If there is a hippy line that one can cross, I have crossed it.
In fact, I may have not just crossed it, but leapt over it.
I now dabble in things with names such as SCOBY, and fermenting, and second fermentations.
Yes, I am starting to make my own Kombucha and I'll be posting my events for you to see.
It's safe to say that one has crossed in to the total realm of hippy kitchen you start to brew your own drink.
Why would one even drink something that looks so repulsive? It must be super healthy or why would I ingest it?
Well, I suppose one could argue sweeping health claims about this elixer, and they do.
Others take very moderate stances about the health benefits and really, I probably reside on this camp. I truly don't believe there's any one substance that is a 'cure all'.
Honestly, I like the taste, and have gotten way past the creep factor of the stuff floating around in the bottles at the store. I do find that it acts like a soda, a little jolt and pep, but no big crash.
I'm also very fond of probiotics working out any belly issues, and like being able to find them outside of dairy.
I've read, and thought about and considered the dangers that seem to surround home brewed Kombucha. My conclusion was what I felt after I read about canning; lot's of people do this and don't die, be smart, be clean, be aware. There's big factors and clues residing in safe home brewed Kombucha, and as long as you know these it's about as risky as baking a chicken.
So here's where my scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) is being formed, tucked away by the fridge for a little warmth.
I opted to make my mother from a bottle of store bought Kombucha. There's numerous instructions out there, I read for knowledge and it's sort of all the same.
I basically brewed 3 cups black tea and added 2/3 cup of sugar. After it cooled I added an entire bottle of plain raw Kombucha. Later on I'll experiment with flavor, but right now I'm just cultivating that ewey slimy mother so I can then brew my own batch of fizzy tea.
This is a really appetizing picture of my starter after 4 days.
It basically looks like someone hawked a lugi in my tea, but it's supposed to.
I'm excited to start this process. I'm not looking to become a brewing machine. This is just one way to add some healthy bacteria to our guts, it's refreshing, and certainly beats soda.
Kombucha is actually relatively low in sugar. It sounds like sweet tea would be totally opposite of how we've been eating, but the scoby uses the sugar as food. The longer you let your Kombucha to sit with the scoby, the less sugar. It has a slightly sweet, slightly vinegar like taste.
I'll keep you posted and show how a second fermentation can lead to a nice fizz. But first, we need a thicker layer of goo!
Yay hippy drinks. I'm also seriously considering this little bit of culture action too. I think the kids would like it, and a bit less creepy.
Have I gone too granola for you? Have you gone all hippy on something lately, I'd love to know.
3 comments:
I killed my mother several years ago, it was a momentously sad occasion in which I forgot about the slime ball completely, tucked away on a high shelf, as it were.
I didn't make the (obvious) connection that I could start a new one from a store-bought jar - I've never tried those bottles before. But that's a good idea, since I've been wasting time waiting around for someone to drop a scoby in my hands!
The water kefir looks interesting, I've never tried that before.
Not too much hippy action to report on here:)
How did you like your Kombucha? I feel very impatient. I really like the the ones in the store (well I've only tried one brand). I'm hoping mine has a similar or better flavor.
I really liked mine - I thought it was tasty. I didn't ever experiment with flavors, as I was happy with black tea. My friend who gave me the culture was big on adding ginger in to his, but I'm not a big ginger fan so I didn't try that. I'll have to sample one from the store:)
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