Kombucha tea is an invigorating fermented beverage brimming with healthy yeasts and bacteria that provides numerous health benefits, while providing organic acids and vitamins for optimal body functioning.

An edible mushroom-shaped culture called SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria And Yeast) is added to sugar and tea for fermentation.

It’s easy to make

Kombucha may seem complex to make at home, but it is actually quite straightforward and ideal for getting kids involved with healthy food preparation.

Start by placing a mushroom cluster (the kind used to make Kombucha) into a fermentation vessel halfway filled with Kombucha liquid and leaving it submerged for 14 days in an ambient area. Cover and let sit.

The finished mixture should taste similar to apple cider vinegar but with an umami kick from the mushrooms. You can use this in salad dressings or use it instead of salt when cooking; chainyi grib is a popular beverage in North Eastern China and Russia.

It’s delicious

Fermentation may seem like an odd process to turn tea into a fizzy drink, but it has long been used in traditional practices around the world. Many foods we enjoy today – from sauerkraut and bread to yogurt and fermented beverages — have undergone fermentation processes, providing long shelf lives, unique flavours and important nutrition benefits that are so popular today.

Kombucha tea mushroom (known as SCOBY, for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) works to transform sugared tea into a fizzy beverage believed to aid in digestion, improve gut health, boost immunity, provide organic acids and B vitamins as well as other helpful compounds.

If you’re curious to try Kombucha, there are multiple ways you can purchase or make it at home: from natural health food stores or online to DIY kits with water, tea and an active kombucha starter culture (or SCOBY).

To create kombucha, bring water to a boil before adding tea leaves. Let this steep for approximately 15 minutes before taking it off the heat. Allow to cool to room temperature before stirring in starter culture along with sugar for 10 more minutes – to combine fully.

Put your jar in a warm spot between 68-85oF and out of direct sunlight and allow it to ferment for seven days. Your finished kombucha should have an appetizing and slightly vinegary aroma and taste that is neither too sweet nor sour; using a residual sugar kit or hydrometer you can test this.

Once your kombucha has fermented to your satisfaction, transfer it into a clean glass bottle, leaving about an inch of headspace and using a sanitized funnel to prevent spilling. Let it sit in its warm location for three to seven days while gently squeezing it every day or two to check acidity and sweetness levels.

It’s good for you

Kombucha tea is a fermented beverage known for its revitalizing and cleansing health properties. To create it, a mushroom-shaped culture known as a Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) is added to sugar and tea before fermenting is allowed to occur resulting in vinegar, B vitamins and other chemical compounds being present as well as probiotic bacteria found in your gut which help improve digestion while protecting from diarrhea or IBS symptoms.

Mushroom kombucha tea’s polysaccharides have also been shown to reduce anti-inflammatory cytokines while increasing probiotic cytokines production in PHA-stimulated PBMCs, suggesting this fermentation process may have therapeutic benefits on human immune cells.

It’s fun

Making mushroom clusters is an engaging process: as soon as your tea ferments, the “mother” (an organism that’s composed of bacteria and yeast) starts appearing, providing an exciting view as they emerge – then once finished they look gorgeous with an umami flavor reminiscent of salty pork! If this recipe interests you, find out more here or purchase your SCOBY and start fermenting right away!