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Raw Kombucha?


Kathryn
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Anyone here try raw kombucha (a japanese tea,, fermented).

I just bought some of GT's Kombucha the other day for the first time. It's quite interesting. There are threads of living something in the bottom of the bottle , and when I opened the bottle, there was a FFFFT sound, like when you open a bottle of beer, and it had a slightly alcoholic taste (I was worried about drinking it driving home from the store 45 minutes away where I bought it, because I have maybe one alcoholic drink a year ---at most!---and didn't want to be drunk driving and be pulled over for open bottle!...but the label said it had less than .5 percent of alcohol). It actually reminded me of "cidre brut," a mildly alcoholic apple cider that I used to get when I lived in France for a year (and didn't realize until I'd been drinking it for a while that it had some alcohol content).

 

Anybody know if you can make it on your own (yes, I can brew tea, but this is more than that: there is some kind of fermentation process going on). If not, I think I may end up ordering a case of it, as I liked the taste, and it is supposed to have a lot of health benefits (see info at www.gtskombucha.com ).

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You can definitely make your own Kombucha tea, you just need to find somewhere that you can get hold of a piece of the Fungus or starter culture and you can grow it on a warm place and make repeated batches of Tea. It all looks pretty bad, but you strain it and follow a receipe it isn't too bad and it will keep in the fridge for a while.

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My friends Anna and Leo make Kombucha in Portland. I have tasted theirs and it has much less punch than the ones in the stores, but still quite good. Kombucha is something I reach for everytime I go to the health store! I'd like to try making it. The only thing I have heard about the process is that one has to be mindful of the temperature, because it is possible to grow things that may not be as healthy. Let's check it out and find out for sure. Wish I had some right now!

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I've had it and I love it...I need to not be so lazy and ferment some on my own...its a great taste that you don't get from much of anything else

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I love GTs & drink it often! Here we can get about a dozen flavors - what's available in yr area Kathryn?

 

Just the plain and a cranberry combo (something like 80-95% kombucha and the rest cranberry juice).

 

I just discovered it last weekend, so maybe there are other flavors available that I didn't notice.

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I tried the Kombucha drinks. The salesperson told me to be careful how you open the top off! Seems it fizzies over alot and people get upset as it goes all over the floor (or the car as I was in a hurry to try it on the way home). I was not disappointed, I opened it before I got in the car and it went down the bottle, but I licked the foam before it hit the pavement.

Now I love the taste and the fizz, but I had a weird reaction to it. I felt my blood sugar take a nose dive after 10 minutes drinking it. Or my blood pressure. Very weak and couldn't coordinate my muscles in my body very well. Is the fizz really alcohol in one of those things? I am very sensitive to alcohol (one beer and I am under the table I was a pretty cheap date back in my younger single days). I still drink Yogi's Kombucha tea with no problem. Anybody else have any idea what is going on with me? or experience anything like this?

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I am sorry you had such a reaction, Gaia. Kombucha is a fermented beverage, and I think that it does contain between 0.5%-1% alcohol. Maybe you are sensitive enough to experience a negative reaction to this? There is another brand of Kombucha that comes in a much smaller bottle, Kombucha Wonder Drink. There is much less FIZZ in that one and, perhaps slightly less alcohol? But it might be best for you NOT to drink the fermented Kombucha. Here is a link to a report on Kombucha I just found on Google:

 

http://www.nutrition4health.org/nohanews/NNW97KombuchaTea.htm

 

and here is a link to the logo of the "smaller" kombucha company, "Kombucha Wonder Drink":

 

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/theoriginalstore_1909_10207793

Edited by jonzen
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I am going to look into the other Kombucha's drinks. I know how good fermented food is to your body, a natural vitamin B-12 source usually. I guess I can't have the fermented kind that has alcohol as a byproduct too. Oh well, there are plenty of other wonderful fermented foods out there for me to keep trying. Next on my list is Kimchee. Anybody ever try this?

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I love Kimchee...I've got a lot of korean friends that are really good at making their own...most isn't vegan of course but when it is I go crazy for it...most kimchee has anchovee, oyster, some type of fish oil, or ground up shelfish so lookout...it seems like it wouldn't need any of those thing(of course it doesn't) but most have them

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GT's has a great one, "Mulit-Green," I think it's called -- awesome tasting! It has spirulina, chlorella, and blue-green algae in it.

 

I think it's more of a living food than a "RAW" food, similar to miso and unpasteurized soy sauce. It is made with sugar, which I do not like; but, apparently, it is negligible and "eaten up" by the yeast (which I still don't get 'cause it will still contain sugars ??)

 

I drink it on occasion; it's great for tummy issues and much better than enzyme pills for digestion. It also instantly alkalinizes the body at the same time

 

I don't think I'd make my own kombucha; I do, however, like rejuvelac, which is very similar tasting. I've made mine flavored by adding to it, like ginger, cranberry, etc.; so it's very much like kombucha, but less expensive and no added sugar. I think I last made it at the beginning of summer and before that last Christmas... it's a great sub for champagne, other alcohol or sparkling ciders/drinks.

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I always wondered that myself. I've got miso that is suppose to be unpasterized in my refrigerator for a year now, with nothing growing in it. And yogurt that stays forever in the refrigerator too. Although I have had some yogurts with fuzzy green stuff on it. That had live cultures in it, just don't know if they were the right ones

 

I tried the Kimchee. It is just sauerkraut made with other vegetables instead of just cabbage! Cool. I tried to make my own sauerkraut last year, the no-salt kind, and not only did it not look good, but it tasted bad. Probably got some wrong kind of bacteria/or even yeast into the crock that I was fermenting it in. Maybe this year I'll try it with salt and see if that keeps the bad stuff from invading my kraut!

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I've actually had kimchee with only cabbage...but my favorite kimchees always have turnip in them...and also bok choy...there's also the amazing kimchee pancake...rarely vegan(lots of egg) but my mothers friend made me a vegan version once and it was quite good(not for breakfast of course)

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  • 1 year later...

Ok, I have an interesting question. I have a Kombucha Starter Culture that I purchased 2 years ago that is still sealed in the bag I got it in. I never used it b/c the container I got with it, I never got the missing piece to keep it sealed. Anyways, i'm wondering, do you think it is still safe to use or should I discard it.....? My guess would be that I should just get rid of it but I just can't help looking at it and keeping it as a running joke as far as to when i'm ever going to open it up and use it.

 

I'm glad to see others have had success with making their own. I heard it was a very finnicky process and tends to spoil often.

 

The kimchee, there are a couple of cool vegan korean restaurants over here that make their own. It's very yummy.

 

CHASERHUN! Did you get a camera this week? I'm loving the surge of pictures. Very cool. Great avatar and all the other pics on other threads you threw up. Awesome...

 

Also GT Raw Kombucha, my favorite flavors are passionberry and guava.

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