Fruity Kombucha
If you haven’t heard of kombucha yet then it’s time to say hello to this gut-loving, fermented beverage as it’s about to change your life (and your gut)… Kombucha is sugary tea fermented into a carbonated gut-healthy drink full of probiotics with the help of a scoby! Making your own kombucha may take a little time but it’s cost-effective and a great way to really get to know your food!
You can grow your own scoby or use one from an existing unpasteurised, neutral-flavoured shop-bought bottle of kombucha. SCOBY = ‘symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast’, very similar to the ‘Mother’ found in ACV!
Ingredients
What you’ll need:
- 3L water
- 1 cup raw granulated sugar
- 8 bags organic black tea bags
- 2 cups starter tea with SCOBY (you’ll need two scoby’s for two jars)
- 2 2L jars with cloth and rubber band
- 2 cups organic strawberries
Method
- Boil the water, remove from heat and add the sugar until it dissolves.
- Drop in the tea and allow it to soak until the water has cooled down, this usually takes a couple of hours.
- Once cooled down, remove and strain the tea bags. Add starter tea to the mixture and divide the mixture into two jars. Slide the scobys into each jar.
- To ensure nothing nasty gets into the jar, cover it with a cheesecloth and secure it with a rubber band (exposing it to air allows the fermentation process to take place).
- Ferment the kombucha for 7-10 days at room temperature and out of direct sunlight. After a week, taste the kombucha and test its level of sweetness and tartness. When it’s at your desired taste it’s ready to infuse!
- Remove the scoby from the jar and set aside. Measure out your starter tea for the next batch of kombucha.
- Add strawberries to the jar and allow to infuse for another day or two.
- When ready, strain into bottles and allow 1 to 3 days for the kombucha to carbonate. Then your kombucha is ready to drink!