Plain kombucha may get tiring after awhile. Create variety with your kombucha efforts by utilizing the magic of second ferment kombucha flavors. Adding fruit juice, spices, and herbs to a short second ferment lets you specialize your kombucha, without stressing the scoby.
Holiday meals can leave you feeling lethargic, and bloated. Even normal meals, depending on the foods you consume can leave you with lethargy and a lack of focus. With all that rich food, you can do yourself a big favor by including some pro-biotic, fermented foods along with your holiday, and regular, favorites.
Cranberry Kombucha is an effervescent, tangy-sweet beverage that you can enjoy before your holiday meal, during, or at the end. Not only does it taste great, but it will help you by easing the bloating, and overfull feeling that the holidays sometimes bring. Add different juices, or make your own slightly sweetened herbal teas for a greater variety of kombucha flavors.
Kombucha is full of good probiotics that aid digestion. Plus it has a lot of immune boosting benefits. It even helps with the holiday blues. So make up a batch for your holiday gathering and share the goodness with family and friends. To have this ready for Thanksgiving begin it no later Wednesday or 8 days before your event.
Kombucha Flavors: Cranberry
(Makes 12 capped 8 oz. bottles)
- Make Kombucha Tea in a 1 gallon jar or two – 2 quart jars
- For a 1 gallon jar combine
- 4 quarts of boiling water – 10 tea bags or 2 tbsp of loose tea in a tea strainer
- 1 cup of organic sugar (don’t substitute honey or maple syrup)
Directions:
If you are already making kombucha, start eight days in advance. If you have never made kombucha, you may need to start up to 16 days before your event to grow your own scoby from a bottle of commercial brew. To grow your first Kombucha scoby from store bought Kombucha see my post.
8 days before your event: Make a strong tea and allow the tea to cool completely to room temperature. Pour the tea in a 1 gallon jar and include 2 cups of previously made kombucha plus 1 kombucha scoby. Cover the jar with a clean handkerchief and hold in place with an elastic band. This will keep dust, bugs, and bad bacteria out of your kombucha starter. Place in a moderate room with a temperature no cooler than 65F and no warmer than 75F. Now you can ignore your Kombucha for a week, or until it’s fermented. If your home is warm, this can happen in as few as 2-3 days.
If you’re worried about the sugar content, remember that The sugar in Kombucha is NOT FOR YOU! It is for your scoby, and most of it is consumed in the first ferment. When you create kombucha flavors, you will add a bit of sugar in the juice you use, but some of that is still consumed by the secondary ferment.
On the day before your event — ideally 24 hours before hand — take the kombucha that you’ve brewed and pour it into a pitcher. Reserve 2 cups of the liquid and your kombucha scoby. Make more tea and sugar mixture according to the above recipe, cool, and pour back into the Kombucha jar with your reserved kombucha and scoby. Cover with the handkerchief and elastic band and put it away for another week, to brew more Kombucha.
Now you are ready to make magic.
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Cranberry Kombucha
Description
Sweetly tart and fizzy cranberry kombucha for your next holiday gathering.
Ingredients
- 14 cups of brewed Kombucha
- 2 cups of cranberry juice, cranberry cocktail, cranberry-grape cocktail, or cranberry-pomegranate cocktail
- Glass bottles with spring caps or glass bottles +crimp caps + capper
Instructions
- Take your brewed Kombucha in a pitcher and add the fruit juice of your choice. .
- Once you’ve added the juice, or other kombucha flavor, pour into clean glass bottles and cap by your preferred method.
- Set aside in a warm spot overnight and up to 24 hours.
- Refrigerate. Serve when cold, poured into fancy glasses or straight from the bottle.
You’ll need:
- 14 cups of brewed Kombucha
- 2 cups of cranberry juice, cranberry cocktail, cranberry-grape cocktail, or cranberry-pomegranate cocktail
- Glass bottles with spring caps or glass bottles +crimp caps + capper
Take your brewed Kombucha in a pitcher and add the fruit juice of your choice. .
Once you’ve added the juice, or other kombucha flavor, pour into clean glass bottles and cap by your preferred method. Set aside in a warm spot overnight and up to 24 hours. Refrigerate. Serve when cold, poured into fancy glasses or straight from the bottle.
During the final 24 hours the Kombucha builds up carbon dioxide inside the bottle and when you pour it into the glass it will bubble up like soda pop. At 24 hours the fizzy kombucha is tangy-sweet. It will turn less sweet and more sour as it sits at room temperature, as the sugars in the juice are converted to vinegar. Refrigeration slows down the fermentation process.
You can also add other kombucha flavors, like ginger, elderberry, or mint, for this second ferment. Make a concentrated tea, or syrup, to the volume of two cups to use like the juice. Avoid adding ginger or other spices in the initial ferment as it can weaken the scoby over time. You do not need to add much sweetener to facilitate the second ferment, about half a cup of sugar or honey per two cups volume (divided over all the servings) will do it.
Enjoy! Even my friend who doesn’t like Kombucha (“It tastes nasty!”) enjoyed this beverage served cold. This is also a good way to introduce kombucha to children, who may be skeptical or downright avoid the slightly vinegary “normal” kombucha. Creating unique kombucha flavors is also a good way to reduce reliance on soda or pop, and other overly sugary drinks, and gradually reduce your sugar consumption while adding in beneficial pro-biotics.
Your Turn:
What are your favorite kombucha flavors, commercial or homemade? If you like a commercial flavor, like ginger and turmeric, how do you think you could make it at home instead? Leave a comment.
At the very least it will give you an unlimited supply of vinegar.