Kombucha

This stuff is delicious!  Following Kate's recipe, my first and second batch are now bottled (the first round nearly gone).  I use a combination of black tea and pomegranate, so the color is a beautiful pink/red.

The basic recipe is tea, sugar, and SCOBY--the flavor depends on the kind of tea used.  So far, I've not branched out beyond black and pomegranate, but Kate has done peach, orange, and even root beer.

While the tea is cooling, before you add the SCOBY, you can add whatever you like.  Pam, following her son-in-law's recipe, has added ginger and jalapeño.

After the kombucha has fermented the second round, in tall air-tight bottles, I keep it in the refrigerator to stop the fermentation process and to keep it cold for drinking.  I just discovered that the orangeade I bought at Sprouts (to use their bottles)  is a delicious addition to a glass of cold kombucha.

This drink has a surprising side effect: it suppresses the appetite.  Kombucha aficionados claim that it also builds a colony of probiotics in the digestive track.  I can't vouch for that--but I take them at their word because I enjoy the taste and the effects of it so much.

The internet is a wonderful rabbit hole.  Looking for tips on kombucha, I stumbled upon recipes for roasted garlic, which I'll be trying this morning.  From there, I explored soups made in the Vitamix.  And so it goes....