I have to say, there’s a sick fascination with making something that you personally like, while at the same time knowing it will gross out just about everyone else. There’s no better example of this than brewing kombucha.
Kombucha is a millenia-old beverage from china made from sweetened tea fermented with a particular symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY for short). This culture eats the sugar to make various weak acids and carbonation, with only trace amounts of alcohol. Not so bad, you say? Wait ’til you see it:
Eeeew… this is at the start of the ferment. Within a week, a new white disc will have grown across the opening (the one you see here is the result of the last batch).
If you’re still reading, you’re probably curious what it tastes like. Surprisingly, it doesn’t really taste like tea at all. The acids that it makes are sour, and some of them are vinegary. The key to making it taste good is to drink it before it tastes like vinegar and while there’s some sweetness left from the sugar. When you hit the right balance, it’s pretty darn tasty.
Besides the taste and the gross-out factor, the other fascination I have with kumbucha is it’s reported health properties. Some of them are documented, others are anecdotal. It is definitely anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, a boost to the immune system, and it regulates your intestines. Anecdotally, many people say it improves their skin, makes hair and nails grow thicker (and even restores grey hair to its original colour!), improves concentration, reduces hunger craving, eases the pain of arthritis… and the list goes on. One thing I can vouch for is that it gives a serious buzz– not like caffeine, more of a focused energy, it’s hard to explain, but really cool.
Here’s my collection at the moment:
The middle and right jar are my original culture, the left one is a culture I just started from a bottle of commercial brew (yes, people actually sell this stuff!). I’ll do a follow-up in a week to see the new scobies. For now, I think I’ll go have a glass of kombucha with my lunch!
