Monday, November 11, 2013

How To Make Kombucha And Why

By Katy Kline


It's easy to learn how to make Kombucha, a yeast culture grown in tea. People who remove the culture and drink the fermented tea claim many health benefits, none of which are recognized by the federal Food and Drug Administration. This 'mushroom' dates back centuries and probably originated in Asia.

You can buy flavored versions of Kombucha in health food stores, but it's simple to make and maintain at home. You'll need a gallon-capacity bowl or wide-mouth jar, black or green teabags, granulated cane sugar, and a cloth to cover the container. The 'starter' - a cake of yeast/bacteria from a friend or a test-tube of culture you can buy online - is the only other necessity.

If you eat organic foods, use certified organic tea. However, the mushroom (actually a dense, pancake-shaped culture as large as the surface of the container it grew in) grows well in conventional tea. As for the sugar, you should use cane sugar; almost all the sugar beets grown in the US are genetically engineered.

People experiment with different sweeteners, flavorings, and teas, but it's wise to follow the basic recipe until you're familiar with the growing process and the taste of this fermented drink. White sugar is known to be almost a non-food, since it's been stripped off all vitamins and minerals, but the yeast culture, which needs sugars to grow, transforms them into a healthy drink.

Boil a gallon of water and steep five tea bags until the tea is cooler than lukewarm (sun tea works, too). Stir in sweetener until it dissolves. Slip in your starter. If you have a mushroom, it may sink to the bottom of the container. This is good, because when the brew is ready it will float to the top. However, the process works fine if the mushroom floats during the week or more that it takes to complete.

A forgotten cup of tea will grow a perfect little mushroom, so you can try using a cup as a starter if you can't find a friend with a mushroom to give you. If the culture is happy, the result will be clear, sweet-tasting, and effervescent. It's great alone or with food when served cold, A new mushroom is formed with each batch and should be whitish-tan and slick.

Like sourdough starter or wine, results may vary. People say that the culture is affected by the moon. Place the covered jar or bowl in a secluded spot far from direct sun, where it won't be moved or shaken and isn't close to electrical appliances. A cupboard with no light at all works well, but the back of a kitchen counter is fine. You'll know if your tea mushroom's happy and healthy, if it's just getting by, or if it's failed and begun to mold or rot. Use common sense to build a relationship with this remarkable culture.

It's worth trying and trying again if necessary to learn how to make Kombucha. People credit it with keeping their hair during chemotherapy or even curing cancers. Others like it as a great beverage and a health booster. Recycle extra mushrooms to your garden, where buried ones will be covered with earthworms. Once you begin talking about your new discovery, you'll probably give most of them away to friends.




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