
Hope you will try it Betsy and if you’re in one place long enough you could try your hand at making it yourself 🙂
The SCOBY is really terrible looking–I always have guests taste my kombucha before I show them “where it came from” 🙂
We let our last SCOBY wither in the corner of our refrigerator when we were traveling a lot last year and I need to buy another one. Thanks for the website rec! (I used to buy them in person from a woman in my neighborhood who sold them on Craigslist), but she moved away.
First, love your site’s name hahaha – I was confused for a moment but then laughed hard. Second, the scoby looks like something my mom used to grow – I wonder if it’s the same thing…
It might be the same, I found this on Wikipedia “It is thought that Kombucha originated in Asia during the Chinese Tsin dynasty in 212BC”.
Every time I see scoby I remember my old buddy who used to grow such thing for a long time! Thanks for the memories!
I’ve never heard of kombucha before. But sounds like a good thing. I hope I get the nerve and patience to try it.