Grow Your Own Scoby

Grow your own scoby…

Many people believe you need a scoby (mushroom looking thingy) to make Kombucha and search high and low for someone (like me) with some to spare. When, in fact you can so easily grow your own, because the scoby is in fact a bi-product of the fermentation process and not really the bit that is needed to make Kombucha, but the liquid from the last batch is the most important thing! Here is how you grow your own scoby and start your own Kombucha journey…

Buy a bottle of unpasteurised / raw (not usually from a supermarket) Kombucha.
Drink most of the bottle as normal and then save the last inch in the bottle.
Place this into a wide-mouth jar with some cotton secured over the top of the jar with an elastic band.
Leave somewhere warm, but not in direct sunlight for for 5-6 weeks.
When you come back to it your should have your very own scoby. Use this and the liquid to start you first batch of Kombucha, by adding them to some cooled sweet tea (full directions HERE). And away you go on your very own Kombucha journey.

Note: You can do this with most raw vinegars and fermented drinks, even things like milk kefir. Save some from the last unpasteurised bottle you bought and feed it some new fresh milk and you’ll have yourself some milk kefir grains within a few days.

Kombucha’s ‘brief’ history…

Kombucha is an ancient, strong fermented/probiotic drink made from sweat tea and using a
scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast)/mother/mushroom. It is thought that
Kombucha originated in Northern China and spread like tea along the Silk Road. It is
believed to date back to 220 B.C. when even then it was prized for its healing properties.
Kombucha is high in probiotics/good bacterial and is a non-alcoholic drink that contains
vitamins, amino acids, or other nutrients, so it’s great all round for digestive health and thus
health of the whole body, and mind.

Kombucha Trouble-Shooting…

There are concerns from people about the caffeine and sugar in the drink, but by the
time it is ready to drink (5 to 10 days, depending on how hot it is) there should be
little to know caffeine or sugar left.
Kombucha needs tannings to do its job, so it can
be made with black, white or green tea (loose or tea bags) or any plants high in
tannins, like olive (my preferred option), raspberry, verbena, oak or vine leaves.
It’s really, hard to kill off your kombucha scoby.
Many people think they have killed their scoby
because it does not float, has stringy bits, has black bits, or looks odd (well odder
than it normally does) in some way. But, in most cases it’s still alive and kicking.
Putting your kombucha to sleep – If you are going away or want a Kombucha break
then put your kombucha in the fridge in its sweet tea (you can leave it in here for
months as long as the lid if on loose on your jar).
Sometimes you may forget your kombucha and it will become vinegary. I don’t
recommend drinking it then as it’s very acidic, but you can use it as vinegar (add it
into salad dressings etc for an additional probiotic kick) or use as a wonderful, and
natural weed killer in your garden or to clean the drain in your home.
You can use extra scobys up by using them for a base for some skin care products,
composting them, giving them away, dehydrating them mixed with fruit as fruit
leathers, feeding them to your chickens or using them as band aids (keeping them in
a jar in the fridge for when you have cuts, stings, bites etc as they are anti-bacterial
and great for external use on the body as well as internal use.
Shop-bought kombuchas are often pasteurized (cooked, so they have very little, or
no probiotics let) and full of sugar. You can tell if they are pasteurized as they will
usually be set on the shelf and not in the fridge. Fermented foods and drinks are not
usually self-stable as they are still fermenting as this temperature.
Scoby stands for – symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.