Kombucha: How To Grow From Scratch At Home, Step By Step

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

How to grow a kombucha from scratch: step by step instructions

Once upon a time, kombucha was in almost every kitchen. Now this rather strange, at first glance, drink is rarely seen. But in vain. Kombucha has a lot of advantages: it is tasty, it copes with thirst perfectly, has excellent antibacterial and antimicrobial properties.

How to grow a kombucha yourself from scratch - step by step instructions

Growing a kombucha, or jellyfish, is very simple. To do this, prepare the following:

• a glass jar (at first, a liter will do, but for an adult mushroom you need a larger container - a 3-liter jar is ideal);
• gauze;
• teapot for brewing;
• 1/2 l boiling water;
• 7 tablespoons of sugar;
• 5 teaspoons of large leaf tea without any additives or fragrances.

The algorithm for growing kombucha is simple:

1. First you need to wash the soda can well. Do not use any other detergent as the fungus may not grow. It should also be remembered that the container must be very thoroughly washed, since the jellyfish loves cleanliness.

   

   To grow kombucha, the jar can only be washed with water and baking soda

2. Put 5 teaspoons of tea in a teapot for brewing and pour 1/2 l of water brought to a boil. The tea leaves should cool before adding sugar.

   

   To prepare kombucha, you need to use the simplest tea, without adding any flavorings or additives.

3. Drain the strained tea leaves into a jar, cover with gauze and place in a warm (about 25⁰C) place, protected from direct sunlight. At lower temperatures, the fungus will develop, but more slowly. It is also advisable not to rearrange the jar unnecessarily, as this can also affect the development of the fungus. By the end of the first week, a film should appear on the surface of the infusion, which is the rudiment of the medusomycete. It will gradually thicken. At first, a bright vinegar smell may come from the can, which should disappear after a while.

   

   Kombucha will grow in size every day

4. An adult mushroom is considered to be about 2 mm thick. The taste of the liquid in which it is located acquires a pleasant sour taste and smell.

   

   Kombucha is an excellent thirst quencher

5. If the medusomycete was grown in a 3-liter jar, then the resulting drink can be drunk, and a new solution prepared instead. If the mushroom was grown in a small jar, then it must be transferred to a larger jar. To prepare the solution, you need to take 2, 5 liters of water, 10 tbsp. l. sugar, 3 tsp. tea. The process of brewing tea is the same as for growing a mushroom. After cooling down, it must be poured into a jar designed for the mushroom. The jellyfish itself must be carefully rinsed under a gentle stream of warm water and put into the resulting infusion. The rate of formation of the finished beverage depends on the temperature conditions. The hotter it is, the faster it cooks. On average, this time is about 5 days. You can check the readiness by tasting the drink. It can be different for each person. Someone likes a sour tasteand someone prefers a more gentle one.

It is important to remember that you should not drink a drink made from kombucha that has been infused for more than a month. After such a period of time, it already turns into vinegar. It is advisable to renew the solution every week, adding fresh tea leaves or completely changing it to a new one.

When the thickness of the mushroom becomes 4–5 cm and begins to exfoliate, it will be possible to divide it into parts. Thus, you will no longer have one mushroom, but several.

Adult Kombucha is easily divided into several parts

To prepare a tea mushroom drink, you can use not only black tea, but also green tea. And also some herbs that will add beneficial properties to it. When preparing tea leaves, you can use nettle, blackberry leaves, coltsfoot, strawberries, linden, St. John's wort, raspberries, cherries. Such tea leaves are prepared from a proportion of 2-3 teaspoons of herbs or a mixture of herbs per 1 liter of boiling water. It needs to be insisted for 30-60 minutes, no longer. It is important not to use plants that are rich in essential oils (for example, oregano, black currant, chamomile, sage, calendula).

Video: how to grow a kombucha at home

Of course, it is easier and faster to get a drink from a ready-made mushroom, which you can take from friends or even buy. But if you get it nowhere, then there is no particular difficulty in growing kombucha from ordinary sweet tea leaves.