12 Steps to Whole Foods

Preserving Raw Foods with Natural Probiotics
There are trace amounts of alcohol in this fermented tea, but not enough to cause anything anywhere close to
intoxication or impairment. Beer has 4.5% to 7% alcohol, and the most that kombucha will have is about 0.5%.
You can buy live kombucha scobys online or find a raw foodist who makes kombucha in your community; they
are often willing to share.
2 half-gallon jars or 1 large glass bowl/dish
3 qt. filtered water
5-6 black, white, or green tea bags (not herbal teas)
3 Tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar
1 C agave (raw, organic)
2 kombucha scobys or 1 C of raw kombucha from the health food store
optional: ¼ C raspberry or mango puree or 1 Tbsp. Ormus Greens
Boil 1 qt. filtered water and steep the tea bags in it for 20 minutes or longer. Throw the tea bags away and add
2 qt. filtered water plus the apple cider vinegar to the mixture. Pour the mixture into the bowl/dish or jars. (Jars
allow less surface area exposed to oxygen, so fermentation will take 10-20 days instead of 7-10 days in a bowl/
dish. The best are dark-colored glass bowls or jars to protect from light.) When the mixture has cooled to room
temperature (70°-80°), add to the jars one of the following:
• Dried (purchased) kombucha scoby (1 in each jar or 2 in bowl/dish)
• Room-temperature, raw bottled kombucha (½ C in each jar or 1 C in bowl/dish)
Cover the bowl or jars with a clean tea towel or paper towel (put a rubber band around the neck of the jar) to
keep debris from getting into the tea but allow air in. Leave on the counter, at room temperature and away from
light and sun, for 7-10 days (if using dish/bowl) or 10-20 days (if using jars). After 7 (bowl/dish) or 10 (jars)
days, taste the kombucha to see if the taste is tart and acidic. (You will have to gently move aside the thin
kombucha scoby forming on the surface to taste the liquid below it.) Leave it to ferment longer, if desired. The
scoby may float or sink (this doesn’t matter).
When it has reached the desired level of fermentation, gently scoop the scoby from the bottle and use it to begin
a new batch. Or you can use 1 C of finished kombucha to start a new batch. (You can do this several times, but
the microorganisms will decrease, so after four batches, use a new start or scoby.)
NOTE: If you find mold on top of your kombucha, you must discard it. It happens occasionally when lactic acid does
not do its work before the mold, or bad microorganisms, get a foothold.
At this point, you can add the optional fruit puree or Ormus Greens (see the GreenSmoothieGirl.com store for
this) for 24 hours before refrigerating, adding a bit more fermentation as well as a lovely flavor for variety.
If you made the kombucha in a bowl/dish, transfer it to glass jars or bottles with some head room. Sometimes
kombucha is very fizzy, so the best type of bottle is pop bottles with rubber gaskets on them, but any glass jar
will do.
Keep finished kombucha in the fridge. It will keep for a long time and gets even better after a month or two.
Finished kombucha will grow little scobys on top, and there’s nothing wrong with them. For the first
subsequent batch, putting the original “mother” in with one of the “babies” is best for efficient culture growth.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 239