Grow your own Kombucha SCOBY

This post was originally written for Melissa over at Dyno-Mom. Make sure to check her out, she has a lot of useful information on real food.

I have been making Kombucha for awhile now but it was very intimidating from the start. My goal for this post is to remove the intimidation factor and make Kombucha making easy for you! It's very simple once you get the hang of it - so why not give it a try. :)This post is for those who do not have access to a SCOBY or do not want to pay $10 for one, join me in growing your own SCOBY . . .



Do live in a place that you can't just ask your neighber, "Hey, you got that SCOBY for me?" 

Most likely not, in fact they probably already think you are crazy for knowing what Kombucha is! - so let's talk about how you can grow your own.

How to grow your own SCOBY: (The Easy Way)

  

Four Simple Ingredients:

1. Filtered Water
2.  2 Organic Black Tea bags
3. 1/3 cup white sugar
4. A glass of Kombucha. (1/4 cup is plenty)

Boil water and fill your quart jar 3/4 full. Add 1/3 cup of white sugar, mix around and let dissolve. Add two tea bags and let it sit till cool.

Add your glass of Kombucha. NOTE: this works best with homemade kombucha or a brand that is NOT GT's. I just tried it with GT's original and it did not grow. I have grown a SCOBY with homemade kombucha and it worked great.

Cover your jar with a cloth and rubber band to keep bugs away and place it in your pantry or somehwere. Unless you love talking about this stuff, then show it off and put it on your bookshelf!

NEXT: Let it sit. and sit. and sit. There you have it, a SCOBY! Mine sat for a month I think. Depending on how warm your house is, it may take more or less time. I would mark when you make it and check on it every week to see how your little science experiment is doing.

You can see how it grows. I took these pictures a few weeks apart. We had so much fun watching it grow!

When you are finished you are then ready to brew a big batch of Kombucha. Make sure to check out this recipe for your first batch of Kombucha.

Enjoy your little SCOBY!

For further reading:

Kombucha Health Benefits - Food Renegade

How to Flavor Kombucha - Cultures for Health

Linking up with Real Food Wednesday and Pennywise Platter

“Each accepted pain, no matter how obscure, every silent suffering of evil, each act of inwardly overcoming oneself, every outreach of love, each renunciation, and every turning in silence toward God – all of that now becomes effective as a whole: Nothing that is good goes for nothing.”

        - Cardinal Ratzinger, God is Near us