Kombucha

What you need?
You need a mother's "sponge" of Kombuch . In fact, experts do not entirely agree on whether it is a sponge, yet you will meet this sign quite often. At first sight, the total repellent formation of solid gelatin or gum is probably a symbiotic form of yeast, bacterial cultures, and lichen. It has the white-gray color and shape of the container in which you make the drink. Can be bought in healthy nutrition stores. Then there are also FB groups or sites on the internet where you can buy Kombucha together with kefir or tibi crystals.

How to grow my own new sponge at home later, but once you get one, you can have it forever.
When I saw her for the first time, it really seemed repulsive, but once I touched her, I immediately got a really warm and friendly relationship. She's comfortable on the touch, and it was as if my body knew we were going to be friends.



Tea
For the production of the drink, you need, in addition to mother's Kombuchy, a quality black or green tea and sugar to feed the yeast. Primary black tea is used, and it is also the most testimony to this symbiotic organism. It is good to alternate tea and therefore not to use green tea alone. Certainly, however, do not omit aromatized teas! Always try for quality cups.

The theme of whether Kombucha needs tea to life and why it is very extensive. But in a nutshell, it is, yes, it needs! For example, if you use one cycle for non-tea roibos or herbs such as mint, chamomile (avoid herbs containing essential oils, they spoil the combos), you can also make a good beverage, but if you do each cycle, the "sponge" would atrophy and she died completely.
The theme of Tea and Kombuch has another very important theme, and it is about the beneficial effects of this drink. The fact that tea is healthy we know and the process of fermentation using this symbiotic organism should multiply the content of some of the beneficial substances contained in the tea. Then the finished beverage, thanks to fermentation, promotes digestion as other fermented products.
I will write here another article in which I will focus on the effects of Kombucha, on how to grow a mother's horn and on how to make Kombuch differently flavored. But let's start with the foundation.

Sugar
You do not have to worry too much about sugar, so called white poison in recent years. Yeast sugars need to live, too, to make bubbles, and as soon as the ripening process of the beverage is over, the sugar is not much left. Anyway, I prepared Kombuch several times with honey . I have come across articles that claim honey can kill but I have not confirmed this claim. :-) But rather use honey. Forests have more effective antibodies.

Vessel and utensils
Beverage is ideal to produce in larger glass containers. Like a big glass of cucumbers and now modern glass barrels with a tap. Even in my store you can find a wide range of glasses.
Then basic hygiene practices must be followed. Have clean hands. Use a spoon intended for beverage production only. Ensure that Kombucha does not come into contact with detergents and other chemicals. Also not to be in contact with metallic tools. A napkin, cloth, muslin or gauze and rubber band will need to cover a ripening drink.





Now, instructions
To avoid the need to recalculate the ingredients on a 3, 5 or 8 l container, I will put them on 1 l of tea.

On I l Tea Base:
85-95 g of sugar or 105-115 g of meadow honey
motherboard Kombuchu or 3-5 daughters (I will explain later)
1 dcl of finished combo drink or infusion in which you have brought Kombuchu mother (10% of the tea base volume)
1 teaspoon of black or green tea

How to do it?
1. Prepare, for example, 5 l of tea. In a large pot, cook 5 liters of water. Stop. add 5 teaspoons of green or black tea. After leaching, which should take a few minutes (about 7-10 minutes depending on the type of tea), remove the tea or re-finish the finished tea in the prepared glass container. Add sugar or honey. Thus 5 x for example 85 g of sugar or 5 x 105 g of honey. Mix well.

Now there is an important point! Tea has to cool to room temperature, which can last for a whole day. It should have a maximum temperature of about 35 ° C. With this procedure, it is a good fact to boil water and it is almost "sterile". Just waiting is an unpleasant factor and it already means a bit of organization.

But when I was looking for information and procedures on the Internet, I also came up with a method where you can brew 1 l of water in 5 liters of tea, add 5 teaspoons of tea to it. After bleeding, you olives. Concentrate the tea in a glass, hot water wash bowl, add 4 liters of filtered water, sugar, and proceed as you go without having to wait all day until the tea mix is cool. That's how I have been preparing the drink for several months and I have not encountered any problem. It is good, of course, to have good water. Dehumidified or ideally filtered chlorine-free, which could harm the Combo. We use the Berkey filtering vessel at home.



2. You can now add 5 x 0.1 dcl, or 0.5 l (10% of 5 l) of the finished drink, to the chilled tea with a temperature below 35 ° C, or the liquid in which you brought your first combo home . And also the mysterious gel soles that are all the time talking about.

3. And it is. Cover the container with a piece of muslin , gauze, cloth, and eyelet so that it can breathe but not get any dirt or insects inside. Take the base prepared to a place where it can spend its leisure time without disturbing direct sunlight, cooking fumes or smoke. A warm home environment around 25 ° C suits it. The maturing takes 6-10 days depending on the ambient temperature and the ripeness of the mushroom. Learn how to taste the beverage during fermentation and evaluate the maturation. If you have a tap with a tap, just drop a little in the glass, and if not, use a straw and remove a drink from the top.

After a few days, the beverage will begin to form small fine bubbles. Its taste will turn from sweet to softly acid. If you spend too long, the sweet taste will completely disappear and taste pure acetic, but we are talking about two weeks of ripening when the yeast consumes all the sugar. Then the beverage will not even perlite. With this long ripening method, you get a coquettish vinegar.



Now important information .
Immediately after a few days, in addition to carbon dioxide bubbles, a new daughter combo will begin to form on the surface of the container. At first you might think it's a mold on the surface, but do not worry. Give her time! It's really fascinating and exciting to see how the new daughter Kombucha is being formed. First, they are small dots, bubbles, then begin to connect in gray islands, and later create a single layer that looks like the entire contents of the glass. It's a kind of self-defense. One could say that they are creating their environment inside, everywhere from their own plugs to the bottom of the container. It is also possible that the native sponge drops to the bottom. Possible flushing in the ripening process, but perhaps not. What to do with your parent and daughter Kombucha in a moment.



4. Put the finished Kombuuch into glass bottles with a spring stopper and store in a fridge where the fermentation process almost stops. I used a cloth at the beginning, but in the meantime I dropped it, because only micro particles of yeast float in the fluid, which pass through even a fine cloth and do not hurt. Take some drinks to set up a new cycle, and of course the broth, mother and daughter "sponge". Both rinse under a stream of lukewarm water and put it on a clean plate.

What next with mother and daughter Kombucha?
And here's probably important information for beginners. When I was in your place anywhere, I did not really read how it is now with the stick.
Every time the cycle described above begins, a new daughter layer will always be created on the surface that will connect with your current new sponge and so the sponge will gradually have more and more layers. You will be able to replace the parental sponge over time for more than one daughter.

If you intend to continue in the beverage production, re-prepare the tea, sugar, and if the mixture has the right temperature, add 10% of your finished drink and your mother and daughter "sponge". The daughter will probably swim, and in a few days, a new one will be created on the surface, which will make the original slightly easier. Repeat the same procedure for several cycles, and rinse it with lukewarm water each time. Over time, you will be able to remove the oldest, lower layers, which will be somewhat torn, formed by cancers, and will be completely brown from the tea. So you rejuvenate the sponge. You will be able to throw out the original parent, but you will already have a possible successor to your daughter.




If you want to take a break from production because, for example, you are leaving for a drink in a glass of ready-made beverage and put it in the fridge. It will last a couple of weeks.

The finished drink is just great, but you can use it for smoothie, for example, mix with other drinks or add fresh mint leaves, for example.



In the next article, I will write a little more about how to work with the beverage that has been created. How to make a new flavor. And if and why Kombuch is beneficial for our organism. What experience I have with her.

Then, once in a while, I offer the Kombušku blog to subscribe here. So watch it here and I like to share natural gifts every once in a while. Eventually, I can also give rye yeast and tibi crystals. :-) Theoretically, sell a signed cookie as soon as you arrive for Kombuchu and you will be interested.

Have a beautiful day, Marketa.