Now, I don’t think you can rightfully call yourself a “Hippie” unless you are a consumer of the marvelously weird (and healthy) superdrink — kombucha. Seriously. Do you know any crunchy people who don’t drink this crazy concoction?
There are plenty of good reasons for why they (we? you?) all do. Or at least should.
Tea on yeasty, bacterial steroids
In case you aren’t familiar, kombucha is sweetened green or black tea which is then left out to ferment for a while with the use of a pre-existing colony of healthy bacteria and yeast. Sound kinda gross? Well, considering people have been making this for over 2,000 years, and consider it to be the “elixir of life” or the “tea of immortality” (according to traditional Chinese medicine), I’d say there’s fair proof that there’s a lot of good behind that grossness (especially since it doesn’t taste gross at all!).
Kombucha has been historically known for:
- Detoxifying the body by promoting health of the liver and pancreas
- Cancer prevention and treatment
- Arthritis prevention and treatment
- Supporting a healthy immune system
- Improving digestion by helping to restore balance in the gut
- Treating emotion regulation disorders
- Enhancing mental clarity and energy levels
- Promoting overall health by supplying an abundance of antioxidants
(See this post to learn more about kombucha health benefits.)
So. It’s high-time that this little Hippie got her hands on this bacteria-breeding beverage, dontcha think?
But since kombucha from the store is a whopping five bucks per single-serving bottle — I knew I needed to master making it myself.
Word to your Mother
*note: a windowsill is not a good place to grow ‘shrooms! They do best in a dark, dry cupboard. I just put this one in the light for the photo.
The first step in making your own kombucha is to get your hands on a starter culture — otherwise known as a “mother,” “mushroom,” or “SCOBY” (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast). Those are also a little spendy — usually upwards of $30 a pop if you buy in stores (or Cultures for Health sells them for $12 online). You don’t need a new starter each time you make kombucha though. The “mothers” actually create little “babies” for you to keep using! How cute.
But, I decided I would be adventurous and make my own mother. It’s super easy!
All you do is buy a bottle of already-made, raw, plain kombucha (on the mainland, this is usually only like $3 or so), and dump it into a jar of sweetened tea. That’s pretty much it.
I just made one cup of black tea, sweetened with one tablespoon of sugar — this is one real food in which it’s OK to use processed, refined sugar — because you don’t eat it, your mom (culture) does! After I poured my kombucha into the jar of tea, I covered it with a square of an old shirt I cut up, and put a rubber band around it. You want to do this rather than putting a lid on, because the mixture needs to “breathe” as it ferments and grows your motherly mushroom.
And now, after about a week in the cabinets of our toasty little cottage (usually in the high 80s), my mother is fully-formed and about 1/4 inch thick. She started as a thin film, and just kept growing! This process may take up to 3 weeks, depending on the temperature of your home.
Ready to go make some babies!
Pretty exciting! Now, we’re diving right into kombucha brewing with our slimy science experiment. I can’t wait to see what this turns out like!
Have you brewed kombucha at home before, or grown your own SCOBY? Do you have any tips you’d like to share?
{This post is being shared with Fresh Bites Friday, Monday Mania, Traditional Tuesdays, and Real Food Wednesday!}
I’ve been making kombucha for awhile now but I let my original scoby die from neglect when I got too busy to make/feed it. So when I was back in the game I went and made my own like you did, buying a bottle and letting it grow on it’s own. Now I have two batches going at once and lots of babies coming along!We love our kombucha!
Love this!! I shared it with all of my friends who are disgusted by my “science experiments” on my kitchen counter. I LOVE my Kombucha!
I miss making Kombucha! I made it for about 6 months straight, but had to stop after doing a gut cleansing diet due to a thryoid problem. Anyhow, I found some good links while I was in the business of it. Here you go – enjoy!
http://www.ehow.com/video_2334728_mix-dried-fruit-kombucha-teas.html
http://www.kombuchakamp.com/
Great links, Carol! Thank you!
Can you use decaf tea? Assuming I could find one not too chemically processed. This is my new favorite blog by the way.
Well THAT just made my day! Thank you so much!! 🙂 Great question, too. I remember reading that kombucha somehow does away with much of the caffeine that was originally in the tea — about 2/3rds of it. But I did find a link from the site Carol showed us above that explains how you can make decaf kombucha! http://www.kombuchakamp.com/2011/03/how-to-make-decaf-kombucha-video-tip.html
I grew my own SCOBY, fermented my tea and now I’m waiting two days for my second ferment with a little pomegranate juice 🙂 This is my first time and it was really, very, easy. I can’t wait to enjoy the fizzy goodness!
I just started making Kombucha about 2 months ago and we just LOVE it!!! It’s so easy to do, tastes fantastic and is so great for your health. You will notice improvement in digestion and *ahem* ‘evacuation’ very soon after starting to drink it on a regular basis. It’s fun playing with flavours too 🙂 Throw in some shredded ginger or fresh, crushed fruit and you’ll get some nice fizz to it as well. The plain Kombucha is quite tasty, tastes like an unsweetened iced tea with a tangy kick. The hardest part I’ve found is trying to find larger containers to use, for making big batches. I make about 6 litres each batch – about every 9-10 days.
Oh my! Haha I’ll look forward to improvements in my…evacuation zone. LOL!
Great flavoring ideas, I’ll have to try that! Oh and totally am in the same boat about finding containers… what a pain. I’m thinking about buying giant jugs of pickles from Costco or something just for the glass jars!
I’ve only ever gotten one from a friend, but I love the ingenuity of growing your own.
On a side note, I found you on Monday Mania and wanted to direct you to this Blog Carnival Alert on Facebook if you haven’t already seen it. Check it out if you want reminders of food and health related link-ups.
Amanda
Thank you so much Amanda!! I did actually discover the Blog Carnival Alert page earlier this week — it’s so awesome! Such a great idea to put all of them together on facebook where we can all easily find them. Love it!
Ok, how easy is that?? I’ve put off making my own kombucha because I was wary of ordering living organisms from the Internet. 😛
Right?! Hahah yeah, probably best to just buy a little bit from your local hippie store and get to growin’ them yourself! 😀
I also grew my first scoby from a bottle of raw kombucha from the health food store. I now have two scobies working on two different gallon jars of kombucha. I’m also very impatiently waiting for my mail order of swing top bottles to arrive. Pomegranate juice is my favorite flavoring so far.