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Kombucha For Beginners


lhenkin

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My oh my Gingerberey was delicious. My 3yo has refused kombucha because he can't get past the smell - "it smells rotten!" LOL. Finally I convinced him to try the Gingerberry and he begged for more and more. My 1yo too! So weird because my older ones loved it at their age. Hopefully the Gingerberry has converted te little ones. Boy it was good!

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Kombucha is $4-5 in my area per bottle I just ordered my first Scoby & should have it either today or tomorrow. I'm excited to start brewing!!!!

Meg I am going to pick one up at my Whole Foods. I tried making my own but it didn't seem to work. I think my climate is cold in Oregon and I keep the heat low. The warmers are spendy. Someone had an inexpensive alternative but I forget what it was. I don't think it was a heating pad.

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I'm in North Carolina, so I'm glad I don't have that problem!!! I ordered my Scoby from Kombucha Kamp. They have good customer service so far and a pretty active FB group where the owners help customers with their booch. :) I hope you can get your heat problem sorted out, but it would pay for itself, in the long long long run, right? :P

I am still trying to decide if I want to use black tea or green tea for my first batch.

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Jami - Kombucha is a fermented tea that has excellent probiotic properties. You can usually find it at health food stores, though some "regular" grocery stores will stock them in the health food or cold drink section. Some of us have gotten sick of spending our life's savings adventurous and have begun brewing our own. It's definitely a fun science experiment.

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Okay, Day 80 of my Whole100 and I'm running out of time to do the things on my "try" list. Bought a bottle of GT's Gingerade. Not in love. Only had a few sips, don't like the smell. Taste not bad, but fizziness is odd. Reminds me of tomato juice gone bad. Don't like weird alien life-forms floating around in my drink either.

Maybe I'm just not cut out for kombucha. Years ago a friend used to make it and it grossed me out just looking at that scary thing floating in murky liquid.

Oh well, I gave it a shot. Still haven't worked up the courage to make an Indian curry, which I promised myself I would try before this was over. Still afraid my house will never get rid of that god-awful smell.

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UPDATE: My rosacea, which has been dormant since the early days of my whole 100, came roaring back since I had the kombucha. It took me three days to drink it, and by the third day I had painful red bumps on both cheeks. It was the only thing different in my diet. I mentioned this in another thread and someone replied that it made their eczema flare.

I knew about the foods that aggravate rosacea, but further research shows an overgrowth of intestinal bacteria can be a factor. I'm guessing my gut had gotten into a just-fine-for-me balance, and it threw that off.

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Well, I have my Kombucha SCOBY started, but such drama (of my own doing). I bought the SCOBY from Kombucha Mama. I bought her little starter set, so it came with tea (such a great mix) organic evaporated cane sugar (just part of the kit), a heating strip and a cute little cloth cover for my own jug. I am doing the Continuous Brew method. I started setting it up in my bedroom. I keep my house fairly cold, so I thought maybe that would be a good place because I can easily heat it. Um..dummy me..I love a cold bedroom at night. So...I moved it to the dining room which would have been perfect to begin with. The SCOBY sank to the bottom. Ugh!! I emailed them to see if I should yank it up to the top again. They said no, just let it go where it wants. It has settled into staying at a perfect 80-82 degrees, so I have high hopes. I wish the little monster would go back up to the top so I can make sure it's not moldy, but I think I will just force myself to leave it the heck alone and trust the process. :)

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My Monster is currently sideways in the jar. She's too big to float anymore. I probably need to divide her out, actually, so she doesn't take over my jar. Just think of it this way - if she sinks, she probably won't mold :) Most of the time, the mold grows on the surface exposed to air.

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Oh that's true Robin. Exposure to air=mold..not hanging out at the bottom. :0) It also bugs me that she is down around where the heat strip is. Sigh. I so want to meddle with her. It seems to have an odor of rising bread. I love that smell..but does yours?

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