I Finally Made Kombucha
I've posted information about kombucha before, and even links on where to order a kombucha mushroom and starter culture along with recipes. However, up until last week, I had never attempted making kombucha myself.
Last week a friend of mine gave me a mushroom and some kombucha from her previous batch. I followed Sally Fallon's recipe in "Nourishing Traditions," and my kombucha was ready in 8 days.
I admit, i was a little frightened to taste it at first. It smelled quite sour and a little foreboding. However, once I tasted it I realized my first impression was completely wrong. Homemade kombucha is delicious. It is slightly sour and yet sweet. I made mine with organic black spiced chai tea. I'm sure that using chai tea made all the difference. The flavor turned out quite good. It's kind of like drinking iced tea that has a tang to it. It's very refreshing and invigorating. A perfect substitute for juice and soda.
Now each week that I make kombucha, my batch develops a second mushroom that i can give to a friend. It's a great way to encourage others to try something new and improve their health.
According to Sally Fallon:
"It seems surprising, even ironic, to conclude a health food cookbook, in which we have warned against sugar, yeasted foods and tea, with a tonic made from sugar, yeast and tea! But the kombucha 'mushroom' (which is actually a symbiotic colony of yeast and bacteria) acts on sugar and tea to produce not only acetic and lactic acid but also small amounts of a potent detoxifying substance, glucuronic acid. Normally this organic acid is produced by the liver in sufficient quantities to neutralize toxins in the body--whether these are naturally produced toxins or poisons ingested in food and water. However, when liver function becomes overloaded, and when the body must deal with a superabundance of toxins from the environment--certainly the case with most of us today--additional glucuronic acid taken in the form of kombucha is said to be a powerful aid to the body's natural cleansing process, a boost to the immune system and a prove prophylactic against cancer and other degenerative diseases.
More importantly, kombucha is the cure for a hot day--it tastes delicious and refreshing. A fizzy, dark colored, energizing beverage, at the same time acidic and slightly sweet, this gift to the world from the Ural mountain region of Russia qualifies as the soft drink of the twenty-first century, the answer to the scourge of cola drinks that now wreaks havoc with the health of Western populations."
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