Kombucha : know its amazing health benefits, risk, what you need to prepare it

Kombucha, is a fermented beverage prepared using tea, sugar and a particular strain of bacteria and yeast. The above beverage is considered to be very popular drink among the millennials. You might have noticed kombucha is being sold in varied super market or even fine dining restaurant.

Kombucha is a simple, calorie, efficient approach to increase the probiotic content of your diet. It has got an excellent option for vegans or those who cannot consume diary.

The above beverage acts as a alternative to sugary beverages like sodas and juices that are heavy In calories and long term detrimental to the body. It contains sugar, although other ingredients in this beverage help balance it out. It is a fermented beverage, it intake must also be controlled.

In Asia, Kombucha was once solely made at home because of its heath benefits, manufacturers have been expanding their produce lines and then adding new flavors to this drink category as consumer acceptance of Kombucha has been grown.

The popularity of the beverage has also led to varied claims that kombucha tea helps prevent and treat diseases such as high blood pressure, the claims are not well supported by the science few component could be healthy for you.

Kombucha usually includes probiotic microorganisms, a variety of acids, vitamins and hydrolytic enzymes which are good for a healthy digestive system.

This one, is one of the byproduct of fermentation as well as other substances contained in the tea, it helps promote more beneficial strains of bacteria and yeast in the body while at the same time suppressing the growth of undesirable ones.

May help prevent cholesterol buildup

There is possibility kombucha might aid in boosting the metabolism, preventing cholesterol and reducing the cardiac diseases among the relatively few scientific research on the beverage.

May aid weight loss

In addition to being a pleasant beverage, kombucha might also aid in weight loss if combined with a good diet and an active lifestyle.

Mental health

Drinking probiotic-rich kombucha might help promote positive mental health, there could be link between probiotics and depression.

There is strong links between depression and inflammation, so the anti inflammatory effect of kombucha might help alleviate few symptoms of depression.

How to make Kombucha?

Firstly, you need to have Scoby, it stands for a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It is a disk shaped culture which facilitates, the fermentation process wherey the sweet tea is coverted to kombucha, it generally floats at the top of a kombucha batch, do not worry, if your sinks to the bottom, it is still active.

The cheapest method is to ask friends or relatives who make kombucha, as they are likely to have new Scorbys that they can donate to you. If you do not know anyone who already makes it, you can attend a course online where they provide scobys or buy online. The scoby would easily survive a trip through the postal system without problem, but is a good idea to get it into a solution of fresh tea at the earliest opportunity.

However, when you acquire your first scoby, it must come with some liquid which would be added to the first batch. This liquid is very important as it contains not only a large quantity of bacteria and yeast, but it also has got lot of acid, which would help create the right environment for the next batch.

Each scoby is very unique and it is result of the environment, it has been kept in. the scoby would be home to numerous yeasts beyond the well known bread and beer fermenter, saccharomyces cerevisiae such as Brettanomyces bruxellensis and schizosaccharomyces pombe as well as numerous species of bacteria that help to increase the acidity and limit the alcohol content.

Equipment

You will not be needing any expensive equipment to begin, you would already have a large glass jar, which will enable you to see what is happening. If you do not have glass jar, you can also use ceremic jar, it has a food-grade glaze. Both plastic as well as metal containers must be avoided. A wide mouthed vessel is better as it offers more surface area and leads to quicker ferment. A plastic funnel and plastic sieve would be useful and a thermometer, especially one of the stick on strip variety would be useful.

You would require five ingredients

-water

-Tea

-Sugar

-A Scoby

-starter liquid

You must ensure, you choose the right ingredients, when you do so, it would help in better tasting kombucha.

Water

You must also ensure to use the de-chlorinated water as chlorine can have a negative effect on the microbes, we wish to propagate. Tap water contains chlorine and will not be stripped out by an ordinary water filter so the water must be either boiled or cooled or left in a bowl overnight so the chlorine can dissipate naturally.

Black tea

Black tea is considered best as it contains the nutrients that the scoby likes, it can produce quite a full, fruity flavor but many people prefer to do a mix of teas such as half black and half green or white tea. Either the teabags or loose tea can be used. Tea that has added oils such as Earl grey must be avoided.

Sugar

Ordinary cane sugar is normally used, less refined sugars would work but it can lead to changes in flavor. It is not possible to brew kombucha without sugar as it offers the food that the yeast and bacteria need to reproduce, create a new scoby and process sweet tea into acids and vitamins and carbonation.

The longer period kombucha is fermented the less sugar would remain. Artificial and sugar substitutes will not work as they do feed the bacteria or the yeast. Honey must not be used as it would introduce different yeast and bacteria cells, although there is a separate type of kombucha, called jun, which thrives on honey.

Scoby

A Scoby must be from a good source and should not have been dried or kept in a fridge. The size does not have to be exact, a small one for a small batch, a medium one for a medium batch. The shape is not important as a new scoby will form at the top of the vessel.

Starter liquid

When beginning a new batch of kombucha it is essential to add few some amount of starter liquid, usually taken from the top of the previous brew, which would make up 10% of the quantity of the new batch. This helps lower the PH of the tea, kombucha has pH in the range of 3.5 to 2.5 compared to around seven for tap water. The lower the pH number the more acidic, but there is no need to actually the pH as you would be able to taste its acidity. The starter liquid protects the sweet tea from the harmful microorganism like mould or kahm yeast.

To maintain a healthy balance in the Kombucha, it is best to take the starter liquid from the top of the previous brew, where the bacteria proliferate, rather than the bottom where the yeast dominates. The addition of the starter liquid helps to get fermentation going quicker and shortens the brewing cycle.