Make your own...kombucha!
I've been exploring foods with digestive benefits for a few months now and I've got a whole post on digestion just waiting to be written up. It's currently in my head and spread in various Evernote 'notebooks' from interesting articles and recipes i've saved.
If I'd been more prepared and had had more time I would've got that post up for you right at the beginning of the month, The post-Christmas mindset is all about clean-eating, detoxing and digestion…it would have being the perfect fit, oh well I never have been particularly good at keeping up with the times!! ;-)
One of first 'foods' I decided to experiment with was Kombucha, at the time it was totally new to me but kept popping up all over blog world. I tried a couple of bottles I'd bought at a health food store and liked the taste, but since it is expensive I figured it much better to try brewing my own.
I bought a starter kit from 'Happy Kombucha' (there are of course other places to buy a starter kit but this Company was great in answering all my numerous questions being such a newbie in the Kombucha game so i'm more than happy to give them a shout out!) It was so simple to get going- provided you've got a SCOBY to start with.
SCOBY stands for 'Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast' and looks (and feels) like a rubbery flat sea creature. You need to start with one of these... buy a kit or if you have a friend brewing their own wait until they have grown a SCOBY baby they can give you! For more science stuff look at the Happy Kombucha link above or just goggle the benefits :-)
To make Kombucha you simply....
- brew tea some organic black or green tea (approx 6 teabags for 2 litres)
- add organic cane sugar (approx 120-170g)
- remove tea bags (after 30 mins)
- allow tea to fully cool
- add the SCOBY culture to the brewed tea in a large glass jar (that will hold 2 litres)
- cover top with cloth (not airtight)
......AND THEN WAIT!! (for about a 7-10 days with it sitting in the airing cupboard which is what i do)
I have had a continuous brew ever since (since around November time) and try to have a glass every morning. As soon as my kombucha tastes ready I strain it and bottle it and then brew another batch of tea as above- making sure I leave some liquid to sit with the SCOBY in between batches.
It's kind of like having a little pet!!
The SCOBY is a living culture and it's what does all the good stuff for your body eating the sugar and creating the fermented tea.
Much excitement a week or so ago when my starter SCOBY had grown a baby and was ready to be separated into two (actually there was two babies but the other is still small so I left it attached for now) So now I have 2 batches on the go. If you saw my Instagram you'll have heard about this seperation excitement already....
Flavouring the Kombucha...
Once its strained into bottles you can add flavours of your choice if you like. I keep it pretty simple and add some lemon and ginger for extra beneficial digestive properties, plus I quite like the taste as it is. It supposedly it gets stronger over time once in the bottle but I haven't noticed much change in taste and mine gets drunk within two weeks and by that time my next brew is ready anyway.
So, have i noticed any particular digestive benefit? Erm, difficult to say really since i've been trying other things as well and i'll cover why i've been experimenting with getting my digestion on track in another post. Plus Christmas happened as I fell off the healthy food wagon a bit and i've only really just got back into routine. But I certainly haven't noticed any negative effects and I like the feel good factor.
Tell me...do you brew your own? Do you drink it on a regular basis? Would you like to start?
I want to hear you stories, so please share :-)
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