Kombucha Tea and Other Fermented Foods -- Help Wanted

mandycat223

On the recommendation of another poster, I ordered Dr. Michael Mosley's book "The Clever Guts Diet." It has a wealth of interesting and hopefully helpful information.

I plan to ignore the example of one of Dr. Mosley's acquaintances, the one who treated his Crohn's Disease by deliberately infecting himself with hookworms. I'm all for natural solutions in lieu of prescription medications whenever possible but I have my limits and they stop many miles short of hookworms.

But I do plan to experiment with fermented foods in addition to the homemade, long-cooked yogurt I already make. Can you nice people share with me your experiences, both good and bad, with making your own fermented foods? Any first hand data will be welcome. I'd like to start with kombucha tea and find quite a lot of confusing info about how to make it, especially with respect to that SCOBY stuff, which looks more like something out of a Grade B horror movie than a recipe ingredient.

Kitnthecat

Don't be afraid of the SCOBY, it won't hurt you, it will help you . You need it in order to make Kombucha. It is like the yeast when making bread.

Kombucha is really easy to make because all you need is a large glass container, green or black tea, sugar and a SCOBY. Brew your tea, add sugar, stir it up, let it cool to room temperature, add your SCOBY to the jar, cover with a tea towel, and let it sit at room temperature until ready. A warm room will allow it to ferment more quickly. The SCOBY will consume the sugar in the fermentation process and you will be left with effervescent Kombucha, very good for your tummy. You can taste it as it ferments, in order to determine if it is ready. Catch it before it turns too vinegary. When it is ready, I laden it out into glass bottles and place in the fridge, leaving my SCOBY intact and covered with Kombucha in the bottom of the jar.(I use a glass cookie jar for brewing.) my next batch of cooled sweet tea goes into the jar for the next batch. I drink the previous batch while waiting for the next one to ferment.

There is a lot of information available online. I got my SCOBY from a friend.

elisa123gal

The easiest fermented food I've ever made is sauerkraut. Shred your organic cabbage...sprinkle generously with kosher salt.. stuff in jars or put in a crock (sterilized in the dishwasher) top with distilled water..and let it sit on the counter at room temperature for ten days or so.. taste along the way to get it as sour as you want.

Then move to the fridge.. and there you go. low carb.. gut loving pro biotic sauerkraut.

I've also done a few others.. but preserved lemons made me sick..so won't be doing those again..but didn't do it for low carb..was doing all of it for probiotics.

baconslave

I've made loads of kraut. Stupid easy.

KnitOrMiss

Anyone who needs a SCOBY stateside and is willing to pay shipping can have what I've got...a hotel in need of a brew aka 3-4" worth of scobys... I had to stop brewing for a while, and now I don't have room...

And I absolutely love it...but it doesn't currently love me back. There are tons of Facebook groups that guide you through the process...

You want filtered water, organic sugars and teas, and fruits if you do a second brew for flavoring... If you enjoy experimenting, you'll love this.

AlexandraCarlyle

I make kombucha every week, I make my own sauerkraut and have done so for 10 years or more, I make my own cider vinegar, my own kimchi and my own kefir.
I also pickle my own dill pickles with salt, and I eat something lacto-fermented every single day.

I also (UK -SIDE) have a growing 'hotel' of SCOBYs and am willing to supply, if you'll pay the postage.

(PS: I'm so sorry for @elisa123gal , but I also make preserved lemons - and they don't have the same effect on me. I absolutely love 'em - !)

RAC56

I eat sauerkraut daily cause it tastes so good. Recently made some fermented dill pickles, very yummy. I'm trying to find some Natto to try. I've read that it is one of those "acquired taste" foods (yikes) but it is super high in K2 so it would be worth it to me to try to acquire a taste for the stuff.

Green and black teas have too much caffeine for me to try Kombucha, unfortunately, but I love Kefir, especially in raw cow or goat milk. I've made homemade yogurt too. Making that with half and half is delicious! I've never tried a store bought Greek yogurt. Anyone know a good brand to try?

kpk54

When I had to keep my fat up, I ate Fage Total plain. I think it is 9 carbs per cup. It's thick and creamy. Now I eat a local generic 0 fat Greek with only 10 carbs per cup. I like it better because it isn't so thick and has 90 less calories. (Taste of Inspirations from Food Lion). Also nearly half the price of Fage. I've never tried Stoneyfield or Greek Goddess both of which have a full fat version. Must have had something to do with calories or carbs.

kpk54

Fewer. Haha.

bjwoodzy

OMG I FARGING LOVE SAUERKRAUT

Joel_518

I make sauerkraut all the time. My tip: look online and pick the simplest recipe, I've actually invested in fancy breathers/ventalators but my best batches can from a masson jar with a small hole punched in the top.

As far as kombucha, I'm sure some will hate me, but you can get a SCOBY on Amazon. I had mine for years. Carbonation can be challenging at times. Double fermentation is the trick after bottling.

Good luck @mandycat223 and keep us posted!

....and totally right about the hookworms. Lol

mandycat223

Thanks for all the tips and the encouragement. As a follow up: we live in a mid-size town in Northwest Florida where the SAD diet reigns supreme, so it didn't occur to me to do any local searches. Lo and behold, one of the booths at our farmers' market is operated by a nearby church who are, apparently for Biblical reasons, very much into fermented foods. They sell SCOBY's and a number of other fermented food items, plus offering monthly classes on how to DIY. There's another group of fermented food lovers who will provide SCOBY for free if you pick it up in person. Whodda thunk it?

RalfLott

mandycat223 wrote: »

Thanks for all the tips and the encouragement. As a follow up: we live in a mid-size town in Northwest Florida where the SAD diet reigns supreme, so it didn't occur to me to do any local searches. Lo and behold, one of the booths at our farmers' market is operated by a nearby church who are, apparently for Biblical reasons, very much into fermented foods. They sell SCOBY's and a number of other fermented food items, plus offering monthly classes on how to DIY. There's another group of fermented food lovers who will provide SCOBY for free if you pick it up in person. Whodda thunk it?

Not me.... But I'm heading to my local FM to see what I can find.
Thx!

carlsoda

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

Anyone who needs a SCOBY stateside and is willing to pay shipping can have what I've got...a hotel in need of a brew aka 3-4" worth of scobys... I had to stop brewing for a while, and now I don't have room...

And I absolutely love it...but it doesn't currently love me back. There are tons of Facebook groups that guide you through the process...

You want filtered water, organic sugars and teas, and fruits if you do a second brew for flavoring... If you enjoy experimenting, you'll love this.

Is it hard to make? I am buying it right now and having a little each day. So yummy and I think it is very good for me. I just don't need extra stress in my life by taking on another project

KnitOrMiss

carlsoda wrote: »

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

Anyone who needs a SCOBY stateside and is willing to pay shipping can have what I've got...a hotel in need of a brew aka 3-4" worth of scobys... I had to stop brewing for a while, and now I don't have room...

And I absolutely love it...but it doesn't currently love me back. There are tons of Facebook groups that guide you through the process...

You want filtered water, organic sugars and teas, and fruits if you do a second brew for flavoring... If you enjoy experimenting, you'll love this.

Is it hard to make? I am buying it right now and having a little each day. So yummy and I think it is very good for me. I just don't need extra stress in my life by taking on another project

@carlsoda - it's not hard to make at all. There's a bit more time investment if you do a second brew to add flavor. The main thing is your brew tea (my fave blend was a combo of black and white organic teas), add sugar, let cool, them combine with the existing reserve liquid.

Each time you are done with a ferment (time depends on your local of brew/temp/humidity, etc. - usually at least 7 days, preferably 14 to 30 for best benefits), you pull out all but what is your "starter brew,." which is around 1/2 to a cup depending on the size of your batches. Then you just bottle that, refrigerate if you aren't doing a second ferment with flavor, or split it up and add the organic fruit/veg to taste.

My personal favorite 2F flavors were plain ginger (like Gingerade), strawberry with ginger, or strawberry and blueberry with ginger. I uses ginger in all the types I tried. Wasn't super crazy about the citrus or raspberry ones I tried, but I only brewed for 6 months or so... Essentially, you take the fermented batch, add it and the fruit to bottles, then rebrew for 3-7 days (again, dependent on how sweet your brew and additions are, and your brewing conditions)...then refrigerate until used...

It's more of time in the process depending on brew size...rather than complexity. I think the whole rebrew, including cooling time and 2F flavoring setups took me roughly 2 hours each week. I had my batches staggered so that I had a batch done each week, average first brew was 2 weeks, average second was 5-7 days.

There are a bunch of good groups on various social media that will hold your hand and walk you through all the steps and make suggestions for flavors to try, etc. The lower your carb allowances will limit your flavoring options (some use syrups or juices WITH fruit, etc.)...but you can also brew those longer for the fermenting to burn up more of the carbs...

Let me know if that makes sense or is clear as mud!

tcunbeliever

I used to keep kombucha going, always green tea was my favorite...I've never tried to double ferment it...after summer vacation I may need to get back into that and try it some more!

I love the cranberry kombucha from the store, but I was never able to get a flavor quite like that - maybe that's the secret, extra fermentation with the juice!

LolaDeeDaisy23

Is there a difference to brewing your own kombucha vs buying the tea at the store? Specifically Yogi brand green tea Kombucha?

KnitOrMiss

LolaDeeDaisy23 wrote: »

Is there a difference to brewing your own kombucha vs buying the tea at the store? Specifically Yogi brand green tea Kombucha?

@LolaDeeDaisy23 - I personally found that the flavor I achieved by brewing it myself was so much richer in depth of flavor than ANYTHING I ever tried that was bottled. I could control the sweetness/bitterness/tartness...and I could choose the flavors I liked. I hated the storebought strawberry blend, but loved it homemade. I loved the ginger version from the store, but I preferred the other fruit versions from home... Never particularly sweet, but packed a gut healing wallop.

EggToni

Tried this last night and the flavor was tasty. On sale for $3.49, and one serving is half the bottle.

TheDevastator

I buy raw sauerkraut at the store. I think it has helped my gut biome a lot. I also take bio-kult advanced probiotics and they have been a lifesaver.