Kombucha mother/baby raising traditions

Regenerative Subsistence Flora Food & Medicine
#10

Hmm, I guess I need to look around some more before I just go posting stuff. I just made a huge post one this on the fermented foods thread, here it is again:

I was trying to figure out if honey sweetened beverages would be good as electrolyte replacement drinks. I haven’t sorted that out, but in my search I ran across a claim that kombucha has electolytes. Anyone know if that is true?

I got my Kombucha culture from a woman who teaches workshops on it. She went to the trouble of testing it with every sweetenter she could find and typed up the results. Her name is Gretchen Westlight and the handout says permission granted to share with credit, so here goes:

these were fermented for 12 days.
Taste comparison is to kombucha made with sugar/evap cane juice

Sweetener Culture Appreance Beverage Description
Turbinado Thick, healthy Fairly normal tasting
Agave Syrup Thick, healthy Fizzy, a little sour
Sucanat Thick, healthy Fizzy, sour
Rapadura Thick, healthy Fizzy, sour
Brown sugar Medium, healthy Fizzy, sour
Light Corn Syrup Thick, healthy Watery,bitter,not much fermented
Maple Syrup Thin, weak Sour, not much fermented, fizzy
Xylitol Very thin, somewhat healthy Very mild, not much fermented, fizzy
Fructose Thin, “anemic” Not much fermented, tased like plain tea
Stevia Thin, moldly Didn’t risk tasting it
Splena Thin, moldly Didn’t risk tasting it
Barley Malt Thin, medium-dark Somewhat cloudy, sediment, SOUR
Brown rice syrup Thick, pale Cloudy, sour vinegary, lots of sediment
Honey Thin, weak Cloudy, lots of sediment
Blackstrap molasses Thick, dark and muddy YUCK! GAG!!!

When I was reading about honey I learned that sugar is sucrose, which is fructose and glucose stuck togther. The sugar in honey is about 38% fructose, 30% glucose and 1% sucrose. Gretchen’s results with pure fructose would suggest that the kombucha organism doesn’t like plain fructose, so mabye that is part of why using honey was not as good as using sugar?

My question tho, is: what was the original kombucha sweetener source? I really doubt it was processed sugar.

#11

As for honey, most store bought honey that you can find in supermarkets are processed in such a way that they are mostly fructose. This allows them to stay in the liquid form that we have come to expect honey to be in. I’ve been buying unprocessed raw honey, from a local honey producer, which is very heavy, thick, and granular. You may have more luck using raw honey than supermarket honey. Also, some types of honey have more fructose than others. Sage and eucalyptus for example.

#12

Yeast doesn’t consume fructose as readily as other sugars, which is why it would result in less fermentation. You could leave it for longer, perhaps… I have yet to make kombucha. Lots of wine/beer/distilled stuff, though. And for those, raw honey is always better.

I have a quick question too:
Is their a way to make a scoby(mushroom) from scratch without kombucha? Like maybe adding vinegar to tea with some yeast or something? ???

#13

I went to a seminar that Sandor Katz (author of Wild Fermentation) put on. He said that while you can brew without refined sugar without killing your creature right away, the health benifits are not as great, and the mother becomes sickly after a few batches. He wasn’t a big fan of Kombucha in general, though he had been in the past.

[quote=“kveldulf, post:12, topic:782”]I have a quick question too:
Is their a way to make a scoby(mushroom) from scratch without kombucha? Like maybe adding vinegar to tea with some yeast or something? ???[/quote]
I seriously doubt it. Good luck though. I have several friends that brew the stuff. you want me to try and send you a mother?

#14

according to this video that i found, you can make a kombucha mother by making the tea as you would normally and then pouring an unpasteurized bottle of kombucha tea (like one you’d buy from the store) on the top and letting it sit. eventually it will make a mother. so if you have access to a health food store or co-op you might be able to get started. i’ve seen plenty of places have the bottle of kombucha but not a mother for sale.
watch the video if you can, they explain it more that me:

#15

How on earth then did scobies get started in the first place?

Ah, creation stories!.. maybe we’ll never really know the origins of kombucha mothers. Let’s make up a mythology. :wink:

#16

PS. Where did Neighbor Scout go? Too bad he left. :frowning:

#17

Yeah, using unpasteurized kombucha totally works. If I forget a cup of kombucha somewhere for a few days, I will discover it with a baby mug sized creature covering the top.

#18
a baby mug sized creature

That sounds terrifying. Like a leprechaun? or a changeling?

:stuck_out_tongue: ;D

#19

I’ve seen that creature lurking in the bottom of a bottle of raw apple cider vinegar, too. :o

#20

Hey All,

I decided to try to raise a kombucha mother by starting with unpasteurized kombucha. I’ve tried kombucha before and it didn’t work out. I ordered a kombucha mother from GEM cultures and they sent me a little white pad floating in vinegar. I followed their directions and I think I killed it. Anyways, this time I started with a bottle of unpasteurized kombucha, and mixed it with some tea and sugar. Now I got a thin film on top of my tea that folds and jiggles like a jelly-fish when I touch it. So far, so good. But there are also little brown bubbles of yeast in there, which I’m not sure is so good. Will I end up with alcohol or kombucha?

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r205/xelkarin/imag0094.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r205/xelkarin/imag0095.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r205/xelkarin/imag0096.jpg

#21

Take the jelly thing out, wash it with distilled water, and put it in a clean clean clean new bowl of tea and sugar.

#22

The thin white film is the Kombucha “mushroom” and the bubbles are the result of the tea and sugar fermenting and creating alcohol. I don’t know if you are growing this for the white Fungus or for the medicinal fermented tea, which tastes alot like wine. If you let the fungus grow for weeks in the same tea it will get quite thick and the tea will turn into vinegar. I once let mine grow for months and the “mushroom” was about 2 inches thick.

I shared one of the babies with my neighbor and after awhile he got tired of the process and dumped it all down the toilet. Then he started worrying that a Giant Kombucha Fungus would grow in his septic tank and take it over. Ha!

#23
I shared one of the babies with my neighbor and after awhile he got tired of the process and dumped it all down the toilet. Then he started worrying that a Giant Kombucha Fungus would grow in his septic tank and take it over. Ha!

Such a waste! My recommendation would be to shape them into frisbees and throw them at each other. ;D

#24

[quote=“Neighbor Scout, post:6, topic:782”]Wonderful, thanks you three.

Please, does agave nectar, maple syrup, honey and/or stevia substitute well for sugar (I mean cane sugar)?

And, folks, of course, please keep feeding us those kombucha facts/myths and what-not. Thanks. :)[/quote]

I looked it up… as a nurse, I knew babies should not have honey… Here is what I found

I’ve heard that I shouldn’t feed my baby honey. Is this true?
– Kathy

It’s true that honey should not be fed to infants younger than 1 year old. Clostridium bacteria that cause infant botulism usually thrive in soil and dust. However, they can also contaminate certain foods — honey in particular. Infant botulism can cause muscle weakness, with signs like poor sucking, a weak cry, constipation, and an overall decreased muscle tone (floppiness).

Parents can reduce the risk of infant botulism by not introducing honey into their baby’s diet until after the first birthday. As kids get older, their bodies are better able to handle the bacteria.

#25

what i’m trying to figure out now, is how to do kombucha in a completely local way… not with imported tea and not with store bought sugars.

i’ve read that you can use herbal teas/tisanes, which solves the not using imported teas part of it, but has anyone tried this? has anyone used herbal infusions to make kombucha?

and what would i use for the sugar? most of the sweeteners listed earlier in this thread are things that i’d have to buy from a grocery store. there’s the possibility that i’d be able to gather wild honey, but are there any other options? if i, say, included lots of fruits, could there be enough sugar for the kombucha culture?

i’m trying to figure out if kombucha is realistic for me in the context of completely wild foods.

thanks!

#26

My hunch is that the solution will differ according to where you live. And in some places of the world there may be no viable way to make kombucha with locally harvestable ingredients.

That said, where do you live? What kinds of ingredients are available for herbal tea in your area?

#27

i’m in the upper midwest and there are lots of great plants to choose from for herbal teas… i’m especially thinking of nettle infusions (yum!) although perhaps they might taste disgusting when turned into kombucha…? i guess i’ll just have to wait until i have more than one kombucha culture and try one of them with nettles (or red raspberry leaf tea, labrador tea, sumac, rose hips, etc.)

i’m wondering just how dependent the kombucha culture is on sugars… if there isn’t enough sugars for it (like if i just put some fruit in), will it just be weak and not ferment as much or would it not work at all and go moldy?

#28

It sounds like kombucha cultures that exist right now have evolved to eat white sugar. Maybe if you gradually add more and more fruit juice or honey to your mixtures, you could cause the kombucha to change? Just an idea.

#29

GREAT IDEA!! :wink: REWILDing Kombucha!

E