Sunday, July 28, 2013

Kombucha tutorial

 I had some people buy kombucha scoby from me yesterday at market. So I decided to do a tutorial for them. I've been making mine this way for about 6 years now, so it may not be the same way others do theirs. It works for me, so I keep doing it this way.
I start with the scoby and either one cup or two cups of starter. I have a gallon and a half gallon going at all times. So I am doing these 2 pots.

Then for a gallon, 4 large tea bags and 2 cups sugar. For half gallon, 2 large tea bags and 1 cup sugar. You can use organic sugar or succanot as well. The scoby lives on the sugar. It absorbs the sugar so you are not getting all this sugar. (You can use any brand of tea. This is just what I had. BUT do not use organic, because of the oils.)

Add this to you pot of water. I use my biggest stainless steel pot for the gallon jug. Just bring it to a boil, then simmer a few minutes. Cover the pot and let it COOL completely.








These are my 2 jugs. I use glass and a wooden spoon. And a glass measuring cup.




This is the scoby I took out of the gallon jug. Looks like it's been awhile since I've separated the mother from her babes. There are 3 here. I will take the one on top to use in this new batch.

I was going to say here that you can eat this scoby. It can be dried or eaten just like this. It's so full of goodness. I cut mine up when I have a  lot of extra, and give it to my chickens. They love it.



I put the top scoby along with 2 cups of the tea into this measuring cup. I drink about this much of the tea each morning. (in the cup.) The gallon jug that's nearly full is the tea that I'll be drinking. I like a little fizz, so I'll just leave it out on the counter. Sometimes I'll get little babies growing in the jug. Kind of slimy. So if you don't think you can handle that, just put it in the fridge. BUT NEVER PUT YOUR SCOBY IN THE FRIDGE!!! It will kill it!


So when tea is cool, add to jugs slowly.


I usually have to add more water to the tea bags to fill up the gallon jug.



Then, just cover with either a paper coffee filter, or paper towel or cheesecloth and a rubber band. Put under your sink and let sit for about a week. You can check on it to see how it's doing. And smell it.

If you want a sweeter drink, go about a week. If you want it more fermented, leave it longer. But not more than a few weeks. Then you just start all over again.


When you get your tea ready for drinking, at this point, you can add fruit juice, bits of fruit, herbs. Just experiment and have fun with it. You can also use the bottles with the caps like a beer bottle, and ferment it a day or so. But if you do this, BE CAREFUL! It can explode and your kitchen will be a MESS!

It's really easy and hardly takes any time at all. Just making the tea. If you have any questions, just ask. And research on the internet about all the wonderful benefits of kombucha. It's amazing!

4 comments:

Sandra said...

Interesting post.
I have never heard of Kombucha.
At first I thought it may be come kind of cheese :)
Is it a Southern Tea?

Kris said...

No, this is an Eastern thing. It's been around for thousands of years. You can look it up and read more about it. I can't explain too good. But it really helps me with my hands because I hand milk. If I go a day or so without drinking kombucha, I can tell and my hands hurt. It's great for digestion and so many more things. It's a probiotic, symbiotic living organism. The scoby feeds on the sugar. It's really interesting. And the scoby will get as big as whatever container you put it in. My friend years ago had one in a huge bowl and that scoby was as wide around as the top of the bowl.

Kristin said...

I read an article somewhere that some parents were arrested for letting their kids drink it because it contains minute amounts of alcohol. What a world....

Kris said...

Well, if you let it sit too long, it does get like alcohol. So I just let it go about 10 days now. Ya just never know.