Fight Back Friday-Making Kombucha

Food Renegade is hosting Fight Back Friday as she does each week.  Please pop over to her blog and read some amazing blog posts from all types of foodies and people who love real food.

Today I’m going to share with you my quest for Kombucha.  I began my quest at Food Renegade’s blog.  While searching her site, I saw a link “how to make a Kombucha SCOBY“.  I knew you needed this elusive “scoby” thing, but I didn’t know you could grow one yourself.  I figured you had to have found one in the wild….or just have a hippy friend who would be nice enough to share with you.  Last year after I read The Maker’s Diet, I had contacted someone via the Internet to see about receiving a SCOBY from them and she wanted to charge me 19.99 + shipping.  No thanks, I don’t need Kombucha that badly.

After reading Kristen’s post, I decided I could grow a SCOBY if I could find a bottle of raw, plain, organic Kombucha.  On Ash Wednesday, the boys and I drove to a healthfood/pharmacy/drug store type of place (Drug Emporium for you locals).  I was so pleased to find the raw, organic Kombucha in a bottle.  We bought two bottles, one plain to make the SCOBY and one fruit flavored to drink.  The kids acted like they really enjoyed the Kombucha, so I thought their soda addiction would be cured immediately after drinking my homemade Kombucha.

We put the bottle of purchased Kombucha in a jar, covered it with a dishcloth like suggested.  Then we waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  The temp in the house fluctuated from mid 70s to low 60s due to extreme temperature change outside.  Things finally stabilized in the 3rd week and the SCOBY was born and ready for use.

As you can see, that’s the SCOBY floating on top of 1 gallon of sweetened tea.  I had the hardest time finding a gallon jar, but I found one at Walmart.

Another week went by.  I checked on my Kombucha every day.  I noticed that a baby SCOBY was growing along side of the main SCOBY.  Kristen assured me this was ok. 

you can see the baby SCOBY growing next to the mother

On the 5th day, I removed the SCOBY and put the Kombucha into some jars with some fruit juice, just like Food Renegade suggested.  I then took one jar and left it plain flavored.  I placed the SCOBY back into this jar and left it out for another two days.  Between the two flavors, I much prefer the longer fermented plain one to the fruit juice sweetened one.

Of course, once the Kombucha was finished and ready for drinking, I poured everyone a glass.  E took a drink and lost his mind, ran straight to the faucet and proceeded to drink a ton of water.  ::rolleyes::  Rh sips from mine, but doesn’t like it enough to drink a whole glass.  Redd is still trying to become accustomed to it’s tartness.  I think because I’ve been drinking it every day for a week now, I’ve grown used to it’s flavor and I’m enjoying it’s flavor.  I see why people say it takes the place of a soda as the unflavored batch is very fizzy.  The Kombucha almost blew off the lid of the jar two days ago!

Don’t be afraid to try making this yourself at home.  You really won’t lose anything except the 2.50 for the original bottle of Kombucha to start the SCOBY and the tea and sugar used to brew up your first batch.  It’s fun and a bit strange to brew this at home.  I find the cabinet where I ferment it smells faintly like a bar, but it’s not overpowering or nasty smelling.  I think the SCOBY feels weird, like a piece of plastic.  It looks like a jelly fish floating in the tea.  Very strange.  Since this is my second batch, and I’ve brewed another whole gallon, I’ve put my mother and baby SCOBY to rest in a jar full of tea in the fridge.  I’m hoping this doesn’t kill them, but just gives them a rest so I can drink at my leisure.  I’m still not sure how many carbs is in this stuff, so I don’t want to over-indulge.  8oz or so a day is enough for now until I can gauge my weight over a period of a few weeks.

Don’t forget to check out Fight Back Friday over at the Food Renegade.  Have you tried fermenting anything you’ve seen on this blog or others that follow Nourishing Traditions?  Do you have a recipe or something to share?  Go ahead and blog about it and leave at link at Fight Back Fridays.