Kombucha is also called “zooglea” or “medusomycete”. Strictly speaking, it is not really a mushroom. This is a mix of yeast and probiotic bacteria culture. Kombucha loves sugar very much. Over thousands of years of preparing this drink, people realized that it interacts best with tea, so they began to combine medusomycetes with it.
Together with the chef, we tell you how to prepare kombucha correctly and what subtleties will help you make a delicious drink. We present step-by-step instructions.
Chef's Tips
Chef Aidar Khaloev has been preparing kombucha-based drinks in his establishments for more than ten years. We asked an expert to share useful tips to ensure the drink turns out just right.
- Everything must be sterile during the preparation process. Someone may have a stereotype that a mushroom lives in a dirty jar and is happy there. This should under no circumstances be allowed. If you can, handle the mushroom with clean gloves or at least wash your hands thoroughly. All dishes must be boiled.
- Use a regular glass jar. In their work, cooks use stainless steel containers. But such packaging is expensive, takes up a lot of space - there is no point in buying it specifically for home. Therefore, a glass jar remains the ideal place for kombucha to exist. It is not recommended to use plastic dishes.
- There should be nothing foreign in the tea. Leaves of tea leaves, small debris, paper, sugar crystals - none of this should be there. Pour the liquid over the kombucha through a clean sieve or cheesecloth. Otherwise, the mushroom may get sick.
The drink made from kombucha is kombucha. Photo: pixabay.com
- If you want a more varied taste. Supplements should not be used directly with kombucha. Only when you have drained the infusion after 5-10 days, add to it whatever your heart desires. Try jam, fruit purees, coffee syrups, freshly squeezed juices - apple or exotic fruits. Add mint or other herbs to taste. An excellent combination of drink with ginger and lemon.
- Kombucha only gets along well with “pure” tea. Black tea is best. Avoid tea with thyme, bergamot and other flavorings. You can also try pure green tea or pu-erh. I tried making a drink based on sweet coffee. It turned out to be an interesting cocktail, but the mushroom itself died after the second infusion.
- A drink based on kombucha contains tenths of alcohol. Like kvass or kefir. Therefore, it is not recommended to drink the infusion while driving in order to avoid misunderstandings with traffic police officers.
- When producing kombucha for sale, the drink is pasteurized. Heat it to keep it longer. It will not be possible to follow the technology at home. Therefore, try to drink a ready-made infusion of kombucha in the first week after draining.
Care and storage of kombucha.
Not only the taste, but also the chemical composition, as well as the beneficial properties of the drink, depend on how you care for your kombucha.
Medusomycete (this is the scientific name for kombucha) looks like a thick film of white-yellow-brown-pink color floating on the surface of the nutrient liquid - the infusion of sweet tea. The sugars in the liquid can be different (glucose, sucrose, fructose), the type of tea also does not matter.
Researchers noticed that Medusomycete practically does not consume the components of tea infusion (aromatic, tannin and other substances), but is extremely sensitive to its absence. For example, without tea, it does not synthesize ascorbic acid, which is necessary for the life of kombucha.
If favorable conditions are created for kombucha, then on the fourth or fifth day of growth it begins to produce a pleasant-tasting and very healthy drink, reminiscent of strong, highly carbonated kvass (“tea kvass” or “kombucha”). The carbon dioxide bubbles in which the drink is saturated and acetic acid are jointly produced by yeast and acetic acid bacteria. Tea and some types of yeast give the drink a specific aroma.
What to add?
Every housewife who successfully grows medusomycetes wants to diversify the drink. But not all ingredients can be added to future kvass.
- Chamomile.
- Bergamot.
- Lemon.
These components should not be included in drinks. They contain a large amount of essential oils, which can harm the growth of the individual in the jar. But at the same time, lemon or other additives can be added to the infusion drained from the mushroom. You can additionally fortify the drink at your discretion.
You can add leaves of fruit trees and bushes to your drink. And:
- nettle;
- yarrow;
- rose hip;
- plantain.
This will make the taste of the drink richer and more aromatic. In addition, plants additionally saturate kvass with useful elements.
Other Supplements
You can add a little yeast to the drink. This will improve the fermentation process. Additionally, you can throw it in a 3 liter jar. A little raisin.
Some housewives douse the mushroom not with tea, but with compote. The taste of the drink is a little different, but children like it more. The main thing is that the compote does not contain too much sugar. The sweetness can burn and even kill a kombucha specimen.
Some housewives add fruit jam to the drink instead of sugar. It is important to correctly calculate the amount of jam so as not to harm the occupant of the jar.
Most common problems
There are usually reasons for Kombucha illness. If you pay attention to the condition of the individual in time, it will not be difficult to cure it. The most common problems are:
- Delamination. This problem arises in cases where the housewife did not notice that the mushroom was about to separate a part from itself. To prevent any consequences, you should carefully remove the medusomycete from the jar and separate the new growth. Afterwards, you can transfer the layer to another jar and share it with neighbors or friends.
- Stains. Brown spots may form on the surface of the kombucha. These are burns. They appear due to contact with sugar or tea leaves. To avoid such a problem, you should take care of proper care of the individual in the future.
- Fermentation does not begin. The reason for this is a lack of heat or sugar.
- Mold. If mold appears on the body of an individual, there may be various reasons for this - low ambient temperature, there is a place where mold is spreading nearby, people smoke in the room. A timely response from the hosts will help revive the fungus. To do this, you will need to remove the mold with your fingers and rinse the specimen well. The medusomycete should be left overnight in cold, pre-boiled vinegar.
- The color of the individual became dark. The reason for this is the infusion, which did not drain for a long time. To solve the problem, just rinse the specimen and fill it with fresh tea leaves.
To prevent an individual from getting sick, it is worth paying timely attention to its condition and periodically examining it for changes.
Kombucha: beneficial properties
Being a fermented product, tea kvass contains prebiotics. These are bacteria that support the intestinal microflora and help digest food. Therefore, speaking about the benefits of kombucha, nutritionists note its beneficial effects on digestion. Plus, after drinking the drink, elements are produced that reduce the risk of developing ulcers and gastritis.
The proven beneficial properties of kombucha also include an antibacterial effect. After fermentation, acetic acid is formed in the drink. It precisely prevents the development of pathogenic microorganisms if they did not get into the infusion from the very beginning of preparation. In addition, the drink reduces the content of bad cholesterol, thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
The antitumor effect of kombucha on the body has been less studied. Indian scientists were able to prove a decrease in the survival rate of cancer cells under the influence of kombucha enzymes. However, research needs to be continued. It is worth noting that the benefits of kombucha for humans were observed when the drink was consumed regularly.
Benefits for weight loss
It is recommended to introduce a drink made from medusomycetes into the diet of people who are struggling with excess weight. The substances contained in it improve the breakdown and absorption of nutrients, thereby normalizing the digestion process and healing the intestinal biocenosis. Fiber and other polysaccharides in kvass prevent constipation, which often accompanies the process of losing weight.
In order for the Japanese mushroom to promote weight loss, an infusion of it must be taken, adhering to certain rules:
- You need to infuse a diet tea drink with green tea.
- Drink one hour before meals or two hours after meals.
- A single dose is 1 glass (250 ml), the maximum daily dose is 6 glasses.
- The duration of the continuous course should not exceed 1 month.
- A break of at least one week is required between courses.
- Drinking the drink does not replace dietary nutrition and physical activity.
- The caloric content of the drink should be taken into account when calculating the daily caloric intake (based on the glucose content in 100 ml).
With proper use of tea kvass, you can get rid of 7 kg of weight in one month.
How to care
There are several basic rules for keeping and caring for medusomycetes:
- The only correct container for keeping it is a glass jar. Usually this is a classic 3-liter or 5-liter container.
- It is advisable to keep the jar with your pet in a dark place. Do not leave the container in a draft or windowsill; direct sunlight and cold will destroy the product.
- The optimal air temperature should be around 25ºС; below 17ºС is harmful to the body. An incorrectly chosen temperature regime can cause the development of blue-green algae on the surface of the substance.
- It is best to cover the container with clean gauze or a cotton towel. Lids and cellophane cannot be used for this purpose.
- The nutrient substrate should be prepared from boiled water with tea and sugar already dissolved in it. You cannot sprinkle sugar on the body of the mushroom, as this causes severe burns and death. The same can be said about seagulls, which form ragged “wounds”.
- It is necessary to wash the jellyfish regularly. It is better to do this in spring or settled water, but if this is not available, you can wash it under the tap.
- Do not use hot nutrient substrate. Place your hand in the liquid; it should be slightly warmer than the air temperature.
- If you notice that a dark film has appeared on the surface of the mycete, this indicates a violation of the maintenance rules. Most often this happens when the mushroom is in the same solution for a long time, or you neglected to “bathe” it regularly.
Please note that in summer the fungal body works much faster than in winter, and the nutrient mixture needs to be changed much more often. To propagate the mushroom, you need to pour the drink into a separate jar and place the container for two weeks in a warm place, protected from sunlight. As a result, a mucous film can be seen on the surface of the liquid, which will later become a young organism.
Rules for taking for illnesses
In case of mild poisoning, follow a starvation diet for 2-3 days and drink 1 glass of infusion 3 times a day 45 minutes before meals. After 2-3 days they begin to eat fully, but do not stop drinking tea.
Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)
Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract can also be treated with kombucha. You should stop using it only in acute forms of the disease. If pancreatitis is a chronic form, then the amount of tea drunk should be limited to 0.5 liters. It is introduced into the diet gradually and if you experience discomfort, stop taking it. In the first few days, the dose per day should not exceed 150 ml. Medusomycete helps improve intestinal function and improve the general condition of the body. You can drink mushroom kvass only in the stage of stable remission and use a minimal amount of sugar to prepare it.
Oncology
In folk medicine, it is believed that if kombucha is brewed with dry birch leaves, it will help in the treatment of oncology. To prepare, you need to mix a couple of tablespoons of sugar with 2 liters of boiling water and add 4-5 g of black tea, as well as 20 birch leaves. Afterwards, the drink is left overnight, then filtered, poured with kombucha and after a week the infusion is ready. It is believed that this version of kvass requires yellow birch leaves collected in August-October.
For weight loss
Despite the large amount of sugar in the drink, medusomycetes is an excellent assistant for weight loss. Weight is normalized with good digestion. When fighting excess weight, you should drink at least 1.5 liters of the drink per day on an empty stomach or half an hour after meals to speed up metabolism. You should not drink more than 200 ml at one time.
For greater effectiveness, add 2 tbsp to 200 ml of tea. l. flaxseeds and 1 tbsp. l honey. Take 2 times a day.
For children
The infusion is indicated for children only from six months of age. It helps well in the fight against sore throat, chronic tonsillitis and inflammation of the larynx. In addition to oral administration, it can be gargled or dropped into the nose. To do this, 2 drops 3-4 times a day are enough.
The amount of consumption for children should be half that for an adult. It is better to start with volumes of 20-30 ml 1-2 times a day. Children can only drink fresh drink, and concentrated drink should be diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio.
Negative factors
Despite all the benefits of kombucha, it also has contraindications for use. Due to the high acidic environment, the drink is not recommended for people with ulcers or gastritis. You need to be extremely careful with it if you have diabetes, low blood pressure and a weakened immune system. It is better to discuss the use of kombucha with your doctor first.
Tea kvass will cause uncomfortable sensations in those with sensitive tooth enamel. Organic acids in the drink are quite a test for the oral cavity. In addition, kombucha is considered an allergen and is therefore excluded from the diet of pregnant and lactating women.
