Have you heard of Kombucha, the beverage the ancient Chinese called the “Immortal Health Elixir?” It’s been around for more than 2,000 years and has a rich anecdotal history of health benefits like preventing and fighting cancer, arthritis, and other degenerative diseases.
WHAT IS KOMBUCHA?
Basically, it is a sweetened tea that is fermented using a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast), this is also know as ‘mother’ due to its ability to reproduce (not creepy). This is used as the starter culture to produce the friendly bacteria to heal your gut and also your whole body.
WHY SHOULD I DRINK KOMBUCHA?
- loaded with probiotics for gut health
- fights candida overgrowth
- enhances the absorption of nutrients
- helps reduce bloating
- improves mental clarity
- stabilizes mood
- detoxifies the body
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR OWN
- 3 1/2 quarts filtered water
- 1 cup sugar
- 8 bags black or green tea
- 1-2 cups starter tea from last batch or store-bought kombucha
- 1 SCOBY
- 1 gallon glass jar (sterilized)
- A wood stirring utensil (never use metal with your SCOBY)
- Cheesecloth
- Rubber band to secure cloth
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
- Prepare your sweet tea. Usually 2 tablespoons of loose tea or 8-10 tea bags per gallon of hot water. Add 1 cup of sugar per gallon. This needs to be regular sugar (preferably organic, not honey or rapadura – the SCOBY needs to feed of regular sugar)
- Let your tea cool to room temperature (super important). Hot tea will kill your SCOBY!
- Once your tea is completely cool, prepare your large glass jar with the tea, leaving about 20% room at the top. Pour in previous starter liquid.
- With clean hands, gently place your SCOBY into your tea mixture. It should float.
- Cover the jar with cheesecloth and use the rubber to hold in place.
- Place the mixture in a warm spot in the kitchen (They usually like temperatures of 70-75 degrees F) and no direct light.
- Let sit to ferment for around 7 days, the length will vary on temperature.
- You can taste your kombucha to see if it is done, it should be tart but still slight sweet.
- Pour off your kombucha into glass bottles with airtight lids and store in the refrigerator ready to drink.
- At this stage, it is best to prepare another batch so you can have a continuous ferment going.
Flavor your kombucha with fresh fruit or a favorite of ours is adding in some freshly grated turmeric and ginger.
