Kombucha in the Fall - Green and Sustainable

We don't have pumpkins but we do have a few flowers!

I consider Kombucha to be a very good use of resources. To me it is good stewardship of my money to combine a little tea, sugar and water and let the Kombucha organisms mine out the healthful components for me. It is effortlessly sustainable so long as I have access to some tea, something sweet and water. The results could make a huge difference in the health of a family if access to raw fruits and veggies was minimal. In good times, it can provide a nutritional boost and flavorful treats.
As the weather begins to change where I live, my tastes change with it. I begin to think of spiced cider, pumpkin spice lattes (though I like vanilla better), and flavors like orange and cranberry. My trusty kombucha pot is still just humming away on the counter as it has all summer. Perhaps it is maturing a little more slowly than in the heat of the summer, but it is still making all the kombucha my family needs for drinking, making cleaner and cooking. It is time to make some cool and warm combinations with our favorite fall flavors.

Here is a list of ways to use kombucha in flavored drinks. Note, freezing can damage some of the natural enzymes in your kombucha, but not all will be destroyed. It is still more healthful than using water. Also, heating your kombucha over 140 will also kill the enzymes. It won't change the Ph significantly nor destroy all of the good nutrition, but the live organisms and the healthy enzymes are all heat sensitive. Still, it will be more healthy that buying bottled kombucha at the store, Anyway, here goes!

1. Make Kombucha ice cubes. Every morning place a couple in your fresh juice. It is very good in cranberry apple, in orange, in pineapple or in any veggie/fruit combination. Special treat note, fresh pineapple, apple with Ginger. A 50/50 pineapple to apple juice with the juice of one piece of fresh ginger. (You have to have a strong juicer to juice ginger though.) This is practically health in a glass when you add the K ice cubes!
2. Use these Kombucha cubes in your green (or fruit) smoothies. I have done this when I didn't have any frozen fruit. What a flavorful addition. It sure doesn't taste like Kombucha in a smoothie.
3. Add Kombucha to concentrated Chai Tea, this is very good with extra cinnamon.
4. Steep your tea bag of any kind in Kombucha rather than water. This one will surprise you!
5. Make mulled cider or Russian Tea your regular way, substituting kombucha for half the water or juice, depending on your recipe.
6. Mix cold Kombucha 50/50 with anything fruity that you like to drink. I find that sweeter juices are tempered nicely by Kombucha.
7. Freeze grapes and pieces of melon. Blend the frozen fruits with enough kombucha to to make a sorbet or a slushy. Use your imagination, but the grape/cantaloupe combination is delicious.
8. Serve plain Kombucha slightly warmed with local honey. If you really want an immune boost, steep a mullein tea bag in it first. Kombucha + local honey + mullein = no more sniffles!
9. Kombucha thinned yogurt or kefir sweetened with honey makes a fizzy yummy treat!
10. A toddie can be made with Kombucha and chammomile. I think it is best to make double strength chammomile tea, mix it half and half with Kombucha and sweeten with honey if desired. Note, caffeine sensitive people will want to feed the Kombucha with green tea for a few feedings before making a night time drink with it.

This is a very giood time to get your kombucha starter going. email me at mcfamily@blackfoot.net if you need a starter! If you are interested in Mullein Herb, my younger children are harvesting and selling bulk Mullein or Mullein tea bags. Just let us know if you want any.

I hope your day is blessed.
Lawana

Kombucha

This is the time of year that Kombucha really comes in handy. It is a refreshing and hydrating drink any time of year, but when it is hot and we are depleting our bodies through sweating, kombucha and kombucha blended with potassium rich fruit juices can be an amazing boost, not to mention tasting wonderful. There is nothing more refreshing that an effervescent kombucha citrus switzel.

Summer is a good time to get kombucha started for the first time. The countertop and cupboard temperatures in many of our homes are very good for kombucha at this time of year. If you are buying kombucha, let me encourage you to to try growing your own. Many of the best tasting Kombuchas in the bottle at your health food store are actually kombucha/ juice blends or they have honey or stevia added to improve their flavor. Some of them have been pasteurized to make it legal to sell them and safe to bottle them. Please read your label. There are good and good for you kombuchas out there, but some are little better than pop.

If you have been disappointed with your own kombucha that you brewed at home, please consider trying again. You can add honey at home or mix it with fruit juice as well as they can at the factory. You can experiment with brew time and catch it at that perfect for you stage. This can be done for pennies a glass and you are assured that you are getting the live cultures, as there will be no shipping, pasteurizing, or other dubious handling between the brewing container and your glass. You will know exactly what is in it.

If you have never brewed kombucha before, this is a good time to start. For me, it is like zuchinni. It grows rampant with little care. In fact I think it would be hard for me to kill it! I just reposted my Kombucha care post. Here is also the link to it. http://lawana-counterculture.blogspot.com/2010/06/brewing-and-using-kombucha.html

This week I am offering a discounted kombucha special. I will send you a healthy kombucha start with instructions, priority mail for 15.00. If you are interested please leave me a message with the blue e-mail button at the bottom of this page.

Thanks!

Lawana

Brewing and using Kombucha

This is the handout I give to people when they buy my kombucha culture. I thought it might be helpful to some of you.

Kombucha is a fermented tea. A culture containing bacterial and fungal components is placed in sweetened black tea and allowed to “work”. The fermented product is quite acidic, similar to apple cider vinegar. This makes this product safe to keep at room temperature or in the refrigerator as its acidic nature helps it resist contamination by environmental spores.

There are many claims about kombucha’s effectiveness in helping maintain good health and treating illness. It is not well documented exactly how kombucha works, but many people worldwide us it as a tonic, a detoxifying agent and a refreshing drink. It can also be used in the household it the same ways one would use vinegar, particularly if it is allowed to ferment to the point that the acetobacter organism takes over and produces K-vinegar. At some points kombucha can be mildly alcoholic. I would not recommend it in this stage for anyone who should not be consuming alcohol. Once it begins to smell very vinegary, the alcohol has begun to be broken down and destroyed by the Acetobactor organisms. Also, check with your doctor if you are immunosuppressed as kombucha does have live cultures.

To brew your Kombucha, place your starter and the liquid with it in a clean quart mason jar. Make a tea with 2 typical black tea bags and 1 scant quart of water. Let the tea steep until it is quite strong. Squeeze and remove the tea bags. Add ¼ cup sugar, brown sugar, or honey. Mix well and after cooling to room temperature, add to the jar with your starter.

Leave the jar at room temperature with a clean cloth tied or rubber banded over the top. Leave the culture undisturbed at least 7 days except to tilt the jar to bathe the top of the culture with liquid once per day to prevent mold contamination. At this time strain some into a glass and taste it. It should be very slightly sweet, effervescent and tart. If it is still flat or sweet, leave it a little longer. When the kombucha has “arrived” after 7 to 10 days, strain all but about 10% of the liquid into another clean jar and cap tightly for the refrigerator. This liquid can be drunk neat or added to other drinks such as fruit juices, water or tea. It is recommended that you start with only 2 oz. per day and gradually increase as you see how your body reacts. Never use a culture that has mold spots (just like the ones that grow on bread or cheese). The mold might be toxic and the fact that it can grow may indicate that your culture has been neglected and has become weakened. After a time you will find that your culture is growing and will make Kombucha in a shorter amount of time. At that point you can either move up to a ½ gallon container and double the tea recipe, or you can stay with the same recipe and divide your culture by peeling it apart and discarding part or sharing with your neighbor.

There are many internet sites devoted to Kombucha, as well as my blog, Counter Culture at

www.lawana-counterculture.blogspot.com

God bless you!