Kombucha is a fermented beverage made from tea. Over the past few years, Kombucha has exploded in popularity. I’ll be the first to put my hand up to say I jumped on board the booch bandwagon. I’m obsessed with herbal teas, so as soon as I heard about a fermented tea and all it’s amazing health benefits I couldn't resist trying it out.
This stuff is seriously so amazing! It's known as the 'Immortal Health Elixir' by the Chinese, originating over 2,000 years ago. This fermented tea uses something called a SCOBY as a starter culture to produce an antioxidant-rich immune boosting beverage.
What’s a SCOBY you ask? It’s a Symbolic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast (aka a “Kombucha mushroom”), it resembles a spongy-like pancake.
All you need to get a batch fermenting on your countertop is organic black tea, organic raw sugar, a "SCOBY", and a flavour (from a herbal tea, such as hibiscus).
Health Benefits:
Kombucha contains a variety of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that have been prized by traditional cultures for its health-promoting properties.
Kombucha is rich in antioxidants, B-vitamins, glucaric acid, and probiotics which help support digestion, gut health, joint care (as it contains glucosamine, a strong preventative for arthritis) and detoxification. Similar to other fermented foods its rich in beneficial bacteria and enzymes that help keep the gut in balance, thus reducing your pancreatic load.
There are many different recipes online for Kombucha, but the one I’m about to share with you is a recipe I’ve been using for almost 2 years. I actually got this recipe off my girlfriends’ mum who is also really into fermented foods, so far this recipe has worked a charm for both of us!
Ingredients:
Method:
Bring 4 litres of filtered water to boil, turn off and add 1 & 1/3 cup of sugar, 4 tsp tea OR 4 black tea bags. To flavour add in 1-2 teaspoons (or tea bags) of the optional flavour tea.
Stir all ingredients together with a rubber scraper.
Leave to cool. Use a plastic sieve or muslin type or chux to sieve straight into the jar.
Add your scoby and the leftover liquid it has been sitting in in the fridge.
Cover top with muslin or chux, (to keep bugs out).
Cover with a towel (so it’s dark) and keep in dry space for 7-11 days, (summer-winter).
Drain into bottles. Put into fridge and now Ready to drink!!
NOTE: You can also do a 2-4 day 2nd fermentation, by adding slithers of ginger or pineapple to the bottles and leaving in dark cupboard for a few days. Burping bottles 2-3 times a day.
Then re-bottle removing the fruit or ginger and into the fridge.
Ingredients
Directions
Bring 4 litres of filtered water to boil, turn off and add 1 & 1/3 cup of sugar, 4 tsp tea OR 4 black tea bags. To flavour add in 1-2 teaspoons (or tea bags) of the optional flavour tea.
Stir all ingredients together with a rubber scraper.
Leave to cool. Use a plastic sieve or muslin type or chux to sieve straight into the jar.
Add your scoby and the leftover liquid it has been sitting in in the fridge.
Cover top with muslin or chux, (to keep bugs out).
Cover with a towel (so it’s dark) and keep in dry space for 7-11 days, (summer-winter).
Drain into bottles. Put into fridge and now Ready to drink!!
NOTE: You can also do a 2-4 day 2nd fermentation, by adding slithers of ginger or pineapple to the bottles and leaving in dark cupboard for a few days. Burping bottles 2-3 times a day.
Then re-bottle removing the fruit or ginger and into the fridge.
