Herbal Kombucha Tea, that tasty, potent tonic full of probiotics and enzymes.
Learn to make it yourself for pennies a batch.
Click Here to take a look!
Kombucha Tea
Purchase Kombucha Cultures from this excellent company!
Showing posts with label kombucha culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kombucha culture. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
New Video on Kombucha Tea!
I have a new video on my Ecourse site about how to make
Herbal Kombucha Tea, that tasty, potent tonic full of probiotics and enzymes.
Learn to make it yourself for pennies a batch.
Click Here to take a look!
Kombucha Tea
Purchase Kombucha Cultures from this excellent company!
Herbal Kombucha Tea, that tasty, potent tonic full of probiotics and enzymes.
Learn to make it yourself for pennies a batch.
Click Here to take a look!
Kombucha TeaPurchase Kombucha Cultures from this excellent company!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Kombucha on the Road
On a recent family vacation I brought my giant jar of Kombucha tea complete with mature culture. This was not the first time I took Kombucha tea on vacation with us. I use a deli-size pickle jar. During regular fermentation I use a cloth and rubber band to allow air flow but when I take it on the road I use the glass lid it came with and tape the lid to the jar using masking tape. I line a special box, saved specifically for this purpose, with bubble wrap. I carefully nestle the sealed jar into the box and lay a towel on top before folding the box top closed. I’m sure the jostling of the car is not the best thing for the culture as the film on top disconnects from the sides of the jar. It takes a few days for it to settle in but it still tastes just fine.
On this vacation we were met with large, hungry mosquitoes that gave us large, itchy bites. My 11 year old grandson was very uncomfortable and after getting no relief from products that were supposed to reduce the itch I suggested the Kombucha tea. My grandchildren thought that “thing” was weird enough, with its brain-like culture... “you mean you’re going to drink that???” but discomfort pushes us to try new things so we poured some Kombucha tea into a cup. He dipped into it and began dabbing at the nasty bites. He said the itch was almost gone! He returned almost hourly for reapplication and in a day he had no more discomfort. Chalk up another use for Kombucha tea!
When it was time to pack up the mostly finished Kombucha I got out my trusty box and bubble wrap only to find the bubble wrap had lost all its bubbles! When I asked around I learned that my 5 year old grandson had found the bubble wrap and decided to have a bubble wrap stomping party.
Oh, well…no problem. I used towels to cushion the jar on the way home.
After vacation I have noticed that when I make a new batch the fermentation time is slower probably due to all that disruptive jostling. It’s good to know so I can allow some extra time until it returns to its normal fermentation cycle.
My recipe for Herbal Kombucha Tea below.
On this vacation we were met with large, hungry mosquitoes that gave us large, itchy bites. My 11 year old grandson was very uncomfortable and after getting no relief from products that were supposed to reduce the itch I suggested the Kombucha tea. My grandchildren thought that “thing” was weird enough, with its brain-like culture... “you mean you’re going to drink that???” but discomfort pushes us to try new things so we poured some Kombucha tea into a cup. He dipped into it and began dabbing at the nasty bites. He said the itch was almost gone! He returned almost hourly for reapplication and in a day he had no more discomfort. Chalk up another use for Kombucha tea!
When it was time to pack up the mostly finished Kombucha I got out my trusty box and bubble wrap only to find the bubble wrap had lost all its bubbles! When I asked around I learned that my 5 year old grandson had found the bubble wrap and decided to have a bubble wrap stomping party.
Oh, well…no problem. I used towels to cushion the jar on the way home.
After vacation I have noticed that when I make a new batch the fermentation time is slower probably due to all that disruptive jostling. It’s good to know so I can allow some extra time until it returns to its normal fermentation cycle.
My recipe for Herbal Kombucha Tea below.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Recipe for Herbal Kombucha Tea
Ingredients for one gallon-size brew:
1. Kombucha culture
2. 2 cups of “starter tea” from the previous kombucha brew, if no starter tea is available, use 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
3. 5-6 tea bags or 4-6 Tablespoons of herbal loose tea made from leaves rather than flowers. I avoid teas with added flavorings. If you use Black tea you can use less than 4-6 Tablespoons.
4. one cup sugar
5. 3 ½ quarts of filtered water
Supplies needed:
One gallon or larger glass container, jar or bowl
or a food grade plastic bowl may be used, either number 1 or 2 in the triangle on the bottom.
Clean cloth, paper towel or coffee filter to fit over fermenting container and a large rubber band to secure if needed.
A warm quiet spot, (does not need to be dark)
White vinegar to clean utensils. If you need to clean the culture, let it sit in vinegar for a little while.
Boil water: bring water to the boiling point and let it boil a minute or so.
Add tea bags or loose tea in a strainer.
I let the tea steep about 30 minutes.
Remove tea
Add the cup of sugar and stir to dissolve.
Let it come to room temperature (about 2-4 hours) or overnight
Put the room temperature tea and sugar into your jar or bowl. If it is too hot it will damage the culture.
Add the starter tea
Add the kombucha culture.
Cover with the cloth or paper towel or filter and leave alone.
The entire brewing cycle can take up to 14 days. Usually the tea is ready to drink about day 5. You should see a light film starting to cover the top of the tea surface. I ladle out a bit to taste it. If it’s still very sweet, it’s not ready. Sometimes it has some carbonation. This is fine. Sometimes bubbles form in the culture and the culture looks bumpy and strange. It’s okay.
Start drinking one tablespoon at a time, on an empty stomach. Build up the amount you drink slowly, as your body suggests.
This drink isn’t right for everybody but if it’s good for you, your body may start to crave it.
It’s a powerful detoxifier so you don’t want to start drinking too much in the beginning. Let your body start its detox process in a slow and gentle way.
I’ve settled on drinking about 1/4 -1/2 cup 1-3 times a day 20 minutes before a meal. Anymore than that really feels like too much.
It is suggested that once the culture is in the tea, no metal should come in contact with the brew. I use a plastic ladle.
Some people strain the tea before they drink it because sometimes there’s some squidley stuff floating in it. The stuff is part of the brew and can be drunk.
If you don’t finish the brew after 10-12 days it will become very vinegary and for some, undrinkable. This can be used for salad dressings and marinades.
Always save the last 2 cups for the next batch.
The film that forms on the top is the offspring of the culture. You can use this to start a new batch when it is substantial enough or you can just leave it attached. To detach it from the culture, with clean hands pick up the culture and peel the film off. If it is too small to start a new batch, store it in a glass jar with 1-2 cups of fresh tea and a paper towel cover. Keep adding new films as you get them. You should add fresh tea every 14 days. After a while the filmy pieces will meld into one new culture that can be used to start a new batch.
At this point I always have 2 different batches going. This is enough for me. I put my extras in a jar and save them until I have someone brave enough to try it.
Purchase Kombucha Culture from Cultures for Health!
1. Kombucha culture
2. 2 cups of “starter tea” from the previous kombucha brew, if no starter tea is available, use 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
3. 5-6 tea bags or 4-6 Tablespoons of herbal loose tea made from leaves rather than flowers. I avoid teas with added flavorings. If you use Black tea you can use less than 4-6 Tablespoons.
4. one cup sugar
5. 3 ½ quarts of filtered water
Supplies needed:
One gallon or larger glass container, jar or bowl
or a food grade plastic bowl may be used, either number 1 or 2 in the triangle on the bottom.
Clean cloth, paper towel or coffee filter to fit over fermenting container and a large rubber band to secure if needed.
A warm quiet spot, (does not need to be dark)
White vinegar to clean utensils. If you need to clean the culture, let it sit in vinegar for a little while.
Boil water: bring water to the boiling point and let it boil a minute or so.
Add tea bags or loose tea in a strainer.
I let the tea steep about 30 minutes.
Remove tea
Add the cup of sugar and stir to dissolve.
Let it come to room temperature (about 2-4 hours) or overnight
Put the room temperature tea and sugar into your jar or bowl. If it is too hot it will damage the culture.
Add the starter tea
Add the kombucha culture.
Cover with the cloth or paper towel or filter and leave alone.
The entire brewing cycle can take up to 14 days. Usually the tea is ready to drink about day 5. You should see a light film starting to cover the top of the tea surface. I ladle out a bit to taste it. If it’s still very sweet, it’s not ready. Sometimes it has some carbonation. This is fine. Sometimes bubbles form in the culture and the culture looks bumpy and strange. It’s okay.
Start drinking one tablespoon at a time, on an empty stomach. Build up the amount you drink slowly, as your body suggests.
This drink isn’t right for everybody but if it’s good for you, your body may start to crave it.
It’s a powerful detoxifier so you don’t want to start drinking too much in the beginning. Let your body start its detox process in a slow and gentle way.
I’ve settled on drinking about 1/4 -1/2 cup 1-3 times a day 20 minutes before a meal. Anymore than that really feels like too much.
It is suggested that once the culture is in the tea, no metal should come in contact with the brew. I use a plastic ladle.
Some people strain the tea before they drink it because sometimes there’s some squidley stuff floating in it. The stuff is part of the brew and can be drunk.
If you don’t finish the brew after 10-12 days it will become very vinegary and for some, undrinkable. This can be used for salad dressings and marinades.
Always save the last 2 cups for the next batch.
The film that forms on the top is the offspring of the culture. You can use this to start a new batch when it is substantial enough or you can just leave it attached. To detach it from the culture, with clean hands pick up the culture and peel the film off. If it is too small to start a new batch, store it in a glass jar with 1-2 cups of fresh tea and a paper towel cover. Keep adding new films as you get them. You should add fresh tea every 14 days. After a while the filmy pieces will meld into one new culture that can be used to start a new batch.
At this point I always have 2 different batches going. This is enough for me. I put my extras in a jar and save them until I have someone brave enough to try it.
Purchase Kombucha Culture from Cultures for Health!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Kombucha Tea and Sugar Addiction
I started drinking Kombucha tea a few years ago and immediately noticed positive changes in my health. It seemed as if my digestive system was waking up. It cleared out my sinuses and reduced my sugar cravings. Even my hormone imbalance seemed to clear up!
Kombucha tea is a fermented drink said to strengthen the immune system by repopulating the digestive tract with live probiotics and enzymes that grow during the fermentation process.
When I first learned about it I was hesitant to make it because the recipe called for sugar and black tea, two foods I had stayed away from for decades. I was told that I had to make it this way or the benefits would be minimized. Having recovered from candidiasis I was concerned about drinking something with sugar in it. I was also unable to consume caffeine, (kept me up at night and made my hands shake) and was concerned about the caffeine in the tea. I went ahead and made it with herbal mint tea and organic sugar. It came out great and I felt sure the drink was plenty potent! I did not get any candida symptoms as long as I drank it in small amounts.
After making this lovely gentle potion for a few years I finally took a sip of a commercial kombucha drink, made with black tea. That one sip felt like a shock to my system. I knew my gentle herbal kombucha tea was right for me.
Recently, a few people expressed to me that they had been drinking Kombucha tea for awhile, felt good results but then got to a point where their bodies didn’t want it anymore. I was surprised to hear this as my body was craving a little every day.
Then, this summer, all of a sudden, my body didn’t want it! I tried a few sips, but no, it just wasn’t right anymore. I wonder if the kombucha did for me what I needed at the time and then I simply didn’t need it anymore.
I use a variety of lacto fermented products and I find myself craving different ones at different times. I trusted my body when it said it no longer needed Kombucha.
One of the major concerns about Kombucha is the large amount of sugar used for the fermentation. I believe that most of the sugar is used during the fermentation stage but I also believe that if one is extremely sensitive to sugar, candida, diabetes, IBS, it may not be the right drink.
I’ve also been thinking about some of my students who have had a difficult time “giving up” sugar. I’ve been through this myself. We are trying to heal illnesses such as candida, IBS, chronic fatigue, hypoglycemia, and fibromyalgia. We cut out the sugar and begin to feel deprived. Then it’s easy to binge on sugar and carbs exacerbating our symptoms.
I'm beginning to see Kombucha tea as being an important stepping stone for some people making the shift away from sugar. If someone is trying to minimize sugar intake but has occasional uncontrollable bingeing it seems that it could be more beneficial to drink the kombucha tea as an interim step. They could sip some tea when the craving for dessert shows up. They could sip some more when everyone is having a soda. They could put a slice of lemon in it when everyone is drinking overly sweet lemonade. This may satisfy the sugar fix while beginning the healing of their digestive and immune systems enabling the person to stay away from ice cream, baked goods and candy. As the bodily systems begin to return to a higher state of health the feeling of being sugar deprived could become a distant memory.
Purchase Kombucha Culture from Cultures for Health!
Purchase my Intestinal Recovery Recipe Book at www.glutenfreesourdough.com
Kombucha tea is a fermented drink said to strengthen the immune system by repopulating the digestive tract with live probiotics and enzymes that grow during the fermentation process.
When I first learned about it I was hesitant to make it because the recipe called for sugar and black tea, two foods I had stayed away from for decades. I was told that I had to make it this way or the benefits would be minimized. Having recovered from candidiasis I was concerned about drinking something with sugar in it. I was also unable to consume caffeine, (kept me up at night and made my hands shake) and was concerned about the caffeine in the tea. I went ahead and made it with herbal mint tea and organic sugar. It came out great and I felt sure the drink was plenty potent! I did not get any candida symptoms as long as I drank it in small amounts.
After making this lovely gentle potion for a few years I finally took a sip of a commercial kombucha drink, made with black tea. That one sip felt like a shock to my system. I knew my gentle herbal kombucha tea was right for me.
Recently, a few people expressed to me that they had been drinking Kombucha tea for awhile, felt good results but then got to a point where their bodies didn’t want it anymore. I was surprised to hear this as my body was craving a little every day.
Then, this summer, all of a sudden, my body didn’t want it! I tried a few sips, but no, it just wasn’t right anymore. I wonder if the kombucha did for me what I needed at the time and then I simply didn’t need it anymore.
I use a variety of lacto fermented products and I find myself craving different ones at different times. I trusted my body when it said it no longer needed Kombucha.
One of the major concerns about Kombucha is the large amount of sugar used for the fermentation. I believe that most of the sugar is used during the fermentation stage but I also believe that if one is extremely sensitive to sugar, candida, diabetes, IBS, it may not be the right drink.
I’ve also been thinking about some of my students who have had a difficult time “giving up” sugar. I’ve been through this myself. We are trying to heal illnesses such as candida, IBS, chronic fatigue, hypoglycemia, and fibromyalgia. We cut out the sugar and begin to feel deprived. Then it’s easy to binge on sugar and carbs exacerbating our symptoms.
I'm beginning to see Kombucha tea as being an important stepping stone for some people making the shift away from sugar. If someone is trying to minimize sugar intake but has occasional uncontrollable bingeing it seems that it could be more beneficial to drink the kombucha tea as an interim step. They could sip some tea when the craving for dessert shows up. They could sip some more when everyone is having a soda. They could put a slice of lemon in it when everyone is drinking overly sweet lemonade. This may satisfy the sugar fix while beginning the healing of their digestive and immune systems enabling the person to stay away from ice cream, baked goods and candy. As the bodily systems begin to return to a higher state of health the feeling of being sugar deprived could become a distant memory.
Purchase Kombucha Culture from Cultures for Health!
Purchase my Intestinal Recovery Recipe Book at www.glutenfreesourdough.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
