Topic of the Month: Kombucha
Hello all! This month, instead of the regular question and answer column, I wanted to present a basic guide to kombucha and how to make your own.
Kombucha is a fermented drink made from tea, sugar, and a kombucha mushroom or SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). It is said to have originated in China over two thousand years ago and is purported to have many health benefits such as detoxifying the body, aiding in healthy digestion, clearing acne, and regulating appetite.
To make your own healthy, probiotic drink, you’ll need a gallon-size glass or Pyrex jar, tea (green, white or black), white sugar and a SCOBY with some “starter fluid” (already made kombucha tea). The SCOBY looks like a white rubbery pancake and can be acquired through various sources online. Depending on where you live, you may be able to find cultures through Craigslist or have one shipped to you.
The recipe I use is to make kombucha tea is 4 cups of water, 6 cups of tea, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of starter tea and a SCOBY. When you begin making your brew, make sure you wash your hands, jar, and utensils well. Remove your rings when handling the culture; metal will react badly with the culture. Place the SCOBY on a plate and set it aside while preparing the tea.
Boil the water in a large pot. Dissolve the sugar in the water. Then add your tea; I use loose tea, about one tablespoon of tea leaves per one cup of water. My preferred mix is jasmine tea with green or white, depending on what I have on hand. Once the tea, sugar, and water cools to room temperature, it can be added to the large jar with the starter tea. Place the SCOBY on top and cover the jar with cheesecloth or a clean tea towel and set it aside away from sunlight in a warm place. Depending on the temperature of your house, it could take between 6 and 14 days to ferment.
After about five days, check your tea. Sometimes the culture remains on the surface, sometimes it will sink to the bottom. When the culture sinks to the bottom, a new, thinner “baby” will begin to grow on the surface of the tea. Pour a little out and do a taste test. If it is too sweet, not all sugar is converted and it needs to be left alone. If the brew ferments for too long, it will be vinegary. The tea will be like sparkling cider when it’s ready.
When the tea is brewed to your taste, remove the culture or cultures from the liquid. Place it/them on a plate, reserve one cup of tea for your next batch, and bottle your tea in glass bottles. Plastic bottles can leach into the kombucha, and metal touching the tea or the culture will react with its acids; glass is best. Slip a couple of goji berries into the bottles if you’d like. You can brew a new batch straight away or place your cultures and the liquid back into the jar and cover with a cloth until you are ready to brew again.
Let your bottled kombucha sit for one or two days before popping them into the refrigerator. When they are cold, you’ll have a nice fizzy drink. You can mix kombucha with juice if you like; apple juice works really well. If you are new to drinking kombucha, I recommend not consuming more than 8 ounces of kombucha a day, and follow up with plenty of water since this is a detoxifying drink. Too much can cause nausea or allergic reactions in some people.
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