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Medusomycete (Medusomyces Gisevi), or Kombucha, is a symbiosis of a yeast fungus and acetic acid bacteria. The drink obtained with its help, called kombucha, is closest to kvass, only not bread, but tea. It’s easy to make, but the really jellyfish-like substance needs to be looked after and kept clean. Washing kombucha is very simple, but many do not know how to do it correctly. As a result, the medusomycete becomes ill, and kombucha becomes dangerous to health.
Do I need to wash kombucha
Washing kombucha is the most important step in care. A sweet solution, dormant or containing little tea leaves, is an excellent breeding ground for any microorganisms, including pathogens. If you do not carry out hygiene procedures, they will multiply in the body of the fungus, drink and on the walls of the vessel. Kombucha will become harmful, the jellyfish will get sick.
If the substance is not washed regularly with water, its surface will become stained and begin to break down. This should not be allowed, since the drink will cease to be useful long before the appearance of external signs of spoilage.
How to wash kombucha
Often jellyfish are advised to wash under running water. But it comes from the tap, which is not very useful. You can do this, but it is highly undesirable. The correct way is a bit more time consuming, but it allows you to keep the microorganisms healthy, get a tasty and actually healthy drink.
How often should you wash kombucha?
Not everyone knows how often to wash kombucha. For hygiene procedures, an interval of 2-3 weeks is too long. If everything else is done correctly, during this time the medusomycete may not have time to get sick so that external signs appear, and the drink becomes dangerous to health. But “working” will be worse, and kombucha will lose some of its healing properties.
You have to wash kombucha often – preferably after each serving. Some even argue that in the summer this should be done every 3 or 4 days, in the winter – half as often. But you can’t remove the substance from the jar during the preparation of kombucha, and the drink takes longer to prepare.
But there is a certain logic in this – in summer the temperature is higher, and microorganisms are more active than in winter. It takes less time to prepare the drink, therefore, washing is carried out more often.
What water to wash kombucha
It is highly undesirable to wash the jellyfish under running water:
- it includes chlorine, designed to destroy microorganisms, the amount of which in the liquid cannot be controlled;
- contains many other undesirable impurities that can harm microorganisms;
- under the pressure of a jet from a tap, a delicate substance is easy to injure.
Kombucha is washed with spring or boiled water, previously cooled to room temperature. In hot or cold, its cells begin to die.
How to properly wash kombucha
At first glance, the way to properly wash kombucha may seem laborious. But everything is very simple, to make sure of this, it is enough to carry out hygiene procedures once.
Sequencing:
- Boil and cool water to room temperature.
- Drain the kombucha, leaving some of the liquid in the container.
- Carefully shake out the mushroom into a wide deep bowl or a low saucepan with boiled water.Important! It is impossible to pull, grab onto it with nails, push it with a spoon or other objects, or injure the gelatinous substance in any way.
- Rinse thoroughly on all sides. If several plates have already grown, pay special attention to the space between them. You need to act carefully, with light massaging movements, and not tear apart the layers.
- Drain the water from the bowl, rinse it, fill it with a new portion of the liquid.
- Rinse the medusa again.
- Return to familiar environment.
A video on how to wash kombucha and prepare a drink correctly will be useful even for those who think they know everything about kombucha:
How to wash kombucha jars
Banks need to be washed at the same time as jellyfish. If necessary, soda removes mucus and other plaque from the walls. Then rinse thoroughly so that not even a trace of sodium carbonate remains. Scald the jar with boiling water and let it cool.
How not to wash kombucha
It seems to be easy to wash the jellyfish. But for some reason, due to negligence, inattention or ignorance, people make mistakes during the procedure. Many of them are repeated quite often.
When washing, do not:
- Use hot or ice water. In the worst case, the medusomycete will die, at best, it will hurt for a long time. An error in the temperature regime will not pass without a trace in any case.
- Wash the substance in dirty water or dishes. This is not a hygienic procedure, but a deliberate harm to one’s own health. All pollutants in the sweet environment will decompose during fermentation, pathogens will multiply. What kind of drink will turn out, it’s better not to even think.
- You can not wash rarely or completely neglect the procedure, otherwise he will get sick and die. But before that, the drink from a healing and tonic will turn into a dangerous one for the body.
- The use of detergents for the treatment of medusomycete will lead to its rapid death. Slightly less depressing consequences will be if they are used to clean jars.
- Rinse the substance carefully and only with your hands. Do not use improvised means, especially brushes or sponges. It is forbidden to scratch it with nails, forcefully tear the plates, pull, tear, crush, twist.
Conclusion
Washing kombucha is not difficult, but you need to do it often and carefully. If there is no time or desire to properly care for it, it is better to cook compote or buy something in the store. To get a tasty healthy drink, the jellyfish must be kept clean.