kombucha

Rachael got us a bottle of cranberry kombucha yesterday, and while it didn't taste too much of cranberry it was really pretty and pinkish-red. My own kombucha has been languishing in a dark corner of my kitchen for months, but I was inspired by the grocery store kind to make a copycat version.

I think kombucha 'mushrooms' are really just vinegar mothers, and the resulting beverage is just fizzy tea vinegar, but it really is a nice refreshing drink in the hot weather.

My usual recipe is:
per liter of water,
70g sugar
5g tea
100ml kombucha from the previous batch

Bring the tea and sugar to the boil together, then let the tea mask for 15
minutes. Strain and let cool to 75ºF, then pour into a big jar. Add the
'mushroom' and old kombucha, cover with a cloth, and let ferment 8-12 days,
depending on the weather and how sour you want it to be. Bottle, cap tightly,
and let rest at room temp five days before refrigerating.

All I did to make it cranberry was to whiz 12oz of cranberries with a liter of water, and add that to the tea when it was done masking. I used darjeeling instead of pu erh, since pu erh would have masked the color of the cranberries.