Salty Citrus Kombucha

We have been trying our hand at creating some new flavors of kombucha, versus our normal one fruit variety that we normally drink. This version was a take on a new flavor we tried at the store, and we really enjoyed the outcome.

You could use any variety of citrus juice that you like or have on hand. The orange juice helps balance the other, more sour, juices so I would definitely keep that one in this no matter how you alter it. The sea salt helps add some depth to the flavor and helps with electrolyte balance too, so it's a win-win.

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients
1) 24-28 ounces of unflavored kombucha
2) 1/4 cup of orange juice
3) 1/4 cup of grapefruit juice
4) 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice, or lime juice, or 1 tablespoon of each (which is what I did)
5) 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt

Instructions
1) Add your citrus juices and sea salt to a 32 ounce jar, and stir.
2) Fill up the rest of the jar with kombucha and mix.
3) Put in the fridge to drink right away, or keep on the counter for a day to add carbonation before you refrigerate.

Coconut Kiwi Pineapple Kombucha

We drink kombucha every single day. It tastes delicious and is a great probiotic. We normally keep it pretty simple with our flavorings, but I wanted to try and recreate some of the tasty store-bought kombucha drinks that we have tried and loved. This one was a take on a brand we like, and I think the finished product tastes pretty delicious and the coconut water adds some extra deliciousness and health benefits!

Ingredients
1) 24 ounces of unflavored kombucha
2) 1/2 cup of coconut water
3) 1/4 cup of pineapple
4) 1 kiwi

Instructions
1) Add the coconut water, pineapple and kiwi to a blender or food processor.
2) Puree until smooth.

3) Add mixture to a 32oz jar, and then fill the rest of the way with the kombucha (about 24 ounces).
4) Store in the fridge immediately if you want to drink right away, or let sit on the counter for a day to add more carbonation and then refrigerate.

Homemade Sauerkraut

I just got back from my very first trip to Las Vegas yesterday. I went with my best friend, who lives over 1000 miles away from me, and our plan was to see the Britney Spears concert. We had a great time indeed, but I realized when I got home last night that I barely ate a single vegetable while I was there! I kept it gluten-free so I wouldn't feel sick, but most meals were served with potatoes for a side instead of some healthy greens. So now that I am home, all I want to eat are some vegetables and definitely some probiotics! Thankfully I have some homemade sauerkraut on hand to give me both!

I had never made my own sauerkraut before I started dating my boyfriend. I didn't really even eat it that often at all, except maybe on a bratwurst at the fair every few years. But when I started dating my boyfriend, who is Polish, I wanted to try my hand out at making some sauerkraut for him. It is really VERY simple, it just takes a few weeks of fermenting in the cupboard. I even made a jar for his parents and they liked it so much they asked for the recipe! When you can please the native sauerkraut eaters with your recipe, you know you've won!

I took the easy way on this recipe by using bagged coleslaw mix instead of chopping/shredding my own cabbage and carrots. The bags run about $1.50-$2.00 each, so if you would prefer to chop it yourself, you can make this recipe for about $1! How crazy is that?

Ingredients

1) 3 bags of coleslaw mix (minus the dressing), or 2 heads of cabbage (shredded), plus 2 carrots (shredded)

2) 1/2 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons of salt

3) 2 cups of water

Optional: I've added in 1 shredded apple before, or 1 diced jalapeno, or used both green and red cabbage.

Makes: 2 large mason jars of sauerkraut (32oz each)

**I recommend using the wide mouth mason jars

Instructions

1) Shred your cabbage/carrots if you did not buy the prepacked bag.

                                     

2) Add the shredded vegetables to a large bowl, and sprinkle with 1/2 tablespoon of salt.

3) Let sit for 15 minutes, during which the cabbage will begin to wilt and release a little water.

After sitting with the salt on it

4) Squeeze your shredded vegetables to try and release some additional water.

5) Pack your vegetables into two large mason jars, pushing down firmly to compact. Fill up both mason jars with your vegetables until you run out. Make sure the jars are even, they should both be about 3/4 of the way full.

Compacting the cabbage

6) Mix 2 cups of water with 2 teaspoons of salt to create a water brine. Pour into each mason jar until the water now is above the cabbage, at least 1/2 an inch. You may have some leftover water brine. If you need more, just make another batch of water brine following 1 cup water: 1 teaspoon salt.

Filled with water above the cabbage

7) Using a smaller lid for a mason jar, or a large piece of cabbage, or whatever you have, press down the cabbage inside the jar until it is compact and virtually no cabbage pieces are above the water. Then find something to weigh this down (I used a heavy shot glass). This keeps the cabbage under the water level and out of the oxygen, so it will ferment. Cabbage that touches the air will mold, cabbage under the water will not.

Weighing it down

8) Place in a cabinet to ferment.

See how the cabbage is way below the water because of the lid and weight?

9) Check on your cabbage every 2-3 days and scrap off any mold that may have occurred. This mold is totally natural and just needs to be removed. The rest of the cabbage is fine, I promise!
10) After 2 weeks of fermenting, every time you check for mold and scrap it off, taste your mixture. Does it taste like sauerkraut, and to your liking? If not, let it sit longer. (Due to the cold water, mine took almost a month to ferment this time. Normal summer weather will be about 2-3 weeks of fermenting).

11) Once the sauerkraut tastes to your liking, remove your lid and weight and put a lid on the jar. Store in the fridge. Enjoy!

Make Your Own Kombucha!

Happy New Year!

Have you ever had Kombucha before? It's fermented sweet tea, and it's full of healthy probiotics! Plus, it's delicious. You can buy it at Health Food stores, but it will run you about $3 for a pint...

Make your own!! I've been brewing my own for almost 8 months and have saved a TON of money! It ends up costing about $2 for a gallon when you make it yourself, which is super cheap for something so healthy and delicious.

First things first, you absolutely cannot make Kombucha without a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). You can either get one from someone you know that already makes Kombucha (and make sure you get a few cups of already brewed unflavored kombucha from them as well), or you can do like I did and order one online. I highly HIGHLY recommend Kombucha Kamp, and they even sell through Amazon. The SCOBY takes about 5-7 days to arrive, and then you are ready to brew! Buy online here (about $25)

Ingredients

1) 1 SCOBY with 2-4 cups of unflavored kombucha (called "the mother" when you buy online)

2) Tea (loose tea, or bags; green or black or mixed. I used loose tea from Kombucha Kamp as well, and it's a mixture of green and black.) You will need 2 tablespoons of loose tea for every gallon you brew, or 8 tea bags per gallon

3) 1 cup of sugar per gallon (I use organic, evaporated cane sugar that I got at Costco. You can use plain on table sugar. Don't worry, the SCOBY will eat up the sugar so this is not a sweet drink and falls within the Paleo guidelines still. But don't use honey, maple syrup or xylitol or anything else. Just regular sugar!)

4) 1 gallon glass jar, plus one old t-shirt and a rubber band

5) Flavorings for your Kombucha (examples: any kind of juice, any pureed fruit. I make some with lemon juice, or pureed strawberries, or pureed blueberries, or juiced ginger, or store-bought mango juice, etc)

Instructions

Phase 1: Brewing your Kombucha

1) First, add your SCOBY and "the mother" liquid (2-4 cups of unflavored Kombucha) to your glass jar. 

                                        

2) Heat up a large pan with water, until boiling. You want about 6-8 cups of water in here, preferably filtered.

3) Prepare your tea bags. You will add 8 tea bags per gallon, or 2 tablespoons of loose tea in a tea bag cloth per gallon.

4) Once the water is boiling, turn off the burner but leave the water where it is. Add your tea bags and brew for 10 minutes..

5) Remove your tea bags, and add in 1 cup of sugar (for every gallon you are brewing). Stir.

6) Let the tea sit for 20-30 minutes until it comes to room temperature. Then add it to your gallon jar with your SCOBY.

7) Fill up the jar with water until you've reached the top (so that the volume now totals one galloon).

8) Top with an old shirt and a rubber band, to keep out fruit flies and dust. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! If you don't, fruit flies will lay eggs in your SCOBY and it will be ruined. Trust me, I tried to use cheese cloth and this happened, then I switched to an old t-shirt and it works perfectly!

9) Place on your counter and allow to ferment. You can put it in the pantry if you prefer but it will take a little longer to ferment and finish.

10) Begin checking your Kombucha after one week of fermentation. You want it to not taste sweet anyone and to have a pH between 2.0 and 3.0. You can use pH strips if you have some, so that you know what it's supposed to taste like. Eventually you'll become a pro and you won't need them anymore: you'll just know how it should taste. The longer it ferments, the more sugar will be eaten by the SCOBY and the more bitter it will become. The 2.0 to 3.0 pH is your sweet spot. In the summer in Texas it takes about 7 days for my Kombucha to be ready, and about 2-3 weeks in the winter. Check everyday until it's ready, by sampling a spoonful after you've stirred the gallon.

Phase 2: Flavoring and Bottling

Congratulations, your Kombucha is ready! Now to flavor it and add in some carbonation.

1) Fill up whatever bottles/jars you're going to use. I use mason jars. Fill about 2/3 of the way full with just unflavored Kombucha.

2) Add in your flavorings:

I recommend 1/8 to 1/4 cup of flavoring per 32oz of Kombucha. Add in 1/8 of a cup of your juice or puree, and taste the batch. If it's to your liking, fill up the rest of the jar with Kombucha. Put a lid on, and leave your jars out on the counter for two days.

3) Make sure you leave at least 4 cups of unflavored Kombucha in your gallon jar with the SCOBY. You'll use this to start your next batch.

4) Leave the jars out on your counter for 2 days, to allow the flavors to absorb and some carbonation to occur.

5) Now you're going to want to strain your Kombucha. I use cheese cloth, and place the bowl in the sink in case I spill.

6) Strain your mixture, and then add back to your jar.

7) For best keeping, put a small piece of waxed paper or parchment paper on top of the jar before you put the lid on to help keep the Kombucha from eating up your jar over time.

8) Now put your jarred Kombucha in the fridge and enjoy! I drink 8-16 ounces a day, and have tried a bunch of flavors! I routinely make ginger, watermelon, and peach. Sometimes we also make lemon, peach-mint, and mango. Buy whatever is in season and puree and freeze it, or buy juice, or frozen fruit. Just thaw and puree before you add it.