So much has been printed lately about the health benefits of the tea I thought we better try brewing a batch. Bought a starter kit at Vitamin Cottage and have two 1/2 gallon jars starting to brew. No idea if we will like a more mild batch that should be ready in a week or so or the fully leaded version that takes three weeks so we're going for one of each. Anyone else here making this witch's brew?
"Back when I was a young boy all my aunts and uncles would poke me in the ribs at weddings saying your next! Your next! They stopped doing all that crap when I started doing it to them... at funerals!"
My physician has prescribed it as part of a rotating set of fermented foods (others include Kefir, kimchee, miso, sauerkraut, tempeh) to rebuild colonies of bacteria killed by colitis. I'm not particularly happy with the sour taste of the kombucha, but it is drinkable.
It reminds me a lot of beer. I buy Townshend's Tea Company white rose flavor occasionally. I would try making it if I didn't have visions of being overrun by scobies, like something out of The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Last edited by JaneV2.0; 9-8-14 at 11:27am.
Seriously! That is my kind of prescription!!!Originally Posted by bUU
"Back when I was a young boy all my aunts and uncles would poke me in the ribs at weddings saying your next! Your next! They stopped doing all that crap when I started doing it to them... at funerals!"
I make gallons of sun tea using all kinds of fruits and herbs from the garden. For example, black tea with black cherries and sage and green tea with peach tea, rosemary and ginger are the latest. I don't know of any reason you couldn't do the same thing with the kombucha to help mask some of the funk. Guess we'll find out.
"Back when I was a young boy all my aunts and uncles would poke me in the ribs at weddings saying your next! Your next! They stopped doing all that crap when I started doing it to them... at funerals!"
I'm a bit paranoid about getting it right, since getting it wrong can be hazardous. So so far I've left the brewing to the experts, but I was thinking about getting a kit. The price dissuades me.
Just FYI, our starter "kit" was $12. It included a large tea bag that would make a gallon of tea and a pouch with pre-made kombucha and a piece of a SCOBY. We already had 1/2 gallon jars.
We've made other fermented foods (notably kimchee and krauts) and have found it to be a pretty simple process. You obviously want to insure the vessels start out sterile and things stay as clean as possible, but from what we've seen so far the process isn't terribly picky. I think kimchee was traditionally buried in in clay pots the ground so its not a process that will get out of hand on the kitchen counter as long as you keep an eye on it.
"Back when I was a young boy all my aunts and uncles would poke me in the ribs at weddings saying your next! Your next! They stopped doing all that crap when I started doing it to them... at funerals!"
I would like to try it; I've been buying 1/2 gallons at the farmers market but the season is over in a few weeks. The vendor I buy from has such intriguing "flavors." Right now I'm loving the Pear-Fennel. She also has some with cacao, cherry, lavendar...
Like bUU, I'd be afraid of getting it wrong.
My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already!
Well I don't know about Kombucha, but I like to make shrub in the fall from pears. It has mostly vinegar in it so there is a fermented drink. I like coconut vinegar in it. My favorite so far is pear/thai basil. A shot or so of shrub in club soda is so refreshing. I think this fall I'll try agave for the sweetener.
Fermenting food (pickles, sauerkraut, kombucha,...) really has only two critical rules: the percentage of salt constituing the brine and keeping the food below the water line. Both of those regulate the growth of the bacteria that do the fermenting (and impede it). It is 99-44/100% of the time obvious that something has gone wrong in the fermentation process so you can avoid the truly life-threatening mistakes.
So try a ferment! Kombucha, pickles (not just cucumbers!),... It's not hard to start; it's much simpler (IMHO) than canning (which requires specific temperatures and sterile tools), and the results are good for you.
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington
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