Back to Kombucha! (and sourdough)

Any kombucha fans out there?! A few years ago, my oldest daughter started drinking kombucha, and then not long after that, my younger daughter got hooked on it as well. I’ll admit that it wasn’t my favorite at first, but after learning of its great health benefits (probiotics through fermentation) and trying different flavors, I grew to enjoy a cold glass of “the BOOCH” every now and then. But y’all! It’s not cheap! So, it was reserved for treat days. Until….

Our friend, Beth, from church found me one Sunday and asked if I was interested in learning how to make kombucha. Well, yes mam! And knowing that I homeschooled my 2 younger kids, she invited us all over for a lesson. You homeschool mamas out there know that was an automatic home economics lesson and science lesson for the day, ha! I’m sure I could come up with some others subjects if I thought a minute.

Here are some photos from our kombucha lesson with Beth. This was autumn ’21 and my son looks so little here!

Above is a pic of Beth transferring a SCOBY from her jar to ours. The SCOBY plays the same role as the starter does for bread baking. It’s kinda squishy and gross but Beth says the uglier the better! She then explained how to feed the SCOBY with black tea and sugar and let it ferment for 10-14 days. Oh, and how to avoid a “booch bomb”!

Next, she showed us how to bottle the kombucha with different mashed fruits and fruit juices.

This was Beth’s SCOBY counter in her laundry room! Impressive. She makes and gives away a lot of kombucha.

My older daughter was in college at the time, so she wasn’t with us this day but near the same timeframe her boyfriend’s mom (now her MIL) gave her a lesson and a SCOBY of her own. The girls and I enjoyed making kombucha for quite a while but then we got busy with my daughter’s wedding and my other daughter’s soccer season and had to stop. But Beth had assured us that any time we were ready to get back into it, she would have a SCOBY waiting for us.

A few months ago, my daughter said she would like to get back to making kombucha, but at that time we were neck deep in starting a garden, so I suggested we wait until later in the summer. Last week I found Beth at church and asked if we could get a SCOBY from her sometime and she said she had one ready! I went by her house and brought this one home, fed it, and we’ll soon be bottling a variety of yummy flavors. (I wrote the wrong date on the jar–oops)

A little sourdough sidenote: As you can see, I’m also working on my sourdough starter as well! I’ve had a lot of friends ask me if I still do sourdough and the answer is yes and no! It’s seasonal for me. We enjoy crusty sourdough bread in the fall and winter with soups and other hot meals, but we eat lighter in the spring and summer. I was a bit busy with the garden these past months, so I basically just kept my starter alive. When I’m using it on a regular basis, I keep it on the counter and feed it every day, but when I’m not using it, I keep it in the fridge and feed in every week (sometimes just every other week and it’s still a beast!) So, I’m getting it out more and really beefing it up to get in some practice again before fall. I’ll be posting more on this topic soon!

Ok, now back to the kombucha. Above is a photo of our SCOBY jar yesterday and as you can see, it’s already formed a new SCOBY on top so it’s doing its job looking gross and squishy and in a few more days it’ll be ready to bottle it up in all kinds of fruity flavors. Our favorite blends to make are very berry (all the berries), pine straw (pineapple and strawberry), pear/ginger/blackberry, and apple/cinn/cranberries! It’ll be nice to have the booch back!

I know some of you out there make kombucha. I’d love to hear what your favorite flavors are?