Fermentation is popular with both the Paleo and Weston A. Price communities, whether it be sauerkraut or kimchi the benefits of probiotics, in our ever more sanitised world, is more important than ever. Kombucha, for those of you who don’t know, is a fermented drink made from sweet tea; it has many reported health benefits, including boosting metabolism & digestion – it also tastes great, a bit like cider, and has a very nice natural fizz.

Unfortunately kombucha isn’t very popular in the UK so don’t go looking for it in your local supermarket, although you may be able to find it in health shops if you are lucky. The best bet is to look for it online but it can be quite expensive, especially if you are paying for delivery on top. The other option, and by far the cheapest, is to make it yourself for just a few pence per litre.

Almost all of the ingredients can be found relatively easily, the one thing that you may have to hunt for is the live culture or scoby that is essential to making kombucha. Scoby is an acronym for ‘Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast’, it is also referred to as a mushroom or mother; it is disk shaped and usually white, although it will darken with age. This is what ‘eats’ the sugar in the sweet tea & creates the carbon dioxide that gives the drink it’s fizz. Scobys can be purchased online, for example from happykombucha.co.uk, or they are quite often given away by fellow fermenters – this is because with each batch of kombucha a new scoby is created, with the original scoby also being preserved for future use – it is, therefore, easy for an avid fermenter to build up quite a collection of scobys which they will be happy to pass on.

Once you have your scoby, you will need organic white sugar, organic tea (black, green, white, etc, but avoid teas with added oils, such as Earl Grey, as they will not work), mineral or filtered water and some kombucha (bought or from a previous batch) or vinegar. Organic sugar and tea is available from most supermarkets and isn’t expensive – it’s important to use organic as the scoby may be harmed by toxin residue from pesticides in non-organic varieties. Likewise the fluoride in standard tap water may also harm the scoby so mineral water or (brita) filtered water is essential – if you have access to natural, non-fluridated, high mineral content water that would be perfect. Finally the scoby needs a slightly acidic environment in which to live so the addition of either kombucha  or vinegar (white distilled if possible but definitely not raw vinegar as that would interfere with the scoby) is needed, use approximately 10% of the volume of the sweet tea you are using, i.e. 100ml of kombucha or vinegar for every litre of sweet tea. Apparently the first batch made using vinegar may not be the most palletable, if this is the case use this only as starter, subsequent batches will be much better tasting.

So here are the step-by-step instructions on how to make kombucha:

Here is a freshly fermented batch of kombucha, I use some of this as the starter for my next batch, notice the white, newly formed scoby on top:

Next, the scoby is removed, ready to be reused, I usually separate the new scoby from the old one if they are stuck together, but that is personal preference:

Keep the scoby and some of the kombucha in a plastic container as you prepare the new batch:

Now you can fill up your bottles with the remaining kombucha – passing it through a sieve if necessary, use only plastic, wooden or stainless steel utensils:

Once bottled, store in a warm place, out of direct sunlight, to ‘second ferment’ (behind a fridge or a high kitchen shelf would be good choices), this is when the kombucha will become fizzy. Even though the scoby has been removed, fermentation will continue, fill the bottle right to the top as this will help increase the fizziness. It’s also useful to label the bottles, record what type of tea you used and how long the fermentation lasted – this will be useful when deciding what works best for you. When you are ready to drink the kombucha put it in the fridge for a few hours to chill, try not to leave it in the fridge too much in advance of drinking it as this will reduce the fizziness.

Here is some sweet tea that I pre-prepared, make this at least 8 hours before you need it so it has time to cool to room temperature, but not too long that it could spoil. For every 2 pints of water use 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 – 3 tea bags. Remember that the sugar is for the scoby to feed off, do not be tempted to use less as it won’t work, the finished kombucha will not contain much sugar. Kombucha should ferment for a minimum of 7 days and up to 1 month, the longer the kombucha is left the more sugar is consumed and the more ‘vinegary’ the taste so be prepared to experiment until you are happy with the balance of flavours.

Clean out your fermenting vessel using warm soapy water, avoid anti-bacterial detergent if possible, and fill it with sweetened tea. Use glass if possible as glazed vessels (even sauerkraut crock pots) may conain lead which could be dangerous when making kombucha. Next, add the previously reserved kombucha and stir.

Next we add the scoby, clean side up, it may float on the top or sink to the bottom, either is fine! Then place a clean paper towel or some clean thin cloth over the top of the bottle and secure it with an elastic band.

You can now leave your kombucha in a warm place, out of direct sunlight, to ferment. Over the course of the fermentation the tea may become cloudy – this is fine! You may also see brown stringy pieces coming from the scoby, this is also fine, in fact it is a sign that the scoby is healthy and doing it’s job. Towards the end of the fermentation you will also probably see air bubbles under the newly formed scoby.

The only time you need to worry is if the scoby has any black marks or spots on it or if the kombucha smells off – this could mean that a foreign particle has somehow infected the drink. Also be aware of the potential for cross contamination, do not place fermenting kombucha near a rubbish bin or other fermenting items such as kefir or sauerkraut. There really is no reason why you shouldn’t be enjoying this healthy and tasty drink all year round for very little cost. Please leave me your kombucha making tips below or feel free to ask any questions you may have.

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With the relentless barrage of advertising for yogurt drinks with ‘beneficial bacteria’ ‘gut friendly bacteria’ or simply ‘good bacteria’ it’s likely that most of us understand the benefit of getting some probiotic bacteria in our diets. The problem is, many of these yogurt drinks are not the natural or most healthy way to do this and they are in fact just yogurt which has been artificially populated with some good bacteria and not at the kind of levels that are needed to be truly therapeutic. And, the yogurt is likely from unhealthy, grain fed animals but that is a whole other story!

Fermented Vegetables to the Rescue

Fortunately, there is a better, easier and damn site cheaper way to get some gut friendly bacteria and that is through fermenting your own vegetables. Pretty much any vegetable can be fermented, but the easiest and quickest are sauerkraut and pickles (pickled cucumbers).

Lacto Fermentation

Cabbage for sauerkraut and cucumber both contain lactic bacteria so will ferment without any additional requirements other than some salt and water. Additionally, to ferment other vegetables, as long as you include some cabbage or cucumber, that will start the process off nicely.

Basic Fermented Vegetables Recipe

To keep it simple lets look at some pickles which are basically pickled cucumber. You could easily add carrots, cauliflower or experiment with other vegetables to see what works for you. You will need a jar to to ferment your vegetables in and ideally you want a jar that will allow air out but not in and these homemade fermentation jars are perfect. Alternatively, a standard preserving jar will do the job and the seal on these are designed to allow a little air to escape but not to let any in.

Ingredients

• a cucumber (or several of the small ones if you can source them)
• a sprig of dill (don’t worry about this too much)
• 1 clove of garlic
• several black pepper corns
• sea salt
• water

Instructions

Taste Challenge

I pre warn you, these are not going to taste like the pickles you are used to. They are pretty zingy and you may want to serve them with a bit of salt and balsalmic vinegar. They go well on the side of a steak or some other dish where you want something with a strong flavour (to replace crappy sugar laden sauce or some such). Anyhow, give them a go and let us know how you get on and if you enjoy them have a go at making your own home made fermentation jar.

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Since starting the Paleo diet one of the things that has intrigued me the most is the importance of eating fermented foods. Up until starting Paleo I couldn’t tell you when the last time I ate something fermented was, sure alcohol is fermented – and most of us enjoy that every once in a while – but I couldn’t remember the last time that I actually ate food that was fermented. I occasionally bought sauerkraut from the supermarket but that is often Pasteurised after the fermentation process, thus killing the live bacteria that will be beneficial for us.

So I decided to make my own kimchi, a Korean dish of fermented cabbage, by following the recipe on Mark’s daily apple, so my gut could benefit from all the healthy live bacteria. The recipe is quite simple (so long as you can find a Korean supermarket to buy ingredients) and once made the kimchi is left to ferment for a few days in a jar covered with cling film. As food ferments it releases carbon dioxide and other gasses so it cannot be kept in an air tight jar; but we also need to stop any foreign particles from entering as that would cause spoilage and potential health risks – cling film is a reasonable compromise but it’s just that, a compromise. The obvious solution to this problem is some sort of valve system, so I started Googling to see what I could find. Well, It wasn’t long before I found instructions on how to make a home made fermentation jar which seemed both simple and inexpensive. All that is required is a Kilner / Mason style jar that has a two-piece screw lid, a brewers air-lock with grommit & some food grade lids that are suitable to be drilled (and the same diameter as your jar).

I already had the jars & I have a home brew shop within walking distance so the air-lock & grommit were easy to find. It was only the lids that proved a problem so it was back to the Internet again. Thankfully the people at Tattler, (who sell BPA-free reusable canning lids) were extremely helpful and sent me some over from the US – finally I had everything that I needed!

The procedure to make the fermentation jars is simple:

Firstly  – Drill a half inch hole into the lid with a ‘flat wood drill bit’

Secondly – Insert the grommit, this can be a little fiddly but patience is a virtue.

Finally – Screw on to the jar  and push the air lock valve into the grommit

For those who have any concerns about potential health aspects of the lids please have a look at Tattler’s web site for safety information. Also it is advisable to use a food grade grommit.

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