A friend told me about scoby, and I didn't understand what it is until I found this information at
http://www.foodrenegade.com/kombucha-scoby-experiment/Kombucha SCOBY Experiment
by
Kristen Michaelis133 Comments |
Affiliate DisclosureA few years ago, I wrote a post on
how to grow a kombucha scoby that skyrocketed to the top of search engine results. It wasn’t about brewing kombucha, but about how to grow your own kombucha starter culture. It’s affectionately called a “mother” and is also known as a SCOBY — a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast.
At first, readers emailed me about the post saying “WOW. I did it! I can’t believe it worked. I’m so happy to have my own kombucha scoby and to start brewing kombucha. Thank you.”
Then about a year ago, I started getting emails saying “I couldn’t get it to work. I bought a bottle of store-bought kombucha tea, but I couldn’t grow a kombucha scoby from it. HELP!”
What happened? Why did my instructions for growing a kombucha scoby no longer work?
Finally, I decided I wanted to know which way of growing a kombucha scoby is best. Could I still successfully grow a scoby from store bought kombucha tea? I experimented with three kombucha scoby cultures — fresh, dehydrated, and store-bought — to find out!
My Kombucha Scoby Experiment
I began by getting my starter cultures:
Kombucha Scoby Starter Culture #1 — A bottle of store-bought kombucha. Kombucha Scoby Starter Culture #2 — A dehydrated scoby from a reputable online supplier. Kombucha Scoby Starter Culture #3 — A fresh scoby from a reputable online supplier.
Next, I got everything ready for them to flourish — organic black tea, organic sugar, filtered water, and identical brewing vessels.
Then, I got busy growing. Here are my results.
Kombucha Scoby Starter Culture #1
I followed
my own instructions to a tee, just like I did years ago.
After three weeks, the new culture looked like this:
Do you see what I see? A whole bunch of nothing! Absolutely nothing grew. Sure, there’s some small bubbles. But that’s how much growth I expect to see after three to five days, not three weeks.
Okay, I thought, maybe I just got an off bottle that had been on the shelf too long.
So I bought another bottle and did it again.
It also failed.
I gave it one last shot.
It failed, too.
Why can’t I grow a kombucha scoby from a store-bought bottle anymore?
You may or may not remember the great kombucha recall of 2010. Kombucha was pulled off store shelves across the U.S. because it had been feared that some brands were too alcoholic to be sold as a regular beverage.
Most major brands reformulated their kombucha, then put it back on store shelves promising that it would no longer be possible for their kombucha to contain too much alcohol.
Whatever they did, I think they made it virtually impossible to grow a kombucha scoby from a store-bought bottle of kombucha anymore.
Some companies, like Dave’s GT, have even started adding a supplement called GBI-30 to their “Enlightened” (AKA kombucha for those under 21) bottled booch. GBI-30 is a patented pro-biotic that is non-native to the Kombucha culture.
I don’t know precisely why they added this to their formula, or how it prevents the growth of alcohol, but it doesn’t make sense to include GBI-30 in your homemade kombucha scoby. It’s not part of the normal fermentation process for kombucha, so I can imagine that it is also somehow interfering with our ability to grow a fresh kombucha scoby from the bottled brew.
Kombucha Scoby Starter Culture #2
I had never grown a kombucha scoby from a dehydrated starter culture before, so I didn’t know what to expect.
When it arrived, it looked just like described — a dried up kombucha scoby.
It also took far longer than I realized it would to rehydrate it. After three weeks of waiting, it finally starting growing a new scoby.
About a week after that, my new scoby looked like this:
It was about 1/4 inch thick, and a nice creamy white.
All things considered, this was a success.
Kombucha Scoby Starter Culture #3
My final kombucha scoby was delivered fresh. It was a beautiful, firm, large, creamy white starter culture that was nearly an inch thick!
Unlike with the dehydrated culture, I could start brewing with this kombucha scoby right away.
So, I did.
Within one week, I had another equally creamy white, inch thick scoby on my hands in addition to a tasty new batch of kombucha tea.
After three brewing cycles, I still had a beautiful, thick kombucha scoby. Here you can see three generations of this scoby still going strong on my counter top:
This is most certainly a success!
Recommendations and Conclusions
Kombucha Scoby Starter Culture #1 — Not Recommended!
Obviously, growing your own kombucha scoby from store-bought bottled kombucha is no longer recommended.
To be fair, I have heard from readers who successfully grew a new scoby from a bottle of store-bought booch since the reformulation. But when I question them further about it, I inevitably find that their scobies are more translucent, less firm, and took at least a month to grow — longer in the winter. Weak cultures like that tend to beget even more weak cultures, so that after a few batches their brews fall flat and no longer pack the same flavorful punch.
Kombucha Scoby Starter Culture #2 — Neutral
Growing a scoby from a dehydrated culture seems to work just fine, but it had a long wait. The new scoby was weak and thin compared to the fresh scoby, and within a few generations it was even thinner. The kombucha tea I brewed with it tasted okay, but fell flat compared to the kombucha I brewed from the fresh culture.
I’ve also read that dehydrated cultures are more likely to mold. While I didn’t personally experience this, I can believe it. That’s because the kombucha scoby I grew in my first batch was relatively weak and just kept growing more weak with each generation. Ultimately, I stopped growing this culture altogether.
Kombucha Scoby Starter Culture #3 — Highly Recommended!
Growing a scoby from a fresh culture is by far the quickest and easiest method. The culture arrives beautiful, thriving, and fresh — completely ready to use. It also produces strong baby cultures and a fresher tasting kombucha tea.
Yes, it initially costs just a little bit more. But just like with any nutrient dense food, the source matters.
You would not argue that CAFO-finished supermarket beef is as healthy or tasty as grass-finished beef from your local farm. So it makes sense that not all ways of making Kombucha result in the same quality.
Where can you order a fresh kombucha scoby?
My own fresh kombucha scoby came from
Kombucha Kamp.
Kombucha Kamp is the #1 kombucha site in the world (true by the numbers and reputation). The site is run by Hannah Crum, a beautiful woman who totally knows her stuff! I met her at the Wise Traditions conference last year and hooked up with her again at this year’s conference to my delight.
She calls herself the Kombucha Mamma, and for good reason. Kombucha Kamp has the best and most complete repository of Kombucha information I’ve ever seen. I signed up for her
free kombucha tips and learned quite a bit I didn’t already know, even after years of brewing kombucha at home.
Want to know more about kombucha tea?
Here are some more posts I’ve written on kombucha:
Kombucha Tea: How to Make KombuchaKombucha Tea Questions & Answers Part OneKombucha Tea Q &A Part TwoKombucha Health BenefitsHow to Grow a Kombucha SCOBYWhy Choose the Continuous Brew Method of Making KombuchaIs Kombucha Safe When Pregnant or Nursing?(
disclosures)
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About the Author
Kristen Michaelis is a passionate advocate for REAL FOOD -- food that's sustainable, organic, local, and traditionally-prepared according to the wisdom of our ancestors. While she adores hats & happy skirts, nothing inspires her quite like geeking out over nutrition & sustainable agriculture.
Nutrition educator & author extraordinaire, she's also a
rebel with a cause who enjoys playing in the rain, a good bottle of Caol Ila scotch, curling up with a page-turning book, sunbathing on her hammock, and watching her three children grow into young adults.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCOBYSCOBY is an
acronym for
SymbioticColony Of
Bacteria and
Yeast.
[1] The term is often used to refer to cultures of bacteria and yeast present during production of the fermented beverages
kefir and
kombucha. A SCOBY colony or culture may be referred to as a mushroom.
[2]http://www.anneskombucha.com/what-is-scoby/What Is A SCOBY?
March 27, 2013 - 6:38 pm
What is SCOBY?0 CommentWhat is a SCOBY you ask? SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Culture of friendly Bacteria and Yeast. Sounds great, right?! But with all the healthy drink choices you have, and all the marketing techniques why should I choose this? And what does it really do for me? Probiotics are recommended to keep up the good bacteria in our bodies, that help break down food, and much more. The SCOBY metabolizes the organic sugar and the caffeine in the organic green and black tea resulting in a beverage that contains billions of probiotics, vitamins such as B, C, amino acids and enzymes. The healthy benefits that SCOBY offers is impressive.
We all know that healthy living awareness has quickly entered all of our lives. Healthy alternatives, all natural and organic protein shakes, delicious teas and organic tea leafs to name a few. We make healthy choices every day and one of these can be found in
Komboucha. This drink has a SCOBY in it, which is very beneficial for everyone. The SCOBY is rubbery in texture, looks like an off white/white pancake. This substance takes your delicious tea and turns it into a vitamin, mineral, and healthy, living organic acid your body needs and welcomes. To further your knowledge on the question on, “
What is a SCOBY?” keep reading. In the United States we have identified amazing benefits found in this tea:
Detoxification: The enzymes reduce the pancreatic load and ease the burden of your liver.
Healthy Joints: The glucosamines within the SCOBY found in Kombucha can be used to prevent arthritis. With a natural relief that can be comparable to NSAIDs the use of Hyaluronic acids help with lubrication of connective tissues.
Digestion health: The probiotics offered within the SCOBY helps fight harmful yeast, promotes healthy bacteria within your stomach lining and other digestive tracts, as well as aides in mental clarity and benefiting your mood. Eating healthy benefits you in more ways than we realize!
Immunity boost: With all the great things this drink offers, this sums it up. With everything wonderful offered in this drink, you will have a better immune system and your body will have an excellent source of amino acids, enzymes and other products, otherwise not attainable without taking a supplement. So next time someone asks you, “What is a SCOBY?” point them to this blog post, and then skip on over to
Anne’s Komboucha for a delightful refresher with many benefits!
So next time someone asks you, “What is SCOBY?” point them to this blog post, and then skip on over to
Annes Komboucha for a delightful refresher with many benefits!
