Who's Got the Booch?

I do!

 

Ruby, 6, loves kombucha!

I guess it's time for me to talk a little about kombucha (click this link for all the info) since it's in my blog banner, and I've yet to mention it. I was introduced to this magical drink a couple of years ago and thought it was the nastiest thing I've ever tasted.  GT's was the brand and...ick. Vinegar was all I tasted. Pink vinegar. Green vinegar. Orange vinegar. No matter the flavor on the bottle, I tasted vinegar. 

The hubster loved it though, but at $4 a bottle, and him wanting to add it to his diet on a more regular basis, (and me wanting him to find a substitute to the nasty energy drinks he sucks down everyday), I started looking into brewing my own. I did a lot of googling, and trying to find a local source for the materials I needed to start brewing. Made simply with sweet tea and the "mother", kombucha is actually an incredible living, fermented health food drink that is rich in minerals, probiotics, and other healthful minerals. It's cleansing to the liver and gut, and I drink it as a daily diet supplement. Since it is fermented, it will turn to vinegar if left to sit long enough, and generally has an alcohol content of somewhere around .5-1%. (Not as potent as Nyquil.) ;)  While it comes in at about 18 g carbs per bottle, it isn't supposed to be on my diet plan, but I feel like the health benefits outweigh the potential setback on my weight loss it might have.

Not only has kombucha helped me add a healthy treat to my nighttime routine, it also helped me cut down drastically on soda, to which I am a bona fide addict. It's the carbonation, and my homebrew booch allows me just that--plenty of carbonation and a healthy, low sugar, mineral rich, probiotic filled alternative.  How is this NOT winning?  Anyway, I finally found a kombucha mother, called a SCOBY (Symbiotic Combination Of Bacteria and Yeast), in a health food store in Charlottesville, VA. $8 and I was ready to go. These are some pics of my brewing adventures.

This is a SCOBY from a quart jar transferred to and growing in a larger brewing vessel. Brown cloud is yeast.

Side view of the SCOBY after it has grown to fit the diameter of the vessel. Brown strands are yeast.

Top view of the SCOBY. The light area you see is just sunlight coming in.

So this brainy, snotty, jellyfish thingy is the magic of kombucha. It is a living organism that converts all the potentially harmful substances in tea (tannins) and converts them into probiotics and useful minerals. Yep, like yogurt. There are a lot of places online to learn how to brew kombucha, including Kombucha Kamp.  I started off brewing small quart sized batches, and quickly moved onto a continuous brew in 2.5 gallon spigot pitchers.  All this means is that I have fresh kombucha on tap whenever I want, and can bottle and flavor it as I want. Unlike store bought booch, I can create mine in a way where I control the flavor. Which brings me to mango kombucha.

In my last batch of booch that I bottled before I left for the beach, I tried out a new flavor. Mango. Simply mango. My general favorite is what I call gingerade, and also another flavor I call orange cream. But the mango...I'm not sure I'll make any other kind for a while. And it was made with frozen Dole mango chunks.  I'm sure to talk more about kombucha in later posts, and may even do a how-to at some point, but really this post is just to give you a little introduction into the goings on in this house. And this is just the beginning. It's also to give you just a tiny bit of info about why kombucha is good. And it is SO good. Just look at all those beautiful fruit chunks floating in the top of this liquid gold. Side note: fruit that is put into kombucha will eventually take on a tea stained brown color. It's safe and delicious to eat when you drink your bottle of booch.

Get these gorgeous hinge-top bottles at Specialty Bottle.

Get your booch on. I highly suggest it. Peace!