Kombucha

     In the past few weeks I've become very interested in probiotics and increasing my gut health. I had to go on a 10 day course of two different antibiotics and I need to repopulate my gut! I remember my grandma brewing kombucha when I was little. She had containers of tea with these huge gelatinous things on top all over her kitchen. I did a little research and learned that kombucha is loaded with probiotics, enzymes, and amino acids. I wanted to get a bottle and see if I could tolerate the taste before I committed to buying a SCOBY and brewing my own. I was lucky enough to find a local store that carried raw, organic kombacha. It tasted like fizzy vinegar. Hmmm. Not great, but I could tolerate it. I joined a Facebook group called Kombacha Nation and did a little digging to see if I could grow my own SCOBY from this bottle of store bought. The other option was to have a member of the group mail me one, or order a freeze dried one from a retailer like Cultures For Health. You can even buy them on Ebay!
     It sounded to me like it could be done, so I brewed some plan black tea, added a half a cup of sugar, let it cool, and poured in the kombucha. I covered it with a coffee filter and rubber band to let air in but icky things out, and covered it with a dishtowel as it does better in the dark. I expected it to take about three weeks to grow a SCOBY.
    I asked on the Facebook group about starting my own, and they directed me to a you tube video. In the video she sterilized a mason jar with boiling water, let it cool, poured in a bottle of kombucha and let it work. 
     The SCOBY is the organism that creates the kombucha. It stands for Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast. It lives on the sugar in the sweet tea and as it eats it it ferments the tea. This process is the first fermentation. After a few days you pour off the liquid and put the scoby and a cup or so of the kombacha into a new batch of sweet tea to start the process again. With the kombucha you made you can do a second fermentation. you add juice or fruit and put it in an airtight container for a couple of days. It becomes a carbonated, flavored drink that is actually pretty good! I tried one from the store that was blueberry ginger and it was delicious. 
     My mason jar of plain kombucha grew a beautiful SCOBY
 in 10 days.

     My jar with the tea and kombucha mixture is also growing one, but it has a much more yeasty, bubbly appearance and isn't so solid. I'm going to give it another week or so. 
     In articles I've read kombucha is supposed to help with everything from colitis to arthritis, so we'll see. I've also been brewing water keifer soda, but that's another post for another day!  I'll do an update as I get a little more experience and try a few flavors.