OK. I talked about buying my three cultures (dairy kefir grains, kombucha scoby and sourdough starter) in my last post. Then, I went on to discuss how I dehydrated my dairy kefir grains and have been making dairy kefir ever since.

Today, I’m going to talk about my kombucha scoby. It arrived from Cultures for Health in a dehydrated state–a nearly transparent, paper-thin disc of what I hoped would help me create the probiotic goodness known as kombucha. Kombucha is a beverage that originated in Russia and is basically fermented tea. Like my homemade yogurt and kefir, kombucha is good for the gut. And, since my gut has its share of problems, the more probiotic foods I can consume, the better.

When I decided to begin the process of re-hydrating my scoby (stands for: symbiotic community of bacteria and yeast) several days after it arrived, I (thought I) carefully read the instructions included with my culture. I gathered all the supplies I needed: loose black tea, filtered water, sugar, quart glass jar, apple cider vinegar, wooden spoons, plastic measuring cups, and something to cover the jar while letting it breathe (a piece of kitchen towel and a rubber band).

I boiled the water, steeped the tea, and added the sugar. Then I waited until the sweet tea mixture reached room temperature. I poured in the required amount of vinegar and floated the dehydrated scoby on top. It immediately sunk to the bottom. Everything I’d read says this is perfectly normal. Then, I was to wait for 7 to 10 days. So, I did. My husband and I are very curious people (not to mention impatient). We used a flashlight morning and evening to look for and mark any progress in either the tea or with the scoby. About 2 days in, the scoby had gotten thick and opaque. Fine, very fine indeed. Proceeding just as all the literature said it would.

Sometime during day 3 and for some undetermined reason, I decided to read the instructions again. To my horror, the details specifically told me NOT to use rapadura, sucanat or raw cane sugar!!!  AAAaaaaaa!! I had used evaporated cane sugar. Frantically, I texted Larry to see what to do. He said, “I don’t know. You’re the kombucha ‘expert.’” Certain I had ruined my 13-dollar culture, I prepared another quart of starter tea, this time using plain old white sugar. Tears in my eyes, I drained the original starter tea. I’d ruined it for sure. Just in case it lived, I added the apple cider vinegar, rinsed the rehydrated scoby with filtered water and dropped it into my new (white sugar) starter tea.

The wait began again. Seven more days. We waited, watching earnestly as we’d done the first time. It hadn’t died. A new scoby began to form on top and relief washed over me. At the end of the waiting time, I brewed another batch of tea to begin the process all over again. I carefully pulled my new baby scoby off the top, poured the kombucha into another container, catching the mama scoby as it came out of the jar. I saved a cup of the starter tea to begin my new half gallon jar of kombucha, and we drank the little bit of kombucha left. It was pretty vinegar-y, but wasn’t too bad.

My next batch was even better. I put both mama and baby scoby in to give the baby a bit more volume and strength. When it was all done (7 days later), I removed baby scoby #2, baby scoby #1 and mama scoby, and saved a cup of tea for my next batch. This time, however, I sliced half a meyer lemon and added it to the stuff we were going to drink. I let the fruit sit in the tea for a good 24 hours and then strained it out. Oh, my goodness. The stuff was amazing. Not so vinegar-y, just a hint of lemon and tangerine. Mmmm, Mmmm.

I had another mishap with my third batch. Not sure exactly what happened, but 3 days in I noticed spots of green mold on the top of my jar. My newest little undeveloped scoby had become contaminated somehow. I guess I wasn’t as careful about keeping everything clean as I should’ve been.

I tossed all but the original mama scoby and started all over again, adding a bit of apple cider vinegar. It worked. Not sure if God has been protecting my little blob of bacteria and yeast, or if they’re not as fragile as I thought they were. Oh, well. I’m very pleased to be able to continue making kombucha. My latest batch was flavored with orange slices. Very good stuff, and, very good for you!