I first learned of the mysteries of Kombucha as a young child. I remember Mother coming into the room, her arms around a large liquid filled glass jar. She hugged the brown sloshing bundle to her as if it were an infant. It even had a cheesecloth bonnet.
Bits and pieces of the ensuing conversation between Mother and Father filtered through my homework. Smelly, rotten, fungus was it's first name and it lived in the cupboard under the flour canisters and popcorn popper. Now I didn't get a clear view of my new housemate for a couple days, but the smell was there and I began to picture the kind of thing that could make a smell like that. The prospects were not pretty. This thing from Kombucha (somewhere in China?) could be oozing its way out of that jar any moment, trailing bits of fungus behind it which would suddenly sprout into multicolored mushrooms with white spots and supremely sharp looking little teeth. From there it would just be chaos. How was I supposed to finish my homework whit Mother's precious Scoby scampering around the house leaving its little trail of M&Ms with teeth all over the floors.
About a week into the Kombucha experiment something was up. I arrived home from school and the cheesecloth bonnet was lying tied up in a thick rubber band on the kitchen table. The jar stood ominously low in contents and missing one fungus monster. Dumping my bag and clarinet on the couch I ran to the kitchen to finally see... a lump of goo sitting on a plate in the sink. Ah, I still remember the disappointment, I wouldn't have a very good science project this year, no mushroom mutant for a little brother or that unique pet that no one else has.
Mother was ladling the brown liquid from the jar into smaller jars. When I looked again there were actually two fungi. Mother informs me one is the mother and one the baby. Then that we drink the "Tea" that they produce in the jar.
Ewwww. It hadn't even occurred to me that what might come out of that brown sloshy bundle would be a drink. Father askes if we're supposed to "fry up those Scoby babies" for breakfast and Mother doesn't laugh.
Flash forward about 15 years or so, and this fungus tea is suddenly gaining popularity, and my distrust of the fungus monster growing in the cupboard has turned to curiosity.
Que the Google Search!!
Quick Facts
For some basic info Wiki is always a good start.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha
"Kombucha is a fermented tea that is imbibed for medicinal purposes. There is limited scientific information supporting any purported benefits and few studies are being conducted. Kombucha is available commercially, but can be made at home by fermenting tea using a visible solid mass of microorganisms called a kombucha culture or mushroom."
-I found a bevvy of testimonials to the purported health benefits of my new acquaintance. Everything from clearer skin and more energy to lower cholesterol and better mood. Studies are increasing with increased marketing of commercial Kombucha products.
"Health claims for kombucha focus on a chemical called glucuronic acetate, a compound that is used by the liver for detoxification. The idea that glucuronic acid is present in kombucha is based on the observation that glucuronic acid conjugates (glucuronic acid + waste chemicals) are increased in the urine after consumption of kombucha."
-This part needs a little more research, but it makes sense that if you clean out the filter, the machine's gonna run better.
"Kombucha contains many different cultures along with several organic acids, active enzymes, amino acids, and polyphenols.[5] For the home brewer, there is no way to know the amounts of the components unless a sample is sent to a laboratory. Kombucha has been safety-checked by The US Food and Drug Administration."
-So basically a mass of molds, yeast, and cultures growing in a environment rich with sugars for reproduction of anything that makes it into the brew.
"As with all foods, care must be taken during preparation and storage to prevent contamination. Keeping the kombucha brew safe and contamination-free is a concern to many home brewers. Key components of food safety when brewing kombucha include clean environment, proper temperature, and low pH."
-So basically a mass of molds, yeast, and cultures growing in a environment rich with sugars for reproduction of anything that makes it into the brew.
Hmmmmm... Could this be a recipe for disaster on a cellular level? Questions remain. Like, What do I actually drink?
Ah, doesn't that look refreshing, and I am a dedicated tea drinker. The idea begins soaking in as I imagine the varieties of flavor and bouquet my home brewing could create.
I zip over to ebay, my old nemesis, and scout for potential Scobys.
Impluse is the way to handle this ofcourse, just get it here then you'll have to try it and stop all the questioning. So, doing the first thing that came to mind, I found a seller with descent reviews and sale numbers (95 sales, but remember he's trying to sell fungus online, how well can that really ship and there's nothing pretty about a sack full of fungi sold on ebay) and bought my first Kombucha Mother. A fine looking 3 1/2 inches wide, ready for brewing.
Please wait
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And so, with my Scoby baby on the way, I wait, and gather my supplies. But that is another blog.
I decided on the lime and ginger combination for my first flavoring test. I bought some organic ginger and limes, always use the freshest ingredients you can find, and chopped the ginger pretty small to allow it to become saturated in the tea, then squeezed out the lime juice and took off a couple pieces of the peel, being careful to get as much of the pith off as possible. These went into my bottle before the tea. I would recommend "burping" any bottles of tea every day or every other day depending on the strength of your carbonation and what you're using to bottle. I plan on eventually getting some genuine brewers bottles with pressure safe caps. My little jars for the first batch needed burping every day, I could see the lids bulging out slightly and there was a definite pop when I opened them. This second bottle I have not opened since it was first poured and the explosion of the gases when I popped the cork was very nearly like opening a bottle of champagne. There was even a cloud of CO2 in the neck after opening and a strong aroma of lime and ginger. Once it is refrigerated the production of gases will slow and it should be safe to leave alone. Can't wait to taste this one in a couple more days :)
