KOMBUCHA IS AMAZING STUFF! It's SOOOOOOOO easy to make your own and much more affordable than buying it at a health food store. Don't expect for the health food stores to help you out at all or encourage you to make your own because it is all about profit for them and they don't want to lose your business. In fact, they will try to discourage you from making your own by claiming food poisoning and other bad things if you try to make your own. In truth, if you use fruit juice as the "starter" liquid, food poisoning is possible but with organic black tea it is virtually impossible. I got the recipe I use (and make copies of for others) from the mag. "MaryJanes Farm" about a year ago and haven't looked back. I am a teacher and literally haven't gotten a cold or a sore throat or ANY form of sickness since then. NO JOKE! I drink at least 4 oz. and day and when I feel something like a cold coming on, I drink a bit more and it goes away. Perhaps that's because it has 9x the probiotic punch as yogurt and the glucaronic (sp?) acid that gives Kombucha its soda like ZING cleanses the liver, is great for the skin and hair, and sooooo much more. I just can't say enough about it. It has seriously changed my life!!!!
To make your own Kombucha you just need to buy a bottle of kombucha at the store, put it in a large 2 gall. glass jar without a lid (though you will need a piece of thin cloth and a rubber band to hold the cloth in place and let the tea breath). You then need to brew up 5 bags of organic black tea (I use Earl Gray) in 3 quarts of cold water (add 1 C. sugar and tea bags when the water just begins to boil, stir), then turn burner off and let bags sit for 20 min. Remove bags and let brewed tea cool to room temp. Add cooled tea to store bought Kombucha in jar and wait about 2 weeks for the S.C.O.B.Y. (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) to form. Stir with wooden spoon before pouring yourself a glass. If it fizzes, it's ready!
P.s. Some folks put their kombucha in a ceramic crock but are cautioned to wash the crock often and check it for any imperfections as the acidity in the Kombucha can break the ceramic rock down (which is bad!),
Of course I would encourage you to try and find a "real" recipe as I may have left something out because it was over a year ago that I did this, but I think this is right.
Good Luck!!! I get as many people as I can to try and take a SCOBY home and start their own as this is the healthiest, most loving thing you can encourage your "people" to drink for their overall health!!
