How to make Kombucha tea




 



This is my SCOBY-made it myself!



Well, today was the day!  I finally made my first batch of Kombucha tea!  I first made my very own Kombucha Mother Mushrooms, called a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) .   Follow my easy instructions on how to make a kombucha 'mother' mushroom SCOBY here! 

So, you'll need a Scoby, then you are off and running to an ongoing, easy process of making your very own kombucha tea.  Kombucha is touted for it's many, many health benefits, from losing weight, all the way to the more serious issue, of helping to cure cancer!  I've read so many testimonials of how remarkably healthy this magical tonic is for your health.   Kombucha is chock full of enzymes, probiotics, B vitamins, just to name a few!  Google to read more, but for starters, read this article about it's many benefits here!

How to make Kombucha Tea!

1 Kombuca Mother Mushroom (SCOBY )

1 C of Kombuca tea from previous batch

1 gallon filtered water* 

6-8 green tea bags (or black tea)

1 C organic sugar


*( You won't need to use exactly 1 gallon of water, which is 16 C, as you will use 1-2 C of the tea starter to equal one gallon/16C/128oz.)

Bring 4 cups of water just under the boil.  Take off of the heat.  Put tea bags in to steep for approx. 15 minutes.  Squeeze out the tea bags and remove.  Add sugar and mix well!  Add  warm, sugary tea to a gallon glass jar, or glass vehicle that will hold 128 oz.  Next add the remaining 10-11 C of filtered water.  This will cool the tea enough to add the SCOBY: Kombucha mother mushroom.  Add 1-2 C of previous tea, (this will bring it up to the 128 oz. of liquid) which will be your starter for this new batch.   Cover with a napkin and a rubber band.

Your kombucha tea will be ready to drink in 7-14 days.  Depending on how warm the room is, where the tea is fermenting, and your preference of taste.  At 7 days, you can take a straw, and dip it into the tea, past the SCOBY, and taste test.  When you feel it is ready,  you take out the SCOBY and 1 C of the tea and put aside in a glass bowl.  Now you can bottle your tea.  You could pour off into a glass pitcher, or use glass bottles that you have saved from other tea or juice beverages, and simply refrigerate at this point.

You could also fill bottles with 1/10 of juice of your choice, or organic lemonade, etc., and fill nearly to the top, leaving an inch or so of space from the top.  Now you can leave out on the counter for 3- 7 days, to do a second fermentation. The second fermentation would take out any of the sugars from the juice or lemonade as the SCOBY would feed on it...  Then refrigerate to stop the fermentation process.  More on this later, as I experiment myself!

*This is my first attempt at making the tea, since my experiment of making the SCOBYs was a success!!  I had 2 SCOBYs since I used 2 smaller glass vehicles, and not the gallon jar.  I'm hoping this was in my favor, not to my tea making demise.  I used the 2 smaller SCOBYs in the larger gallon vehicles, one a pickle jar, and one a glass vase I had.  I used these directions as seen above.  However, I had 4 cups of starter tea left from the starter jars that I made the 'Mothers' in.  I will not waste this starter tea!  In other recipes, people have simply thrown away the remainder of this starter Kombucha tea.  I will not- as I will reuse this to make 2 new mother SCOBYs!!  I will follow my How to make a Kombucha 'Mother' SCOBY, but instead of using a bottle of GT's raw kombucha as my starter, I will use my own!  I'll let you know how that goes!

This is so exciting to me, as I journey on making my own healthy elixir!  I will keep you updated on these recipes with this tea, and what works and what doesn't. 

Thanks for your interest!

Yours in health,

Natalie

Mexican Inspired Soup

Maddy loves it spicy y'all!

Mexican Inspired Soup!




4 cups of water (or use chicken or vegetable stock)

1 28 oz. can of chopped tomatoes

1 lg onion chopped

3 garlic cloves chopped

2 peppers chopped

1 C frozen corn

1 C jarred salsa

1/4 tequila (or omit)

1/4 tsp.chili powder

1/4 tsp. cumin

1 tsp Better Than Bouillon Vegetable base ( or veg bouillon cube, or omit)

2 Tbl olive oil

Heat 2 Tbl olive oil in a dutch oven. (Which is just a large pot.) Saute onion until there is color on the onions. Next add the garlic, and saute a few more minutes.  Add the chopped pepper, saute a few more minutes.  Next, add the frozen corn.  Saute close to five minutes or so.  Next add the spices: 1/4 tsp. chili powder, and the 1/4 tsp. cumin.  I like to add the spices during the sauteing, to cook the spices a little while, getting in contact with the oil, and the pan.  Next, carefully add the 1/4 cup tequila.  (I recommend taking it off the heat, because of the alcohol.) This is called by Chefs: deglazing.  Using a cooking liquid helps to pick up the brown at the bottom of the pan.  As we've all heard, brown= flavor.

Then, add the water, tsp bouillon base, salsa and canned tomatoes.

Bring to the boil, then down to a slow/low simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.



Sauteing all, including spices!



You certainly could, do all the sauteing, then throw into a crock pot for 7-8 hours on low, or 3-4 hours on high!  I've even skipped the sauteing all together, and just dumped into the crock pot... if it's just on of those days.  The sauteing just lends a richer, perhaps roasted flavor, that I love.

Any salsa will do.  I used 1/4 cup of green salsa, and 3/4 of my very favorite salsa- Newman's Own Pineapple Salsa !  It is the BOMB.  For the green salsa, I used Mrs.Renfro's Green Salsa.  Which by the way, is no joke HOT.  It is delish, but HOT.  So omit, if you aren't a fan of heat.

I've added beans to this soup in the past.  Black beans, navy beans, or my favorite, pinto beans.  I've also used refried beans, which makes it a 'creamier' consistency.  But, I didn't have any prepared beans on hand, just dried.  So, no beans today:(  I've even added left over baked potato- just cube, and put into bowl before ladling on the hot soup.  Or add the potato a few minutes at the end of cooking time.  Brown rice is a nice addition too.  Whatever you like!

I will add shredded chicken (from last night's dinner) to my family's bowls before ladling on the hot soup.  How you garnish the soup- is up to you!

I will be using cashew cream, crushed tortilla chips, and slices of avocado on mine!  The cashew cream I use like sour cream, and it will cut the heat, and lend creaminess.  The girls will probably use some rice cheese shreds, and some Tofutti (faux) sour cream.  Make sure if you buy the Tofutti Sour Cream , make certain is the one without partially hydrogenated oil.  Boo- Tofutti for making one with partially hydrogenated oils!!

I hope you enjoy this spicy, easy, Mexican inspired soup!

Yours in health,

Natalie

How to make a Kombucha 'mother'! SCOBY

Hey all my peeps!  I've been buying Kombucha tea for many years now.  Ususally waiting for it to go on sale, or buying it occasionally as a healthy treat... since a bottle can cost anywhere from $3.50- $5.00.  That's no joke on the pocket book folks.  So one day it dawned on me- I make everything else, why not make Kombucha?  I had no idea how.  I did some research and found out you need a mother culture, called a SCOBY.  It means Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast.  I went to a local health food store, and asked if they sold a mother scoby, and the girl looked at me like I was crazy.  I went on to explain, that I wanted to make my own Kombuca tea at home.  She spoke to her manager, and no they didn't sell SCOBY's, but knew of a women who made her own and gave me her phone number.  Well, the woman was kind enough to sell me a SCOBY, but she lived an hour away... Hmmm.  Maybe I would order a SCOBY online.

Indeed they sell SCOBY mother Kombucha mushrooms online. (Not sure why they call it a mushroom, as it is bacteria and yeast, but okay.) I saw different sites charging anywhere from $12- $20 a SCOBY.  Thought that sounded like a pretty darned good deal, since in the long run I'd be saving a lot, and be able to drink it eveyday!  Well, the procrastinator that I am, I let time slip away... and never ordered the darn thing.

Then I thought, I can make my own yogurt from store bought yogurt as my starter, maybe I could use a store bought Kombuca as a starter... Went online and googled "make your own Kombuca mother".  I WAS RIGHT!  Others had made their own SCOBY mother mushrooms!  Various recipes, similar methods- so I just went with what sounded easiest, and did it my way!

Oh, if your wondering what is Kombucha tea?  It is this incredibly healthy probiotic tea!  The health enhancing properties are endless.  You can google the health benefits, but for starters, check out this site:http://www.gokombucha.com/health_benefits.html.

Making a Kombucha SCOBY mother mushroom

1 bottle  16oz. GT's organic raw Kombucha tea
8 C filtered water
6 bags of organic green tea (or 3 of black tea and 3 of green tea)
1/4 C organic sugar

Again, I saw several methods, but I kept it as simple as I could.  I heated 4 cups of the water, just under the boiling point.  Take the pot off of the heat.  Add 6 bags of green tea, cover the pot and let it steep for 15 minutes.  I removed the tea bags, and added the sugar, and stirred until it was dissolved.  Next, I added the other 4 cups of the cool water.  This step allows the tea mixture to come to room temperature much faster.  If you put the raw kombuca into too warm of water, it would kill the living probiotic cultures!  I waited nearly an hour, and added 2/3 bottle of the kombuca tea to the pot.  Next pour into a gallon jar, or a glass pitcher.  Use only glass vessels.  I used a vase, and a 2 qt. jar for mine, as I couldn't find a gallon jar- my husband gave them all away:(  Cover glass vessel(s) with a paper towel or napkin, and secure with a rubber band.
As I understand, other towels, or cheesecloth might have too large a weave, and allow fruit flies.

The last 1/3 of the tea, I was going to drink- but changed my mind.  I just wanted to see if I could make a little SCOBY right in the exisiting bottle.  Just a little experiement.  I added a sprinkling of sugar right into the bottle, and a bit of filtered water to bring it to 1/2 full.  Know what?  It worked!!

 Green tea is a sensitive tea, and you shouldn't put green tea into boiling water! I used a pot large enough that I could later add the other 4 cups of water.  I used organic green tea, as that is my preference, but any green tea would certainly work!  Do not use decaf tea, as I understand the SCOBY needs the sugar and caffiene to grow. ( However, I plan to challenge the need for the caffiene in a later experiment.) Don't concern yourself with the sugar in the tea, the SCOBY will actually eat it, so little will be left in the actual tea.

As I write this, I am in week 2 of my SCOBY experiment.  I couldn't be more thrilled!  All 3 vessels have wonderful looking SCOBY mothers!  They look ready to use, but I will wait one more week!  Other sites recommended 4 week incubation, but I think because it has been so warm out, my SCOBYs grew faster.
I let the SCOBYs incubate right on my counter, but out of direct sunlight.

I will at that point, post how to make Kombuca tea using the SCOBY mother.  As I  understand, the tea I have right now, will be dumped out, except for 2 C for the real batch of Kombuca tea... stay tuned!!  Check out my growing SCOBYs seen below!

Yours in health,
Natalie

SCOBYs just starting to form, at one week!




 

SCOBY mother at 2 weeks!  Looks like it should!!

*Update at 3 weeks in my Scoby mother mushroom experient!  All is a success!  See below.



Beautiful 'Mother' SCOBY, jar #1 at 3 weeks!








Jar #2 Kombucha Scoby 'Mother' looks perfect! Brown squiggly things and all!



Crock Pot Creamy Gingered Carrot Soup

It's that time of year again... it's almost fall, the cooler weather inspired me to make a crock pot soup!  Who doesn't love the crock pot?  It's my favorite kitchen appliance bar none!  I love easy, quick prep, with the slow, all day  cooked flavor of the crock pot!  I was craving a warm, Autumnal type soup, but had to wing it with what I had on hand... starting with a bag of carrots.
It turned out fantastic!   I love the sweet of the carrots and honey, with the salty, spicy, and bit of heat.  I did use measurements, because I usually wing it- but thought I would share, as Mrs. H requested I do so, after posting on Facebook, that I was making it!  This is for you Mrs. H:)

Crock Pot Creamy Gingered Carrot Soup

1- 2lbs bag of baby carrots (or 2lbs of carrots, washed and cut in chunks)


5 C water (or vegetable stock, or even organic chicken stock)

5 tsp. of organic vegetable base* ( I like Organic Better Than Boullion)

 *use only if using water as your base



2 lg onions coursely chopped

2 garlic cloves chopped or pressed

1 Tbl crushed ginger (fresh or* jarred)

All dumped right into the crock! EASY!



(*I like The Ginger People Organic)



1 tsp sea salt



1 tsp pepper (I used peppercorns)



1 bay leaf

1- 3 tsp hot sauce (I used Siracha sauce)


1- 3 tsp raw honey


1 C cashew cream (or soy cream, or coconut milk)


Put the the first 9 ingredients into the crock. (The honey and cream will be added later.)  Put on low, and cook for approx. 8 hours on low.  After cooking time remove the bay leaf and blend.  I used an immersion blender, which is really a must have for blended soups.  If you don't have one, blend in batches in your blender. (Be careful when blending hot foods in a blender- keep the top slightly ajar, and top with a towel.) Once blended, add the cream and the honey, and put on high for about 10 minutes, just to heat through.  Taste- add more honey of you like it sweeter, or add more hot sauce if you like a bit more heat!  As with any soups, you really can adjust ingredients to your tastes. You could add curry powder, use the coconut milk, and use soy sauce in lieu of salt, and have something more Thai/Indian.  You could omit the garlic, and use pumpkin spice for a more Autumn flavor.  Whatever you enjoy!

This certainly can be made anytime of the year... and makes a delicious cold soup in the summer!

I hope you make this simple, and nutritious soup!
Yours in health,
Natalie