Fermination

It took me a minute to complete my next summer post. My goal was to research fermented drinks. Kombucha in particular. This journey started a few months ago. My mom was telling me a story that when she was a kid growing up in Soviet Union every household had a special drink that was grown in a glass jar on a windowsill. They called it a “mushroom” because there was a substance that grew on top of the liquid that had a resemblance with a mushroom. We ended up going online trying to find the origin of this magic liquid. Needless to say, that after a few searches we encountered a “scoby”. We both were shocked to learn that the so called “mushroom” drink that was so common in Soviet Union and known for its health digestive effect is nothing more than a kombucha. Now we have known and tried kombucha many times in the past. We just did not put two and two together.

This is a second year in row that I have a summer job as a lifeguard. Even though the sun can get quite brutal at times, I love it. The idea of potentially saving a kid’s life is overwhelmingly rewarding. I learned quickly though that balancing work, studying for the exams, and hobbies is quite tricky. I am still trying to master the life skill. That’s another reason I could get to my post for such a long time. I even was thinking about doing a short cut and buying a ready to go starter scoby kit to get to the brewing process faster. Then the scientist in me took over and I made a form decision to grow the baby from scratch.

Growing a baby scoby requires a few simple ingredients: black tea, sugar, water, a bottle of kombucha and a few kitchen items. If you are not familiar with SCOBY, it is an acronym that stands for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast. It is a combination of cellulose, bacteria, and yeast that transforms the tea’s sugars into alcohol, carbon dioxide, and acids. Even though some sources say that it takes about 7 days to see the results, my baby was a “late bloomer”. It took him about two weeks to get to its beautiful strong self. Once you have your scoby and fermented liquid, it is all easy from there. You can use it a starter to a long-lasting relationship with this truly fascinating drink.

It is my intension to start spreading the “love” and share scoby juniors with my friends, coworkers, and strangers. As I pull an image from my blog, I will start the conversation with “Would you like to meet a new addition to our family? It is a baby scoby! Have your ever heard about fermentation?”