I've discovered over the years by watching shows like Good Eats and reading On Food and Cooking that creating food is a science.  Some of it is chemistry, some of it is math, some of it is physics, but it's all science.

I was nudged in the direction of creating food using biological science by reading various tidbits of Jay Bazuzi's blog.  Jay has made cheese, kvass, and sauerkraut.  All of these foods are made when bacteria consume parts of a food and turn it into something completely different.  When you take something seemingly mundane like cheese and tell me I would never learn everything there is to know about it, you have a recipe for my interest.

Since being introduced to the idea of fermented foods, a friend and I have embarked on missions to create cheese and beer with varying degrees of success.  Further reading of Jay's blog brought up kombucha, which is the topic I want to discuss today.

Background

Kombucha is a non-alcoholic drink that is produced by fermenting sweetened tea.  A Kombucha SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) is mixed with a batch of sweetened tea and allowed to ferment.  In its raw, unflavored form, I would say kombucha tastes like a vinegary champagne.  It should be served very cold.

Although you can purchase kombucha from stores like Whole Foods, I have rarely seen in its raw, or unpasteurized forms.  I drink Kombucha not only because it tastes good, but because it is probiotic, something I have been trying to change about my diet.

Whole Foods does carry an unpasteurized form called G.T.'s Kombucha.  G.T.'s Kombucha sells some varieties that are flavored with juices.  I don't typically like it when companies do this, but these are very well done and not too sweet.  I particularly like the Citrus flavored one, which is just flavored with lemon.

Although the origin of kombucha is not well known, it's thought to have originated in Russia several hundred years ago.  It uses the same cultures as kvass, a similar drink.

There are a lot of claims about the healing power of Kombucha.  It is supposed to cure everything from toenail fungus to cancer.  Certain varieties are purported to do your taxes for you.  Claims are just that: claims.  The older I get, the more I realize that no one knows how the human body works, so how could anyone possibly know the exact effects of kombucha?

Two things are reasonably clear:

  1. It is not bad for you
  2. In its raw form, it is probiotic

So, it tastes great and could possibly save me from having to do my taxes (being married to a CPA virtually ensures this, but taking out a little Kombucha insurance never hurts), so what is the downside to drinking Kombucha?

Commercially, it is expensive.  For a bottle of G.T.'s Kombucha from Whole Foods in Dallas, Texas, today you will pay in excess of $3.00 for a 16 ounce bottle.  It's outrageous.  I believe that this is a tax on the health benefits.  It is for this reason that I will tell you how to make it for pennies.  I've calculated the cost of a 16 oz bottle of my own kombucha at $0.80 if I use premium loose leaf tea!

Making Kombucha

It's not hard.  It's 20 minutes of work and a week of waiting.  No big deal.

The Software
  1. A kombucha SCOBY (sometimes referred to as a "mushroom")
  2. 3 liters of clean spring water
  3. 1 Cup Sugar
  4. 12 teaspoons of loose leaf tea (green tea preferred)

Obtaining the kombucha mushroom is the trick here.  Every time you brew kombucha, another kombucha mushroom will form, leaving the brewer with two kombucha mushrooms.  If you know someone with this problem, tell them you will take the new kombucha "baby" from them.  If you don't know someone that cool, you can order them online.

The Hardware
  1. A pot to boil the tea
  2. Stirring spoon
  3. Thermometer capable of reading 85 F
  4. Cheese cloth
  5. 3 liter (or larger) container for brewing, preferably glass or porcelain
  6. 1 large rubber band that fits over the rim of the brewing container
  7. A breathable material large enough to fit over the brewing container rim, like a handkerchief or coffee filter

For a more fizzy tea, you will need

  1. Several "swing-top" or "ez-cap" bottles whose capacity adds up to 3 liters.  The 32 oz size seems best.  Here's a picture:
The Process

Disinfect everything that will come into contact with the kombucha

To disinfect everything, mix 1 tablespoon unscented bleach with a gallon of water (tap water is fine for this) and soak all of you hardware in this for a couple of minutes.  All of the little critters that might make your kombucha become a trip to the emergency room are now dead.  Nice!  Rinse everything after soaking.

Boil the Water and Add Sugar

Bring the 3 liters of spring water to a boil and add the sugar.  Allow this to boil for 5 minutes.  This will take the sugar, a disaccharide, and turn it into two monosaccharides.  The bacteria and yeast in the Kombucha mushroom refer to monosaccharides as dinner.

Brew the tea

For this part you can take two paths.  If you are using loose tea, just throw the loose tea leaves in the hot water and strain through the cheese cloth after it has brewed.  If you are using tea bags, simply drop them in and remove them after the brewing has completed.  Regardless of the directions on your particular tea, allow the tea to steep for a full 15 minutes for maximum flavor.

Allow the tea to cool to 85 F

If you were to put the kombucha mushroom in before it was cooled to 80 F, the colony would die, leaving you with a lot of sweetened tea with dead kombucha mushroom floating in it.  This is undesirable.

Add the kombucha mushroom

While it's not absolutely necessary, its best to add a small amount (1 cup or so) of the previous batch of kombucha.  This will get the reaction going quicker and make it taste better.

Cover the brewing container

Cover the container with your handkerchief or coffee filter and tie this down with a rubber band.  It's important that the cover be breathable.  Those are live animals making this drink for you.  You wouldn't want them to suffocate, would you?

Allow to brew for 7 to 10 days

Put the brewing container in a warm, dark place for 7 to 10 days, undisturbed.  If you peek in on the container from time to time you will see lots of activity.  A second kombucha mushroom (known as a "baby" and the original now as the "mother"... get it?) and you will see bubbles forming on the top.  The mother may sink to the bottom or float to the top.  It's important not to disturb it too much - just let it do its thing.

Optional: at 7 days, bottle

At 7 days you can bottle your kombucha in smaller sealed containers.  This will allow more CO2 to dissolve into the kombucha, giving the drink more "fizz" like soda or beer.

I hope I've piqued your interest in kombucha.  If you've never tried it before, buy a bottle of the expensive stuff and see if you like it.  If you do, damn the man and make your own.

The next time I make kombucha I will post pictures of the process.

2 Comment(s) 00:16 - Jan 31, 2007

Trackbacks

No Trackbacks

Comments

Kent :

Very nice write up!

You know it is funny, in the culinary world, recipes for most items offer a great deal of latitude to the chef.  An adventurous cook can often look at a published recipe and make changes to the proceedure or substitutions for some choice ingredients and the results are often fabulous.

This however is not the case with Kombucha.   Kombucha is simply four ingredients in the proportions mentioned above.  

Don't be tempted to trick out your ride with exotic herbal teas or to use anything other than simple white granulated sugar.  It would seem logical to substitute honey or evaporated cane juice since this is a 'health' drink but avoid the temptation to improvise here.

The only real way to put your own spin on kombucha is with juice as Anderson mentioned G.T.'s Kombucha does.  Just make sure to do it when you are bottling.  The tea needs to be pure up to that point.

It is also worth noting that when your kombucha is finished it will pretty much be a solvent.  This means keep it out of reactive metals and plastic containers(It can actually pull chemicals out of plastics).

Link

Maria :

you can also check out www.getkombucha.com I bought a continuos brewing system form thhem, and it save me a lot of time (me and my family drink about a liter a day so it has been extremely helpful).   Oh yeah, they also have a free kombucha newsletter, which is very informative and gives exclusive discounts.

hope this helps,

Maria

Link