To make your own kombucha, as described here, you absolutely need a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, also known as a SCOBY. If you ask around or check online, someone in your network or community might be making kombucha and have SCOBY colonies to give away. Failing that, this post shows how you can make your own. All you need is tea, sugar, and a small bottle of unpasteurized kombucha from the store. Check out the main post for more info on what a SCOBY is, how to take care of it and how to make delicious kombucha.
SCOBY
Creating your own little symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) for kombucha making is as simple as mixing cold, sweet tea with a bottle of unpasteurized kombucha from the store.
Equipment
- 1L jar (wide mouth mason jars are great)
Ingredients
- 1 teabag
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 250 mL water
- ~473 mL unpasteurized kombucha 16 oz. See note
Instructions
- Mix the sugar with half the water. Bring to a slight simmer and wait for the sugar to dissolve.
- Turn off the heat and add the teabag. Let sit for 10 min.
- Discard the teabag and pour the tea into a 1 L jar.
- Pour in the rest of the water (this is just to help the tea cool faster). Once the tea reaches room temperature, pour in the kombucha.
- Cover the jar with something that allows air exchange but prevents anything from falling in, such as a towel, coffee filter, cheesecloth… Secure with a rubber band
- Let sit in a dark place for 7-14 days. SCOBY should start forming after 24-48 h. You can take a peek daily and see the SCOBY take form and grow but it's not necessary.
Notes
Unpasteurized kombucha: the volume listed here, 475 mL, is the volume of a small bottle here in Canada. Other similar volumes are most likely perfectly fine.
The important part is that the kombucha contains live yeast and bacteria, which they usually do.
The important part is that the kombucha contains live yeast and bacteria, which they usually do.
Disclaimer
I will try to cook one or more dishes for every country on the planet. Obviously, I am not from 99.5% of the countries. Best case scenario is that I know someone from the country and have visited it myself. Most of the time though, my research is based on different websites and books, without me ever tasting the real dish (which often is non-vegan anyway).
In other words: these recipes are not authentic but I hope you will enjoy my renditions and veganized versions of this small sample of the world’s different cuisines.
In other words: these recipes are not authentic but I hope you will enjoy my renditions and veganized versions of this small sample of the world’s different cuisines.
