TWITCHIN IN THE KITCHEN

So What is kombucha? And why is it so popular, Kombucha is a mildly fizzy, fermented drink made from sweetened tea and a specific culture known as a ‘scoby’, short for a ‘symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts’. The bacteria and yeasts in the scoby convert the sugar into ethanol and acetic acid. The acetic acid is responsible for kombucha’s distinctive sour taste and the reason why it is so good for your gut.

If you have never done anything regarding fermenting foods this is going to sound strange, but pay heed because your gut and your wallet will thank you for this one. You can buy Kombucha in 250mls cans almost anywhere now for around £2 or a litre at H&B for £5.39

But why would you when you can make your own, get the kids involved, the Scoby is pretty icky, kids love icky right? And it looks like someone’s internal organs pickled, so my kitchen right now looks like something right out of Jekyll and Hyde!

You will need a large sterile jar a breathable lid (preferably a cotton napkin and an elastic band. The scoby (you may have to buy one to begin with) but it will live and grow, then you can share it with your mates, Any old tea bags and cane sugar, my tipple is lemon and ginger but you wont need those later on, you can use just about anything, fresh mint is a lovely touch, experimenting with flavours is great fun. You will also need flip top bottles that you can pop every day fermentation = fizz.

Boil 4 t bags in a in 200 ml of water, remove tbags and as 100200 grams of sugar let it cool to about body temp and then slip in the scoby. Its that simple…. Watch the scoby grow day by day and in about a week you can pick out your scoby, and bottle your Kombucha, this is where you add your flavours blueberries are great, piece of pear ferment well but as I said grated ginger and lemon is great. You will need to pop your cork every day from about day 2 or 3, the kids will love that and we don’t want any exploding bottles, its so satisfying in a bubble wrap kid of way. I tend to put the one in the fridge that I’m using and leave the others out. Just one very important tip make sure everything is sterile you want good bacteria not the bad guys, Make a new batch when you bottle the previous one then you will never run out and as the scoby grows you can make it in larger batches just more tea and more water…simple.

Voila Kombucha…Enjoy l