Kombucha for Fawn (and others)

[Tuscanytrace]

Rather than pay $2 or more (it's $4 here) for Synergy, you can make your own.

You'll need a "mushroom" or "pancake", called a scoby, to start. You can google for Gunther's website, where he has a swap forum.

Then, it's simple and cheap. Here's a copy of what I send out with the scobies I give away (and sorry, right now I don't have any extra).

Also, Low Carb friends, DO NOT PANIC that there is sugar in here! The scoby uses it for fuel, so there's next to none left by the time it's ready to drink. Same goes with the caffeine. If you get a buzz from this it's the B vitamins!

Also, this is NOT a lot of work. Takes just a few minutes on the front end. Once it's drinkable, no work at all--just dispense from the sun tea jar.

Slightly over 3 quarts distilled water
4-5 tea bags—organic black or green; not flavored or decaf or herbal or white
1 c. white sugar (not raw or natural or molasses)
Scoby (pancake thing)
Acidifier culture (kombucha from the last batch)

In a stainless steel pot, bring the water to a boil. You want to compensate for evaporation so use extra. When it is boiling, stir in the sugar until it dissolves, using a plastic or wooden utensil. Then add the tea bags and turn off the burner.

Allow to cool to room temp. If it’s even body temp it will kill the scoby, so get it to 75 degrees or less.

In a glass jar (sun tea or cracker), pour the tea (remove bags, of course). Put the scoby in (it might sink or stand upright; doesn’t matter) and then pour the starter kombucha over it. Cover with a coffee filter or paper towel and rubber band it to the neck of the jar.

Put in a cool place, away from cigarette smoke, pets, plants, and food prep (oils will kill it). It will be done in about 4-8 days. You can start testing at 4 days. It should be fizzy and have no taste of tea remaining. It will also be tart.

If you use green tea, it tastes more like ginger ale. If you use black, it tastes more like cider. I blend either 3 g/2 b or 4 g/1 b.

There are some great web sites to learn more about things—one is about trouble shooting. There really aren’t many things that can go wrong; many things newbies might wonder about are really ok.

You do need to be careful of mold. That website shows what it looks like, and often the first couple of days the new scoby forming on top looks like it might be mold. Just wait and you’ll be able to tell it’s not.

Things that will harm the scoby:
Heat, aluminum, fruit oils in flavored teas (add fruit after if you want the flavor), oils from frying, cigarette smoke; mold (just be very clean in washing hands and utensils), flouride in tea that isn’t organic

Things that will ruin the kombucha:
Anything other than white sugar—doesn’t have enough nutrients for the yeast part of the scoby
Using ceramic, leaded glass, or plastic containers—kombucha is a detoxifier and will leach lead and other toxins out of the container it’s in.
Impurities in water that isn’t distilled—even spring water.

The next batch you make, you’ll have an extra scoby to make twice as much or to give away. You can leave the scoby and some culture—at least 10%--in the bottom of the jar and just pour the new tea on top. Sun tea jars are great for this continual brewing method.

Adding a slice of ginger after you decant it increases the fizz, as does adding some fruit.

Yes, it’s supposed to be a little cloudy. Those stringy things are spent yeast shedding from the scoby (“boochie snot").

See Gunther’s website (google it, sorry) for lots of links to pictures of what it’s supposed to look like, health benefits, trouble shooting, etc.

[brittone2]

We love, love, love Kombucha. I buy it, but we've attempted to make it in the past. My house seems to love to make things moldy (I'm in the humid south, etc.). Every time I try to make Kombucha (okay, we've only tried twice ), it gets bad mold on it (and yes, it is the bad stuff. I've looked at pictures).

I think I need to find a new location for keeping it. My kitchen causes it to grow the nasties.

Yummy stuff though. I try to buy the ones that have the lowest carb content, but I also figure the numbers aren't all that accurate since as you said, the scoby is using and processing the sugar to live (sort of like the bacteria in yogurt)

[fawn]

Trace, thank you!!

[healed01]

yum..I love Kombucha...where did you get your pancake?

[healed01]

or "mother"?

[Tuscanytrace]

Originally Posted by healed01

yum..I love Kombucha...where did you get your pancake?

I got it from a friend. Often people who are members of local chapters of the Weston A. Price foundation have it.

[amiga74]

ooh thanks for posting this!

i've been considering making a batch of kimchi, but this looks a little easier!

[metqa]

Check This out!
It is a worldwide kombucha Exchange List. Just scroll down to your country, then check by state or province, whatever you call 'em. Try to find someone near you or near enough to send it by post.

The Kombucha Exchange

There are some folks who are culturing their own scoby. that's what I'm trying at the moment. No scoby's available in my area for a while and I'm impatient. Figured I'd try the slow method until I can get one mailed to me.

[Kissmygrits]

I've been making Kombucha for a while now...after my first giant flop, all my batches have come out beautifully. Compared to homemade, the store-bought stuff tastes pretty watery, IMO.

[CreekWatcher]

Trace, are you suggesting that organic tea doesn't have as much flouride as regular tea does? If so that's (good) news to me. I know that tea bushes really suck up whatever flouride is in the ground or water.

[metqa]

Hey read this! I was searching for info on flourine, ( i heard it is not as dangerous as the fluoride byproduct used in water) and I came across this instead.

Dr. David Answers Reader Questions; Topic:Green Tea and Fluoride

A Reader Writes:

"I have been reading that green tea contains toxic levels of fluoride. Do you agree with this?"

David Derry Responds:

Dear Patient

Although, we do have fluoride in our bodies there is no normal physiological function for it. In higher amounts it is toxic. Iodine is the most important element in our bodies by far. But what is important is fluoride is in the same chemical family as iodine and can replace iodine in the body if the iodine is deficient. But ideally one never wants to do that as fluoride is a toxin and should not be used to replace normal iodine functions. Our main source of iodine in the Western societies is iodized table salt. When we cut back our intake of salt we are in fact depriving ourselves of the much needed daily intake of iodine. This has lead to a significant decrease in the iodine intake of Western societies,(1-4)and iodine deficiency is starting to show up in children as well as adults.(5)

Some countries are fluoridating their water supply for the theoretical benefits of fluoride helping to prevent cavities. What is happening is the ingested fluoride takes the place of iodine that should be there in the teeth, especially growing teeth. Iodine and thyroid for example have complete control of tooth growth along with some help from growth hormone. (6-8) It is only because our iodine intake has been decreasing over the years that fluoride has been mistakenly added to our water with the idea of helping children's teeth. It would have made more scientific sense to have added more iodine. Monitoring of the results of fluoridation and iodine intake have not been consistent. As one would expect there are lots of publications now about the problems with too much fluoride.

Fluoride has also been used against osteoporosis with beneficial results. This again is just replacing what iodine should be doing. The minor problems of osteopenia (minor loss of calcium) seen in some patients put on thyroid is related to the fact that the same patients are low in iodine. The low iodine causes the hypothyroidism and also the inappropriate short term bone response. If iodine is given with the thyroid hormone this abnormal response can be avoided. So persons taking adequate daily iodine will unlikely to ever develop osteoporosis.

The thyroid gland uses iodine to make thyroid hormone. We know the thyroid gland appeared in evolution at the same time as back bones (vertebrates). Radioactive iodine injected into patients shows a full outline of the bones on a total body scan. This means one of the places iodine goes to immediately is bones. Thyroid hormone makes bones grow, mature and remodel, when necessary. Together thyroid hormone, iodine and growth hormone maintain a healthy bone structure. As vertebrates (animals with backbones) are the only animals with thyroid glands it makes sense that iodine and thyroid control bone structure and function.(6-8)

So even though fluoridation might work in children it does not work in adults. Therefore adults using fluorinated tooth paste will unlikely see any benefit and may end up with signs of excess fluoride such as browning of the teeth. It does not make sense to substitute a toxin for the natural iodine that should be there. It would have been simpler and more effective if the iodine intake of children was raised. This would provide the needed iodine and make stronger thyroid glands.

Green tea is supposed to help prevent stomach cancer in China. But in fact the way to prevent stomach cancer is to take more iodine. (9) Thus the benefits of the Green tea may be related to the fluoride in the tea substituting for iodine. Iodine therapy would be more effective.

I want to thank Edna Kyrie of London, England and her website on thyroid history for many references on fluoride.

1. Lee,K., Bradley,R., Dwyer,J., S. L. Lee,S.L.. Too much or too little: The implication of current Iodine intake in the United States. Nutrition Reviews 57:177-181, 1999.

2. Hollowell,J.G., Staehling,N.W., Hannon,W.H. et al. Iodine nutrition in the United States. Trends and public health implications: Iodine excretion data from national health and nutrition examination surveys I and III (1971-1974 and 1988-1994). J Clin Endocrinol Metab 83:3401-3408, 21998.

3. Thomson,C.D., Colls,A.J., Conaglen,J.V., Macormack,M., Stiles,M., Mann.J.. Iodine status of New Zealand residents as assessed by urinary iodide excretion and thyroid hormones. British Journal of Nutrition 78 (6):901-912, 1997.

4. Glinoer,D. Feto-maternal repercussions of iodine deficiency during pregnancy. An update. Annales d Endocrinologie. 64 (1):37-44, 2003.

5. Kamala Guttikonda, Cheryl A Travers, Peter R Lewis and Steven Boyages Iodine deficiency in urban primary school children: a cross-sectional analysis MJA 2003; 179 (7): 346-348

6. Baume, L.J.. Hormonal control of tooth eruption; effect of thyroidectomy on upper rat incisor and response to growth hormone, thyroxin or combination of both. J Dent Res 33:89-90, 1954.

7. Muhler,J.C.. Experimental dental caries; effect of feeding desiccated thyroid and thiouracil on dental caries in rats. Science 119:687-689, 1954.

8. Muhler,J.C.. The relationship between fluorine and the activity of the thyroid gland on the incidence of dental caries in the rat. J Dent Res 36:382-385, 1957.

9. Derry DM. Breast cancer and iodine Trafford Publishing. Victoria Canada 2001

[CreekWatcher]

That's very interesting Metga. If anyone wants a lot of information about iodine (the lack of in modern diets/the former extensive use of megadoses in medical treatments) they can google "iodine project."

[Criosa]

Originally Posted by Tuscanytrace

Put in a cool place, away from cigarette smoke, pets, plants, and food prep (oils will kill it). It will be done in about 4-8 days. You can start testing at 4 days. It should be fizzy and have no taste of tea remaining. It will also be tart.

I have been making kombucha several years now. I'm surprised by the 4-8 days though! The weather has a lot to do with the time, but even in the summer we keep our house around 72-78, and I let mine sit at least 10 days. In the winter it sits at least 2 weeks . Anything less than that is still too sweet for me. If the kombucha still tastes sweet, wouldn't it be true to say that there is still sugar left that the scoby colony hasn't consumed?

I love the idea of adding ginger. I didn't know that. I have to buy some!

Criosa

[fawn]

Got my Scoby today and ready to roll! I too love ginger so I'm going to try that. Trace, do you put the ginger in after it's done and separate from the saved scoby?

Criosa, that would be my thought.....I want no sugar left in mine.....I don't even like the idea of purchasing refined sugar but for the greater good I shall.

[Kissmygrits]

I want to know too Trace! My thinking is that the culture is such a sensitive balance of yeast and bacteria that ginger might upset that. However, the culture thrives in the sugar and tea, so maybe not. I've always been too chicken to experiment with my culture (those babies are hard to come by!).

[Criosa]

Originally Posted by fawn

Got my Scoby today and ready to roll! I too love ginger so I'm going to try that. Trace, do you put the ginger in after it's done and separate from the saved scoby?

Criosa, that would be my thought.....I want no sugar left in mine.....I don't even like the idea of purchasing refined sugar but for the greater good I shall.

There is differing of opinion on what sugar to use in kombucha. I use unbleached organic sugar - not raw, and my kombucha is fine. The scoby is always a healthy creamy white color. It looks better than a friend of mine who will only use refined bleached sugar from the grocery store.

I put the ginger in after I removed the scoby. It was better than ever!

Criosa

[fawn]

Originally Posted by Criosa

There is differing of opinion on what sugar to use in kombucha. I use unbleached organic sugar - not raw, and my kombucha is fine. The scoby is always a healthy creamy white color. It looks better than a friend of mine who will only use refined bleached sugar from the grocery store.

I put the ginger in after I removed the scoby. It was better than ever!

Criosa

How about Turbindado? That's really what I'd like to use.

[Kissmygrits]

Fawn, I had this information in my Kombucha file. I've never tried turbinado, but this little bit of info made me feel better about using regular sugar! Here's the site if you want to read the complete article; it's worth the time IMO. I would like to hear if you do try turbinado and whether you have success with it.
Kombucha article

The Kombucha "fungus" turns black tea and white sugar into a healthy drink. That's right, "black tea and sugar" are the feedstock for this culture. Since white sugar is prohibited in our home and we drink only the organic green tea, our first thoughts about the viability of this traditional beverage were negative. However, when we noticed that two of the key metabolites of the fermentation of tea and sugar by Kombucha were glucuronic acid and good (+) lactic acid as well as a balance of all the B-vitamins, we allowed sugar into our house and went to work brewing batches of sweetened black tea.

The potentially large amount of glucuronic acid in the beverage is especially exciting to us, just as it was to Soviet scientists and cancer researchers back in the final years of Joseph Stalin -a tale we're about to tell. Glucuronic acid is not readily commercially synthesized, but the healthy human liver makes large amounts of it to detoxify the body. In the liver the glucuronic acid binds up all poisons and toxins both environmental and metabolic and rushes them to the excretory system. Toxins once bound by glucuronic acid cannot be resorbed into the system so we are rid of them.

Further,........."As for concerns about the refined sugar, which all health conscious individuals express, Frank provides this note: "You should take into account that after a normal fermentation period of 14 days only 3 grams of simple sugars (monosaccharides) per 100 grams of Kombucha tea remain in the drink."

Sugar notwithstanding, I'm convinced that kombucha is one of the best things we can consume for good health.

[Criosa]

Originally Posted by fawn

How about Turbindado? That's really what I'd like to use.

Turbinado is a raw sugar,right? When our Sam's Club had raw organic sugar, I used to use it all the time and it did fine. I heard that sometimes the raw sugar may have impurities that would be harmful to the scoby, so apparently you would be taking a chance. If you want to try it, I would make the first batch with regular sugar, and make a turbinado batch with your new baby scoby. The raw sugar will give the kombucha a little different flavor too.

The thing that makes me wonder with the processed sugar only theory, is how did kombucha survive so long when people had to use whatever was available to them? Processed sugar is a relatively new thing.

[Tuscanytrace]

Originally Posted by Criosa

Turbinado is a raw sugar,right? When our Sam's Club had raw organic sugar, I used to use it all the time and it did fine. I heard that sometimes the raw sugar may have impurities that would be harmful to the scoby, so apparently you would be taking a chance. If you want to try it, I would make the first batch with regular sugar, and make a turbinado batch with your new baby scoby. The raw sugar will give the kombucha a little different flavor too.

The thing that makes me wonder with the processed sugar only theory, is how did kombucha survive so long when people had to use whatever was available to them? Processed sugar is a relatively new thing.

That's just exactly what I was going to say. But I do get best results using the chemically purest form of glucose I can find--meaning refined white sugar. I've never had a mold problem at all. Yet most of my friends who've used turbinado or Rapidura have had multiple mold problems, bad baby scobies, etc. and have kept coming to me for replacements.

[Tuscanytrace]

Originally Posted by Kissmygrits

I want to know too Trace! My thinking is that the culture is such a sensitive balance of yeast and bacteria that ginger might upset that. However, the culture thrives in the sugar and tea, so maybe not. I've always been too chicken to experiment with my culture (those babies are hard to come by!).

Definitely I'd keep the ginger out until after, until you have a good supply of backup scobies built up. You wouldn't want to experiment without a backup!

Most people I know will use old Grolsche bottles or something similar to bottle it after it's brewed, adding a blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, slice of other fruit, or hunk of ginger in the bottom. It will get fizzier then and take on the flavor of the fruit.

[Kissmygrits]

Originally Posted by Tuscanytrace

Most people I know will use old Grolsche bottles or something similar to bottle it after it's brewed, adding a blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, slice of other fruit, or hunk of ginger in the bottom. It will get fizzier then and take on the flavor of the fruit.

The fruit sounds good; I'm going to try it with the batch I have brewing (or as my husband calls it, stewing). Have you (or anyone else reading) ever tried to bottle it in individual water bottles? I've always used a 2-liter pop bottle, but I thought if I could use smaller bottles I could try different kinds of fruit...

[Kissmygrits]

Fawn, I found this online re: turbinado and other alternatives to white sugar. Looks like others have had luck using turbinado. There are lots of good tips and discussions here for anyone else who may be interested.

Brewing without sugar - Kombucha Tea - tribe.net

[fawn]

Thank you Caroline!

[lindaokc]

I went out and bought some canning jars to put my mixture in after it has brewed. Does anybody know if that will be alright? I couldn't think of anything else to use that would be glass. I don't want to mess it up and it's almost ready to bottle. Maybe it's just me but I thought you weren't supposed to use plastic?