kombucha

batch #4 - mango kombucha

A few weeks ago, I started making kombucha at home after finding instructions on foodrenegade.com (which has become one of my favorite sites recently). I remember my sister telling me about the first time she and her husband tried kombucha - they both took a sip and instantly and violently spit it out. I will admit that the first time I tasted it, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I immediately connected the smell and taste to vinegar, but was won over by the subtle sweetness and tingly fizz. At first, I tried a variety of brands but quickly learned that I prefer ones that don't leave (or add after brewing?) a lot of sugar.

I'm learning that the beauty of some living foods (I'm thinking yogurt) includes the ability to recreate them at home using a bit of store bought product to get started.  So, I grew my own SCOBY using a bottle of GT's Original Organic Raw Kombucha. My recent foray into the realm of probiotics has also involved making my own yogurt and water kefir, and there are two bottles of probiotic ginger beer fermenting on the counter as I type this. 


For the kombucha, the only additional things I needed after GT's original were a glass bowl, sweetened green tea, and a kitchen towel, all of which I already had. We went on our trip to Kentucky a few days after I put the bowl in a warm corner, and when we got back, the SCOBY was nearly ready to use.


The first batch, flavored with fresh peach juice, was too tart and syrupy for our tastes, so it's still sitting in the fridge waiting to be used in a salad dressing or something.  Batch #2 was a great success and include the juice of one orange. The third batch was the best, with a mix of grapefruit (suggested by my sister who's on "The Paleo Diet" after doing the 4-hour body diet for about a year) and orange. It was so good that we drank it in just a little over one day.

For batch #4, I shredded some mango with my new (and much needed!) grater. Hopefully it will be at least as good as GT's mango, even though I didn't use juice.

      These bottles have been awesome for amping up the fizz.