Recipe Alert: A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Homemade Kombucha

The trendy probiotic drink is typically sold bottled, but you can save money and customise the flavours by making homemade kombucha yourself. Here's how.

By now, we all know the benefits of probiotics: balanced gut bacteria, a boosted immune system, and less bloat, for starters. And now that there's a huge focus in the news on digestive health, there's a resurgence of probiotic waters and juices. But if that £5-per-bottle kombucha habit is getting expensive, try this recipe from The Roasted Root to make homemade kombucha.

Below is everything you need to know, from the confusing terminology (like, erm WTF is SCOBY?) to each and every step in the brewing process. Once you have the base down, it's easy to experiment with flavour combos to find the mix-and-match you love best.  Enjoy...

How to Make Homemade Kombucha

Large pot

1 or 2-gallon glass jug/container

Stick-on or floating thermometer

Cheesecloth and rubber band

Glass, sealable bottles (such as flip cap bottles)

Ingredients

1 kombucha SCOBY (you can purchase online or grow your own by following steps below)

1 gallon spring water (don't use tap water because it likely has chlorine or fluoride in it)

10 black or green tea bags (whichever you prefer)

1 cup organic cane sugar

1 cup 100% fruit juice (optional, for flavouring)

Step 1: Brew the Tea

In a large pot, heat the gallon of spring water until boiling, then remove from heat and add the tea bags. Steep for 15 minutes and remove the bags. Add the sugar and stir well. (Whatever you do, don't skip this step, as the SCOBY grows and ferments from the sugar—more on this in step 2).

Step 2: Add the SCOBY

SCOBY, or Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, is the ingredient that transforms tea into kombucha through a sugar fermentation process (which you started in Step 1 when you added the sugar). After your tea is done steeping and has cooled to 75-80 degrees, transfer to a glass jug and add the SCOBY that's now grown. Place the thermometer in the jug, cover with cheesecloth and secure with a rubber band.

Step 3: Allow to Ferment

Place the jug in a dark, slightly warm environment (like a closet) and allow to brew for 7-10 days. The ideal temperature is between 75-80 degrees; any higher and you risk developing mould. (Below is what a healthy SCOBY looks like. If you begin to see mould similar to bread mould, throw the batch away and start again.) Your SCOBY will continue to grow in size—this is normal—but if it starts to become overgrown cut a few slices off to keep it healthy. After 7-10 days, your kombucha is complete—the longer you let it brew, the stronger the taste. 

Step 4: Remove the SCOBY

Now that your kombucha is done, slice the SCOBY off and place in a glass jug with enough kombucha to barely cover it, then cover the jug with cheesecloth. Let the SCOBY sit until you are ready to make another batch. If you like the taste as is, pour the kombucha into sealed glass bottles and place in the refrigerator until ready to drink. A batch typically lasts 3-5 days once the seal is broken.

NOTE: Steps 5-6 are optional, but often followed to develop more flavour within the kombucha. 

Step 5: Flavour the Kombucha

If you'd like to add more flavour to your kombucha, pour into a mixing bowl and add one cup of 100% fruit juice, or one cup fresh fruit and half-cup cane sugar. Stir, then divide into glass, sealable bottles. Place in the dark room where you grew your SCOBY and leave for three days. 

Step 6: Strain and Serve

After three days of fermentation, strain out any additional pieces of SCOBY that grew. Pour kombucha into sealed bottles and place in fridge until ready to drink. Be careful upon opening—the carbonation builds pressure in the bottles similar to shaken soda.

Want more healthy recipes, insights, videos or articles like this? Join us to receive 'inspiration in your inbox'- http://tiny.cc/join-me

Like us on Facebook HERE. 

Article Source

Gut Health: Part 2

Part 2: Probiotics and Prebiotics in Gut Health

For background info, please refer to Gut Health, Part 1: Why we should focus on the health of our gut this January and NOT our weight.  
(Essential Jo: Click to See my blog post of 6th Jan 2017)

In the second part of this gut health series, we are going to look at the role of probiotics and prebiotics in gut health – possibly one of the most exciting new topics to emerge in nutrition in the last few years. If you missed Part 1: Why we should focus on the health of our gut do take a look at it first to give you a little more background.  
(Essential Jo: Click to See my blog post of 6th Jan 2017)

What are probiotics?

Probiotics are “live micro-organisms, which when consumed in adequate amounts, confer a health effect on the host”. Use of probiotic foods is an ancient tradition – even as far back as the time of Genghis Khan, fermented milk was being drunk as an elixir of strength and health.


Most often, probiotic foods or supplements contain strains of either Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium bacteria, usually from fermented dairy products. However, before starting to act, they have to survive the hazardous journey to reach our gut:

They need to first get through manufacturing, transportation and storage processes, to reach our shopping bags alive and in good condition.
Then they must make it through the acidic environment of our stomach (designed precisely to kill off any wayward bacteria) and through the swamp of potent digestive juices and enzymes secreted by the gallbladder and pancreas.
Finally, if they succeed in reaching their destination, the large bowel, they then actually need do some good for the host rather than just going along for a free ride, or even possibly doing some untoward harm.
Because of these difficulties with getting the right probiotics to the right place, it is important to point out that the benefits which are seen in clinical trials may not all be possible to achieve with the yoghurts, tablets or other supplements available over-the-counter.

Despite all these challenges, however, good quality strains of probiotics have been associated with beneficial effects in some disease processes. The best evidence base for them so far is with antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, but researchers are examining a huge range of other conditions, from cancer to eczema – even mental health – which may benefit from probiotics (Tuohy et al., 2003) (NHS Choices, 2015).

Limitations
Most of the clinical research that has been carried out on prebiotics has been in unwell populations, and even then they are not yet in widespread use. We do not yet know much about the impact that taking probiotics might have in generally healthy people (Puupponen-Pimia et al., 2002). Anecdotally I have found them to be of tremendous benefit for myself and some of my clients – I am always cautious to recommend any supplements on this sort of platform, but when I do use and prescribe probiotics, I go for the very highest quality.

Probiotics, even as tablets, are also still regarded as foods. Therefore they do not have to undergo the same rigorous testing as medicines do, so it is difficult to know if they actually contain the bacteria they claim, alive, in an adequate dose, and are able to give you a tangible benefit (NHS choices, 2015). The European Food Safety Authority has even gone so far as to ban the probiotic food industry from certain advertising claims, such as that they ‘boost the immune system’, because there is insufficient evidence to back such claims up at the moment. A healthy dose of skepticism is often helpful in nutritional science!

As Dr Alessio Fasano so neatly puts it, we can compare our current knowledge of the microbiota to our knowledge of space. We know the universe exists (our microbiota), and we are getting to grips with the fact the Milky Way is there (the major strains of bacteria), but we are far off knowing where London is! In other words, there is a lot of detail still to understand before we are able to fully utilize probiotics for health. Do take a look at some of Dr Fasano’s YouTube talks if you are interested – he makes the gut a really fascinating and understandable topic!



What about prebiotics – are they the same thing?

No. Prebiotics are a class of nutrients called ‘oligosaccharides’ (a type of fibre) which pass through the upper portion of the gut undigested, to feed and stimulate the growth of microbes further down. I think about it as nectar for gut bugs!

Types of prebiotic that are known to alter the microbiota include (Tuohy et al., 2003);

Inulin & Fructooligosaccharides – found in foods such as Jerusalem artichoke, asparagus, leeks, green bananas, chicory and onions (Sabater-Molina et al., 2009)
Lactulose
Galactooligosaccharides – found naturally in breast milk to help feed the microbiota of new born babies.

In general, a dose of more than 20g a day of all of these combined, may lead to unwanted side effects such as flatulence and bloating (Tuohy et al., 2003). Especially if you suffer from IBS, I would suggest it is a sensible idea to ‘start low and go slow’ on introducing these to your diet.

As an added benefit, when our gut microbes break down these prebiotic fibres, especially inulin, they release a compound called butyric acid (Scott et al., 2013). This is especially important in gut health, as not only is in anti-inflammatory, but it also helps build up the gut defence barrier and decreases oxidative stress. All really useful effects. Plus it might even help to signal to our brain that we are full and satisfied at the end of a meal (Hamer et al., 2007).

My pragmatic approach, if you are generally well, and would like to boost your probiotic and prebiotic intake, is to use functional foods wherever possible. 
In Part 3: How to nourish your gut health, we will explore lots of ideas on how to do this.

Images and Article - Source