100% raw and organic, Kombucha nourishes the body, delights your taste buds, bolsters your immunity, and makes your spirits fly. You feel on top of the world. Healthier. Happier. Stronger. It is living food for a living body.
The body is both a temple and a perfect machine, unrivaled anywhere in nature. Our bodies have within them a healing potential stronger than any drug or treatment, and we nourish this potential with the pure and simple foods found in nature like homemade organic kombucha!
100% raw and organic, Kombucha nourishes the body, delights your taste buds, bolsters your immunity, and makes your spirits fly. You feel on top of the world. Healthier. Happier. Stronger. It is living food for a living body.
Our family started drinking Organic Kombucha five years ago. That first taste, oh my goodness, it was sooo good! Our oldest daughter had come down with an awful, awful cold. We were already using holistic methods to get rid of her cold, but we needed to add one more powerhouse to kick her crud to the curb! That powerhouse was Organic Kombucha! We bought two bottles of it from a local health food store. As soon as we returned home, she drank it throughout the day, and by bedtime, she was feeling back to normal.
Since we had such a great experience with organic kombucha and we were spending a lot of money buying it every week ($5/bottle), we decided to start fermenting and bottling our own!
We ordered our ‘Scooby’ from Cultures For Health. As soon as we received the scooby, we started to ferment our first batch!
What Is Kombucha?
Kombucha is a refreshing fermented beverage. It is obtained by the fermentation of sweetened tea with a symbiotic association of acetic acid bacteria and specific yeast cultures. Originated from northeast China centuries back, this miraculous fungus has been valued for its unique, refreshing taste and impressive range of medicinal benefits. It is famously known as the ‘Immortal health Elixir’ in the ancient China.
The live yeast present in the kombucha beverage provides it an active life. The kombucha culture includes one more of Candida stellata, Zygosaccharomyces baili, Brettanomyces bruxellensis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Torulaspora delbrueckii and Schizosaccharomyces pombe yeasts.
Nutritional Value Of Kombucha
Kombucha enfolds a range of yeast and bacterial species with polyphenols, amino acids and organic acids. Post the completion of required fermentation process, kombucha drink develops into a nutritional powerhouse with the richness of various minerals, numerous beneficial live enzymes, a range of vitamins such as vitamins B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B6, B9 (folic acid), B12, C and many healthful chemical constituents such as gluconic acid, oxalic acid, acetic acid, glucuronic acid, usnic acid, fructose and lactic Acid.
Health Benefits Of Kombucha
Health benefits of Kombucha tea are many ranging from facilitating detoxification, reducing arthritis pain, lowering cholesterol, restoring bowel movements, relief from gastric ulcers and various digestive troubles. Antioxidant-rich kombucha possess anti-microbial properties and assists in curing various medical conditions such as cancer and diabetes and contributes productively in maintaining cellular health and strong immune defense of the body.
How To Make Organic Kombucha
Making kombucha tea at home is easy, and it only requires a few pieces of equipment to get started.
Equipment you will need:
- Quart-Size or Half Gallon Glass Jar
- Plastic or Wooden Stirring Utensil
- Tight-Weave Cloth or Paper Coffee Filter
- Something to secure the cover to the jar (rubber band or canning jar rings work well)
Ingredients that you will need:
- Unfluoridated, Unchlorinated Water
- Organic Cane Sugar
- Organic Tea Bags or Loose Tea
- Starter Tea or Organic Distilled White Vinegar
- Active Kombucha SCOBY
While it may be tempting to experiment with different types of vinegar, it’s very important to always use distilled white vinegar to ensure an appropriately acidic environment.
Once your kombucha SCOBY is active you can make kombucha on a regular basis using the ratios below. Keep in mind that these ratios are for making regular batches of kombucha.
Kombucha Ingredient Ratios
One-Quart Batch:
- 1½ teaspoon organic loose tea OR 2 tea bags
- ¼ cup organic cane sugar
- 2-3 cups water
- ½ cup starter tea or organic vinegar
Half-Gallon Batch:
- 1 tablespoon organic loose tea OR 4 tea bags
- ½ cup organic cane sugar
- 6-7 cups water
- 1 cup starter tea or organic vinegar
Gallon Batch:
- 2 tablespoons organic loose tea OR 8 tea bags
- 1 cup organic cane sugar
- 13-14 cups water
- 2 cups starter tea or organic vinegar
Making Kombucha
- Combine hot water and sugar in a glass jar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. The water should be hot enough to steep the tea but does not have to be boiling.
- Place the tea or tea bags in the sugar water to steep.
NOTE: Using a metal tea ball to contain loose tea for making kombucha is acceptable. The tea ball should be removed before adding the SCOBY and starter tea, so the tea ball will not come into contact with the SCOBY.
- Cool the mixture to 68-85ºF. The tea may be left in the liquid as it cools or removed after the first 10-15 minutes. The longer the tea is left in the liquid, the stronger the tea will be.
- Remove the tea bags or completely strain the loose tea leaves from the liquid.
- Add starter tea from a previous batch to the liquid. If you do not have starter tea, distilled white vinegar may be substituted.
- Add an active kombucha SCOBY.
- Cover the jar with a tight-weave towel or coffee filter and secure with a rubber band.
- Allow the mixture to sit undisturbed at 68-85°F, out of direct sunlight, for 7-30 days, or to taste. The longer the kombucha ferments, the less sweet and more vinegary it will taste.
- Pour kombucha off the top of the jar for consuming. Retain the SCOBY and enough liquid from the bottom of the jar to use as starter tea for the next batch.
- The finished kombucha can be flavored and bottled, if desired, or enjoyed plain.
Now that we have given you the basic recipe for organic kombucha, you’re ready to flavor it and make our delicious Apple Cinnamon Kombucha!
We hope that you will love our Apple Cinnamon Kombucha as much as we do!
Please leave us a comment below or on our Facebook page letting us know how you liked it and please share it with your friends:www.facebook.com/wagnerswellnessessentialoilers
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With love from our family to yours,
Rod & Maria Wagner
