Recently, a mama from Hipmama offered up some Kombucha Mothers. Kombucha is an effervecient fermented drink made from tea and sugar that has been used as a health elixer for thousands of years. I had been tasting it here and there and decided to give it a whirl.
Baby SCOBY (you can see mama SCOBY sideways in a new batch of tea) |
A week later a baby kombucha from New Jersey was born from my mailbox! To clarify, the Kombucha SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeasts) is often referred to as a “mother” because this is what makes the kombucha. Every time that a new batch of kombucha is finished, a white (sometimes pinkish) baby SCOBY has formed on the top of the brew. As soon as you remove the baby and put it in a fresh batch of tea and sugar, the baby effectively becomes a mother as well, and at the end of the brew you will have yet another baby/mother that has formed on top of the original one.
I store my kombucha in used bottles from this store- bought kombucha |
So, I have been brewing kombucha for a month now, and drinking it daily. It is purported to have a myriad of health benefits, especially for detoxing organs and basically just an all round disease (cancer) fighter.
I start and end my day with Kombucha. drinking about 16 ounces of it a day. Ramona has been drinking a few ounces here and there. It is a little strong for her.
A quick search can give you several sites with various directions for brewing tea, so I will skip the step by step (but here is a great FAQ). Many people will say you have to use black tea. Not true, though black tea is a good basic starting place since it has all the nutrients the mother needs. They also say you have to use white sugar; I have been using raw and unprocessed sugar from the bulk section just fine. I started off using a green tea mix, mint mélange from Trader Joes and Yogi Ginger Tea. I later read that many of the herbs I was using are a no-no for reasons of acid levels and mold. However, I have been successful using some of the no-no herbs, just not in excess. Here is a great article about appropriate herbs to use. Also, black, white, and green tea and well as Yerba Mate work great.
I must warn you though, sometimes they recommend adding a bit of vinegar to give the SCOBY some of the acidic environment it likes…don’’t use “live” or raw vinegar…this will interfere with the brew, and you will have a Vinegar Kombucha Monster, and those are not pretty!
Sugar and tea bags, waiting for boiling water. |
I am addicted to the stuff. It makes me happy and healthy. Let me know if you want a Kombucha baby, I would love to share the love.
I usually only fill it 1/3 of the way with hot water, and add cold after I remove the teabags for quicker cooling. Make sure to melt all the sugar when adding the boiling water. |
Ready! See the baby sitting pretty on top? |
No comments:
Post a Comment