Kombucha tea made from Rooibos (Red Bush tea)

Kombucha is a tart and refreshing fermented beverage with a taste reminiscent of apple cider. It is loaded with beneficial yeast and bacteria that will help re-establish your healthy gut bacteria. In fact the weird, gel-like kombucha culture that resembles a jellyfish, is called a SCOBY. That’s an acronym for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast.

Kombucha is an ancient, home-made folk remedy. It was very popular in Russia and Eastern Asia. It was reportedly used by the Chinese 2,000 years ago. In the early 1950s Russian scientists did quite a bit of research into the beneficial properties of kombucha with respect to treating cancer after finding that there was an extremely low incidence of cancer among the people of certain regions, even though pollution and environmental toxins in those regions were so bad the trees and fish were dying. The scientists were doing a really thorough study of the food that was consumed and other reasonable habits these people had that may have been contributing to their exceptionally good health, given their conditions. They were baffled because they weren’t really finding anything different that these people were doing. One day one of the scientists stopped by a house to interview the occupants and everyone was out, except for an old woman. She offered him a glass of kombucha, and he loved the refreshing taste of it. Having never encountered anything like it before he started asking questions, which led the scientists to discover that nearly every home was fermenting and drinking kombucha. It was the missing piece of the puzzle they were looking for. The people, of course, knew that this drink contributed to their good health.

The list of ailments that users report it helps with and the benefits is on par with apple cider vinegar. In other words, just about everything. Of course most of that is anecdotal evidence, and hasn’t been evaluated by the FDA. So if you trust the FDA and have faith in their methods, just keep that in mind

Kombucha Tea Recipe (makes 1 litre)

Ingredients:

2 teas tea (black tea, green tea, or combination), or approximately 2 tea bags.
4 tablespoons whole organic cane sugar
1 L boiling water
1/2 cup Kombucha tea from previous batch
Kombucha SCOBY (culture, sometimes called the ‘mother’ or the ‘mushroom’ even though it’s not a mushroom at all).

Note: if you are just starting out, you’ll need to get a Kombucha Starter Kit. After that you’ll be able to brew over an over, if you take good care of it, it will last indefinitely.

Instructions:

Put tea in a glass container (a heat safe container like Pyrex), add boiling water and let steep for at least 15 minutes.

Kombucha SCOBY and starter tea waiting to go into a new batch.

Strain the tea into your brewing container. A glass container, something with a wide mouth is best. The SCOBY will do best when it gets plenty of oxygen, so the best environment for the SCOBY to develop is one where the container is wider than it is high. This is just a guideline for optimal brewing, many people successfully brew in a mason jar, and if that’s what you have available you’ll still produce a fine batch of KT (Kombucha tea).

Add sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Allow tea to cool to body temperature. Once cooled add the Kombucha tea reserved from previous batch (1/2 to 1 cup) then place the kombucha SCOBY (sometimes called a mother) in the liquid.

Cover with a clean tea towel or muslin with a tight enough weave to keep out fruit flies and other creepy crawlies. Make sure the cloth isn’t touching the SCOBY. Store in a warm place, away from direct sunlight for 7-10 days. The brewing time will vary depending on the temperature – the warmer it is the shorter the brewing time, the cooler it is the longer you will have to leave it to brew; and how tart (or not) you like it.

If you are interested in weight loss, studies showed that the best results were gained from kombucha tea that was brewed for 14 days.

The finished Kombucha tea should have a pleasant, tangy, slightly effervescent taste reminiscent of apple cider.
If the tea is still quite sweet, you have not let it ferment for long enough. During fermentation the yeast and bacteria feed on the sugar and the caffeine in the tea. As a result the finished product does not contain much sugar or caffeine.

Do some taste tests and experimentation to find out how you prefer your kombucha tea, then brew it to your taste.
If your tea is very tart and vinegary, you’ve let if ferment for too long. But you don’t need to throw it out if that’s the case. Some people like their kombucha tea like this. The apple taste seems to increase the longer you let it brew. I find the kombucha tea vinegar tastes nicer than apple cider vinegar does. Even if you find it a bit to tart to drink, try using some in a salad dressing, to replace the vinegar. It adds a really nice flavor that I prefer to all other types of vinegar, and you’ll still get the health benefits.

If you want to try some Kombucha vinegar, let your brew go to about 14-17 days.

Here’s a recipe for Rainbow Cole Slaw I made with Kombucha vinegar… it was delicious!

For subsequent batches:

To start a new batch, use 1/2 cup kombucha from your matured batch. Separate the original SCOBY from its new child and use either to brew the new batch.

Since you now have 2 SCOBYs you can give one away to a friend, sell it, or start 2 batches. It’s also a good way to experiment with different types of tea. Just in case you accidentally kill the SCOBY, you now have a backup. I’ve successfully made delicious kombucha tea from both Rooibos (a.k.a. Red Bush Tea) and Honeybush tea. If you end up with more SCOBYs than you know what to do with, you can put them on the compost or dehydrate them at 105 degrees and use them as dog chews. Or you can blend one up using a blender or food processor, adding a little kombucha tea as needed, and use it a facial mask. As with everything you put on your skin it’s advisable to test a bit on a small patch of skin on the inside of your elbow.

This SCOBY can easily brew 2 litres, just double the recipe. The size of the original SCOBY doesn’t matter, the new SCOBY will grow to perfectly fit the container you are brewing it in. If you have a small SCOBY to start with you may just need to leave it to brew for a day or two longer.

CAUTION (…or what NOT to do):

• Never store the SCOBY in the fridge. But the mature tea you pour off can be kept in the fridge.
• Avoid contact with metal utensils or containers during and after fermentation. This applies to both the SCOBY and the fermented tea.
• Never store the SCOBY in the fridge. Refrigeration will alter the balance of yeast and bacteria, and while the result may not be harmful, it may reduce the overall beneficial ingredients in the tea.
• Never store the SCOBY for a long period of time in a closed container. To maintain the correct balance of yeast and bacteria, air has to reach the SCOBY. There are times when you do need to store the SCOBY in an enclosed container, such as when you ship it to someone. A few days should be fine, but try to keep this time to a minimum.
• Kombucha tea has a diuretic effect, so be careful with drinking it too close to bedtime.
• Never add fruit juice, herbs, spices or other ingredients to your KT while it is still brewing. Doing so could disrupt the fermentation process. It’s fine to add those things later though, once you’ve poured off the KT and removed the SCOBY.
• Never use Earl Grey tea, or any tea that has essential oils or herbs added. The volatile oils in the essential oils can kill some of the beneficial bacteria and yeast in the SCOBY.
•   If your SCOBY develops mold on it, (usually appears as black, blue, or white furry specks) throw it out immediately as well as the entire batch of tea. Wash and sterilize the container thoroughly before brewing another batch. In my experience it is quite uncommon, but occasionally people have reported mold developing. The only time I have experienced it was when I totally neglected a batch for several months. Your SCOBY may however develop what appears to be dark patches, if you look underneath it and find that dark particles are accumulating this could be just the natural colors in the tea, staining the organisms of the SCOBY as they are developing.

What’s that weird brown stuff floating in my kombucha?

You may find that there is weird, stringy brown stuff floating in your kombucha. Or the SCOBY start to have dark spots on it. While the SCOBYs can grow a black mold, it’s quite rare. If you do genuinely have a black, furry mold growing on the top of your SCOBY you want to throw out both SCOBY and tea and start again. One time I tried to get the black mold to grow so I could take a photo. I abused those poor SCOBYs, in the name of education. In the end, I wasn’t successful. So I don’t have a photo of black mold to show you. Sorry.

Kombucha tea and SCOBY with weird-looking dark mass

What I do have a photo of though, is something much more common, a weird-looking dark mass that new brewers often mistake for the black mold. But it’s not. It’s perfectly safe and harmless. In this photo to the left you can see it. It’s not attractive, but it won’t hurt you.

What happens is that when you brew the tea there are wee  bits of fiber, bits of tea leaf and tea leaf dust, that remain suspended in the tea. The yeast and bacteria that make up the SCOBY have a very strong instinct to find each other and form a collective – that’s what creates and holds the SCOBY together basically. Some of them seem to congregate around these bits of tea leaf, or attract the bits of tea leaf. I’m not sure which, but the result looks like that brown blob in the lower center of the photo.

While it won’t hurt you, it does have a texture that will make you shiver and cringe should you accidentally suck it up and end up with it in your mouth while enjoying a glass of kombucha. You can prevent this experience by straining the kombucha into your drinking glass through a fine mesh tea strainer. It usually sinks to the bottom of the container, so most of the time I just carefully pour off the tea on the top. When I get down to the last bit, and my chances for avoiding ‘the blob’ are not looking so good, I get out the tea strainer.

Where to buy  Kombucha Starter Kits

So to get started brewing your own kombucha, you’ll need to get yourself a SCOBY and some starter tea. Often this is referred to as a Kombucha Starter Kit. If you’re in New Zealand you can order a Kombucha Starter Kit from me here, but only until the 26th of October or while supplies last – because after that I’m going overseas. Otherwise, you can buy a kombucha starter kit at KombuchaKamp were you will also find things like warming mats, and lots of excellent information about brewing kombucha, and recipes for flavored kombucha and other cool stuff.

Blue-Green Smoothie

Did you know that the blue-green algae spirulina is 65% protein? So instead of using whey powder or soy-based protein powders for your protein shakes why not use spirulina instead? It’s is easier to digest, has far greater nutritional benefits and doesn’t have the negative side effects of soy.

This smoothie combines blueberries and acai berry powder for their antioxidants, parsley and green grass powder for their phytonutrients and chlorophyll, superfoods maca for it’s adaptogenic and nutrient-dense properties and blue-green algae for it’s protein and chlorophyll, and kefir for it’s beneficial micro-organisms.

This recipe calls for milk kefir, but you could easily substitute kombucha or water kefir instead, which would also make a vegan version of this smoothie.

Ingredients:

3 cups kefir
3 ripe bananas (fresh or frozen)
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 kiwifruit
1 handful parsley
1 tablespoon spirulina powder
1 tatblespoon maca powder
1 teaspoon green grass powder (I like Healthforce Nutritionals Vitamineral Green)
1 teaspoon acai berry powder
1 tablespoon honey (or agave syrup or stevia, or other sweetener of choice, optional)

Instructions:

Blend well using a high-powered blender. At tip if you’re using frozen bananas and honey – blend everything except the bananas thoroughly, then add the bananas and blend them in. If you’re using good quality honey it will probably be thick (no, the runny honey in the plastic bear squeeze bottle isn’t healthy), and it will freeze into a solid lump as soon as it hits the cold of the bananas. It’s much easier to blend in the honey if you do it before adding the bananas.

Apple Cider Vinegar Apple Juice Tonic

Apple cider vinegar is so good for you, and has so many health benefits (read more about the benefits of apple cider vinegar)  that I recommend everyone incorporate it into their daily routine. It’s one of the quickest, simplest things you can do, but the results can be tremendous. There are entire books written on the benefits of ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar), it seems to help with nearly everything that ails us human beings. But if, like me, you don’t particularly like the smell and/or taste of vinegar, or you want something that even kids will like, try this ACV tonic.

The cider vinegar makes the apple juice just slightly more tart, it’s barely noticeable. I’ve got a very acute sense of smell, I hate the smell of vinegar and I didn’t even detect it.

Freshly squeezed organic apple juice is the best, of course. But if you don’t have access to a juicer, or fresh juice, be sure to get organic, unfiltered (that means it will be cloudy, not clear), unsweetened apple juice. For the apple cider vinegar, it’s very important that it be raw, unfiltered, and organic, like Bragg’s apple cider vinegar. Don’t buy the cheap stuff, you won’t get the same health benefits! It’s not hard to make your own homemade apple cider vinegar either.

Ingredients:

1 cup organic, unfiltered apple juice (preferably freshly squeezed, or at least unsweetened)
1 teaspoon raw, unfiltered, organic apple cider vinegar (we recommend you make your own or buy the Bragg’s brand)

Instructions:

Serve over ice, or not as you prefer. 1-3 cups per day.

To your health!

Blueberry Orange Smoothie with Acai Berry

When it comes to quick and simple recipes with high nutritional benefits, smoothies are at the top of my list. In an almost unbelievable stroke of good fortune I happened to be looking in a part of the freezer section of my local supermarket that I usually ignore. The supermarket has recently moved everything around, and in my hunt for my favorite organic frozen blueberries I happened to see a few boxes of frozen acai berry puree for less than a quarter of their normal retail price. What!? True. I bought 3 boxes, but I wish now, after having come up with this awesomely delicious smoothie, that I had grabbed all of them. Even though this is yet another blueberry smoothie recipe (and I put blueberries in almost all my smoothies), the fresh, tart flavor of the freshly squeezed orange juice and acai berry make this my favorite so far.

In case you’re one of the dozen or so people who have managed to escape the hype spread by MLM marketers pushing expensive acai berry drinks, let me just give you a quick summary so you know what all the hype is about. The acai berry is one of those ‘recently discovered’ superfoods from the Amazon basin that the native people of the region have known about forever. It turns out that this little dark purple berry doesn’t taste all that great, in my opinion, but it’s super-high in wonderful, health-promoting antioxidants. Like off the scales, higher than any other food, according to the popular O.R.A.C antioxidant rating scale. Blueberries are too, as a matter of fact. So, blend raw frozen blueberries and acai berries with some high in vitamin C freshly squeezed orange juice and you’ve got something that not only tastes great, but is more nutritious than the watered down, pasteurized, expensive drinks those MLM companies are selling. So, without any further ranting, here’s my best blueberry smoothie recipe yet…

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh squeezed organic orange juice
1 cup frozen organic blueberries
100gm frozen acai berry puree
2 ripe bananas (fresh or frozen)

Instructions:

Peel the bananas, toss them and  everything else into the blender. Blend thoroughly. Serve. Enjoy!

Blueberry, Orange, Acai Berry Smoothie Recipe

Carob Mint Superfood Smoothie

This carob superfood smoothie has become my latest addiction. They are so good I sometimes have them twice a day. And I don’t mean, have a glassful, I’m talking the whole blenderful! Kids would love this smoothie!

They are great cold, like a thick non-dairy milkshake, if you use frozen bananas and let the mint tea cool before making the smoothie. But they are equally nice if you use fresh (not frozen) bananas and make it while the mint tea is still warm (not too hot though). It’s winter here in New Zealand, and it’s just turned really cold. I always find it hard to stick to a predominantly raw food diet when the weather turns cold, and amazingly just having these warm smoothies in the morning, and warm tea at night is making it really easy.

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cup mint tea
3 ripe bananas (fresh or frozen)
2 Tbsp carob powder (raw carob if possible)
1 Tbsp Maca powder
1 Tbsp Lucuma powder
1 Tbsp Mesquite powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder or extract
1 tsp honey (optional)
1 Tbsp chia seeds (optional)

Instructions:

Carob Mint Superfood Shake

Make the mint tea by steeping a handful of mint leaves in 3 cups hot water until cool (or warm if you want a warm smoothie) and then straining the leaves out. Some of the water will evaporate leaving about 2-1/2 cups, but don’t worry if it’s more or less.

The honey, or whatever sweetener you prefer is optional. Carob is naturally sweet, as are the bananas, and the superfoods mesquite, lucuma and maca (to some extent), so it doesn’t necessarily need sweetening. Just go with what tastes good to you. The chia seeds will thicken it up. Chia are quite amazing, they are very sustaining and even using a small amount like this will I notice the difference. If I put chia seeds in this smoothie I can go for hours before I feel hungry.

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend well.