Kombucha – care
Kombucha is a friendly symbiosis of vinegar sticks and yeast. It appeared in our area in the last century, and for the first time they began to cultivate it in the countries of the East.
It has several names – Japanese, Manchurian or sea mushroom, fango, kombucha, tea kvass or tea jellyfish. Its infusion is a wonderful drink that perfectly quenches thirst, strengthens health and gives extra strength.
To obtain an infusion of the mushroom, place the mushroom in an absolutely clean and sterile three-liter jar and keep it constantly covered with gauze. Periodically, the mushroom should be washed with warm water. Feed him once every two days with infused weak tea (preferably green) with sugar at the rate of: 2 tbsp. l. granulated sugar per 3 liter jar.
Insist at a temperature of 25-30 degrees for 1-2 weeks. During this time, yeast will actively ferment sugar, turning it into alcohol and carbon dioxide, and various types of acetic acid bacteria will turn alcohol into various acids, enzymes and other useful substances.
Medusomycete (this is the scientific name for kombucha) looks like a thick film of white-yellow-brown-pink color floating on the surface of the nutrient liquid – sweet tea infusion. Sugars in the liquid can be different (glucose, sucrose, fructose), the type of tea also does not matter.
The researchers noticed that Medusomycetes practically does not consume the components of tea infusion (aromatic, tannins and other substances), but is extremely sensitive to its absence. For example, without tea, it does not synthesize ascorbic acid, which is necessary for the life of kombucha.
If favorable conditions are created for kombucha, then on the fourth or fifth day of growth, it begins to produce a pleasant-tasting and very healthy drink, reminiscent of strong, highly carbonated kvass (“tea kvass” or “kombucha”). Bubbles of carbon dioxide with which the drink is saturated and acetic acid are jointly produced by yeast and acetic acid bacteria. A specific aroma of the drink is given by tea and some types of yeast.
Instructions for making kombucha drink
- First of all, it is necessary to determine the container in which the mushroom will be located. Usually at home they use a 3-liter jar. If possible, it is advisable to take a jar with a wide neck (do not use metal utensils for preparing and storing a drink).
- We prepare not very strong sweet tea (approximately 5 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of black or green tea per 1 liter of water) that tastes good. It is recommended to brew tea for at least 15 minutes.
- We’re sipping tea. Sugar should be completely dissolved, and there should be no tea leaves.
- Let the tea cool to room temperature. The culture will die if placed in a hot solution.
- For young mushrooms: a little infusion of the mushroom from the jar where it was previously kept as a “starter culture” should be added to the tea (the amount of infusion should be approximately 1/10 of the total liquid volume).
- We put the mushroom in a jar. We close the neck of the dish with gauze or a paper napkin and fasten it with a braid or elastic band so that the kombucha can breathe, but so that small midges and dust cannot penetrate the jar. We put the jar in a dark, warm place – the ideal temperature for the tub mushroom is about 25 ° C.
- After 4-10 days of infusion, Kombucha is ready to drink. The fermentation time depends on the air temperature in the room – the higher the temperature, the faster the drink will be ready.
- When the drink reaches the desired acidity according to your taste, remove the kombucha with clean hands, rinse it under cold running water and put it into a jar of cold sweet tea prepared in advance according to the same scheme.
- Pour the finished drink into a glass container with a tight lid, filling it to the brim. To get the most out of the drink, let it ripen for a few more days in a cool place (at least 5 days) – bacteria cease to function without access to air, and yeast continues to work if the container is tightly closed, the gas resulting from the activity of yeast cannot escape and you will get a delicious fizzy drink. Before drinking, strain the drink through gauze or a plastic (not metal) strainer.
A mushroom at a venerable age reaches a thickness of several centimeters (its area depends on the area of the container in which it lives) and allows you to drink the infusion daily directly from the jar containing the mushroom (of course, you need to remember to replenish the infusion with a new portion of cold, sweet tea).
It is convenient to have two identical jars available: Kombucha will live in one, and you will pour the finished drink into the other. In the refrigerator, glass hermetically sealed containers with tea mushroom infusion can be stored for quite a long time, retaining their healing and taste properties.
Kombucha Care
If you are going to drink the entire supply of infusion over the next five days, immediately make a new “bay”. When a new portion is not needed, send the mushroom to rest: in this case, you can simply fill it with water (preferably boiled), but it is preferable to place it in a weak tea solution.
The mushroom should be washed with warm boiled water: in winter – once every 2 weeks, in summer – once a week.
The more layers a fungus has, the stronger and healthier it is. But this is more difficult to manage – it is not easy to remove it from the jar, rinse it properly. So, if your mushroom is “fat”, it is better to remove one or two layers.
You need to separate fresh, that is, the upper layers. The “beard”, on the contrary, should be groomed and cherished, because these are colonies of acetic acid bacteria that synthesize organic acids – the basis of the healing potential of kombucha. Remove only those fibers of the beard that themselves set off in free swimming.
What to do if the fungus does not float to the surface of the tea solution? This happens with a young mushroom or when several layers are separated from a mature mushroom at once and it becomes too thin. Wait a few hours – maybe it will pop up. If not, reduce the amount of tea solution. Even if it turns out to be very small, it doesn’t matter: after one or two refueling, the mushroom will gain strength and will soon be able to drink the whole family.
If you forget about kombucha, then all the liquid can evaporate, then you need to pour the mushroom with sweet tea and let it stand for a week.
: brown spots on the surface of the fungus are burns from granulated sugar. Do not rush to throw away such a mushroom, first try to cure it. To do this, you just need to … stop pouring sugar on the mushroom. He will do the rest himself, as long as there are few brown spots. If the burns are large, it is better to remove the top layer: the fungus cannot breathe with the affected areas of its “body”, and oxygen is vital for it.
- The taste qualities of the infusion of the mushroom when stored in the refrigerator are not lost, but improved.
- The finished infusion tastes like a strong, well-carbonated kvass. Drinking it is a real pleasure.
- When pouring the finished solution into a storage container, strain it through 3-4 layers of gauze.
- Keep a jar of mushroom should be in a dark place – he does not like direct sunlight.
- Start with five days of exposure (although you can try as early as the 4th day).
- Put a piece of paper next to the jar and write down the dates of the “bay” on it so as not to be mistaken with the number of days of exposure.
- For a young, thin mushroom, a liter of solution can be a lot: it will not be able to float to the surface. In this case, you will have to reduce the amount of solution. An old 5-6-layer mushroom with a large “shaggy” beard can be poured with two liters.
Photo: Yuri Podolsky.