Just starting my second ferment of my kombucha, this flavoring grape. What is kombucha? Kombucha is a fermented tea with a scoby. What is a scoby? Scoby stands for a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. Kombucha is very high in many B vitamins which help to support your nervous system. Here are some other quick benefits. It is an antioxidant powerhouse, helps with good gut health which is so important to your overall health, antibacterial and probiotic agent helping to get the bad bacteria and yeasts at bay, helps with type 2 diabetes, mental status because of healthy gut, supports cardiovascular system or lungs, and supports liver and overall function. Its easy and cheap to make, but expensive to buy. So here’s how to make one. You need to have a scoby. This is the hard part.... finding one. You can get a piece from someone if you know someone who brews it or I made one by using a store bought kombucha drink and it was super easy. To make a scoby, get a good raw kombucha from the store. Look for a jar that might have some cloudy floating residue. This will give you a good start. First take about 2 cups of water, 3 or 4 black teabags and about 1/2 cup of sugar, brew as you would iced tea. LET IT COOL. In a large jar pour your whole boughten kombucha into your STRAINED brewed tea. COVER with a cloth or coffee filter and secure with a rubber band. When making a scoby you want to let it sit for at least 1 month. You will begin to see a pancake looking film start to float on the top. This is your scoby. Once you have this you do not have to repeat this step. Next brew another batch of tea and add 1 cup of the original tea with your new scoby and let it sit 7-10 days. It may change faster depending on the temperature of the environment. The standard recipe ratio is 6 teabags and 1 cup of CANE sugar TO MAKE 1 gallon. Divide this according to brew size. You want to drink it when it is still tea tasting but a little tart. That depends on your tastes. If you want to flavor it this is when you do it. Strain and pour into small bottles, add a teaspoon of sugar into each jar (this can be by taste), add a flavor... this can be juice, spices or fruit and let it sit another week or so. The second ferment makes it fizzy tasting like a soda IF you put it in swing top jars or bottles with tops. JUST BE SURE TO MONITOR THEM DAILY TO MAKE SURE THEY DONT BUILD TO MUCH PRESSURE. When you strain the first time. Save out your scoby and about 1 cup of tea to use for your starter in the next batch. Start the whole process over. You can continually brew and have kombucha on hand. In this day and age, the importance of nutrition and having a cheap source of nutrition is a must, this is a tool to help...
start one today!
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