Kombucha E-Book

Louise Avery

• Herausgeber: Ryland Peters & Small
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Want a healthy gut? Then brew and drink your own naurally fermented kombucha – it is packed full of probiotics and is thought to improve digestion and boost the immune system. Louise Avery is one of London's best-connected kombucha producers and the owner of LA Brewery. Here she reveals her tried-and-tested recipes that use the freshest produce to create truly delicious fermented teas. Starting with an explanation of exactly what kombucha is, Louise then offers information on the types of tea you can use to flavour your kombucha, the health benefits of drinking it and the essential equipment you will need to brew your own. Next, she presents a step-by-step process for brewing kombucha, bottling and storing and controlling the yeast. Recipes are then organized by type of base: Fruit, with recipes for Blood Orangeade, Pear and Ginger Tea; Vegetable, including Striped Candy Beetroot and Lime, and a Virgin Mary. Flower has ideas for Hibiscus Kombucha and a Hoppy Pale Ale, while Herb, Spice and Tea is where things heat up with Lemongrass Tea and two Turmeric Immune Boosters as well as Jasmine Kombucha and a Lychee Basil Mojito.

Leseprobe

KOMBUCHA

KOMBUCHA

HEALTHY RECIPES FOR NATURALLY FERMENTED TEA DRINKS

Louise Avery

Photography by Clare Winfield

LOUISE AVERY is the founder of LA Brewery. The company uses all-natural ingredients to brew health-boosting, sparkling teas. They currently supply Selfridges, Leon, Whole Foods, Planet Organic and a whole host of London-based independent cafés and restaurants. Louise lives with her partner in East London, close to her Suffolk brewery, and this is her first book.

CLARE WINFIELD is a photographer specializing in food. Her work has appeared in delicious and Esquire magazines, among other press. For Ryland Peters & Small she has also photographed The New Nourishing, Lemons and Limes The New Porridge and My Vegan Travels.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS KOMBUCHA?

INGREDIENTS

EQUIPMENT

BOTTLING & STORING

BREWING BASICS

UNFLAVOURED KOMBUCHA

THE FINISHED BREW

BASE OF FRUIT

BASE OF VEGETABLE

BASE OF FLOWER

BASE OF HERB, SPICE & TEA

INDEX

RESOURCES & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

I was introduced to kombucha on a trip to Vermont in the United States in 2010, when we found it on draft in a cooperative health food store. After some encouragement from my boyfriend, as ironically I do not really enjoy the taste of regular tea, I tested all three of the flavours available. This was the defining moment as they say… It was more than delicious; it had a complex taste profile with a tart, sweet base, with infused fruits and a lingering fizz. I am unsure as to whether I loved because I was feeling nutritionally drained at the time, or because I love fizzy drinks – I suspect a combination of the two, and I have not looked back since.

On my return to London, I scanned the health food shops for kombucha and I did find some commercial varieties, but I longed for the micro-brewed version I had fallen in love with in New England. As anyone who becomes hooked on rare specialist foods knows, the only option is to start making it yourself! Not only to save money, but also to understand the process.

We are now in a time where it feels important and culturally relevant to understand how our food is made and where it comes from. Additionally, the benefits of eating fermented foods are touted daily in the press. The link between beneficial bacteria and gut health immunity and brain health are now recognised with continued scientific research.

There is good reason for the growing popularity of fermented foods. There is now much concern with over-sterile environments breeding allergies and intolerances rather than protecting us, as was the original intention. It now transpires that the very bacteria we have been seeking to destroy actually help to protect our bodies by supporting our immune systems. The majority of us will be eating at least one form of processed, sterilized food on a regular basis, and so we need to put ‘live’ foods back into our body to replace all the nutrients and digestive enzymes that it needs.

Personally, I wanted to change my drinking habits as I had started to experience stomach issues and ulcers are common in my family. I needed an alcohol substitute and something to heal my stomach, liver and immune system.

About a year after that trip to the States, we decided to go on a life-enriching adventure and moved to the Isle of Mull in the inner Hebrides of Scotland. Emotionally and physically worn out by a 9–5 job, I was drawn away from the city and towards the land. I found a job in a weaving mill on an organic farm on the island, which used only native breed Hebridean sheeps’ wool and locally sourced plant dyes. At home, my boyfriend and I learned how to make sourdough and foraged for mushrooms and seaweed – inspired by living off the land we filled our diets with local goods and I got serious about fermentation.

I ordered my first SCOBY (see page 13) and followed the instructions on the packet meticulously. My first kombucha was good, but very vinegary, and palatable perhaps only to me. My friends were not quite as excited about it, so I started to experiment with different teas and infusions to create a more appealing brew. And so began a series of labelled bottles hiding in the corner of the room with wild raspberries floating, added fruit juices swirling and herbs infusing within them. I learned very quickly about the perils of over-carbonation and the genuine thrill of watching a bowl of tea fermenting away!

We’re back in London now and in recent years I have started to introduce more fermented foods into my diet, such as kimchi and sauerkraut. I have noticed that I no longer suffer from excess irritability or mood swings, equally I no longer feel bloated or get cramps, and I have the energy I need to run my own business.

I ran my first embryonic kombucha business, Lois & The Living Teas, for two years before meeting my current business partners and launching LA Brewery in the Spring of 2017. Lois & The Living Teas allowed me the time to forage and scour seasonal markets so I was able to concoct weekly limited editions, which I would trial in a small group of hand-picked local restaurants and specialist food shops. Those initial two years were invaluable in allowing me to perfect my craft through continual research and development with my first loyal customers.

With the birth of LA Kombucha, my new business partners, William Kendall and Mark Palmer, saw an opportunity to bring kombucha to a much wider audience, while retaining the ethics and craft-brewed methodology of a small business. We built our first craft kombucha brewery in Woodbridge, Suffolk in March 2017, and are currently in the process of building our next scaled up facility on an old airfield, which appeals to my romantic sensibilities.

LA Brewery kombucha is growing nicely and we are now stocked in over 170 shops in the UK, including Selfridges, Leon and Planet Organic, as well as a host of independent foodie shops.

My dream is for kombucha to be recognised as the ultimate alternative to alcohol and over-sweetened soft drinks. I hope that soon it will be widely available in restaurants and bars, on tap and in the fridges, with a loyal following similar to the craft beer industry.

This book is intended to be an enjoyable introduction to the art of brewing kombucha at home, to encourage good health and natural self-healing with some recipes for tasty elixirs.

WHAT IS KOMBUCHA?

Kombucha is a naturally sparkling fermented tea full of probiotics, beneficial enzymes and antioxidants. At home, it needs to undergo an initial (first) fermentation before it can be bottled or flavoured in a second fermentation. The first fermentation is driven by a small, pancake-like culture that is added to the tea, called a ‘SCOBY’ (see page 13). Known as a health tonic, which, when consumed regularly, helps the body to come into balance and heal itself, kombucha has a distinctive taste, both sweet and tart, with a refreshing lingering fizz. Drinkers often experience a slight natural high, which might be due to its high probiotic content.

The origins of the tonic are mysterious, with several different accounts depending on who you ask. It is commonly believed that kombucha was consumed in China over 2,000 years ago and referred to as the ‘tea of immortality’ during the Tsin dynasty. Transported west by travellers, it spread across Russia and onwards to Europe and North America.

Kombucha has many other names including ‘tea kvass’ (from the Russian), ‘tea beer’, ‘the elixir of life’ and ‘tea fungus’ amongst others. One story of the history behind the popular name is that a Korean doctor called ‘Kombu’ used the special tea to treat the Japanese emperor Inyoko (Ingy), and his name combined with the Chinese word for tea (‘cha’) gives us ‘kombucha’. Nobody knows if this is true but it contributes to the mystery of this wonderful drink.

KOMBUCHA TODAY

Kombucha is now a vastly popular drink in North America and Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Germany, both commercially and with home-brewers. There is a wealth of information online and a huge following despite limited medical research on the health benefits. In a world where we are continually exposed to pollution and heavy metals, and our immune systems are weakened by antibiotics and oral contraceptives, it seems a good idea to turn towards natural cures, such as fermented foods like kombucha, to assist our bodies where we can. Even without the believed health benefits, I think that kombucha is a wholly delicious drink in its own right – one that acts as a natural energy booster at any time of day.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF KOMBUCHA

As I cover the health benefits of kombucha, I think it is important to state that everyone’s experience is different and where one person will feel reborn, another may notice no changes.

I feel passionately that it has vastly improved my well-being, by helping with symptoms of anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). I suffer fewer colds, my sinuses have cleared and I genuinely feel energetic and level-tempered… most of the time! Common reported health benefits include:

Detoxification Kombucha is known to be a great liver detoxifier, with one study showing a liver cell of a kombucha drinker maintaining its physiology despite being exposed to toxin, meaning that the damage inflicted by the toxin is limited. It is believed that this is due to high antioxidant activity. Kombucha also cleanses the body of heavy metals by absorbing them and processing them through the body. This is one of the reasons it is important to brew in high-quality vessels such as glass jars.

Joint Care Kombucha can assist in preventing and healing joint damage. This could be due to the presence of an analgesic (a pain reliever and an anti-arthritic compound) in the brew.

Digestion & Gut Health High levels of probiotics and enzymes strengthen the gut and ease the digestion process. In extensive tests to treat stomach ulcers and leaky gut syndrome, kombucha is said to be as effective as many of the prescription drugs on the market.

Strengthened Immune System The probiotics, good bacteria and enzymes contained in kombucha actively balance and heal the gut flora, (micro-organisms present in the digestive tract) directly contributing to the improved health of the immune system.

Other accounts I have heard praising the positive effects include the following:

• President Ronald Reagan famously drank kombucha to prevent the spread of his stomach cancer in 1987, dying only in 2004 of natural causes.

• GT Dave, the largest kombucha brewer in the US, started brewing to help his mother through chemotherapy when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is now fully recovered and credits her recovery to the tea.

• In the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the 1980s, a clutch of older ladies were found seemingly resistant to the effects of radiation, when examined by doctors and scientists. The recurring theme was that they all consumed kombucha daily.

INGREDIENTS

As somebody who frequents farmers’ markets and enjoys the process of shopping for food locally, I would always recommend using seasonal, ethically sourced and organic ingredients where possible. However, it is not always easy to find organic products and can be prohibitively expensive. The process of brewing kombucha will work using basic tea bags and fruit from your greengrocer – it is purely down to your own preference. Additionally, in winter, there are limited fruit and vegetables available, but the good news is that frozen berries work beautifully for kombucha, releasing both natural flavours and colours into the tonic.

THE TEA

Kombucha can be made from black tea, oolong tea, green tea and white tea – they will all yield wonderful brews. The only types of tea to avoid are those with oils or flavourings added, such as Earl Grey and Lapsang Souchong, which can damage the culture (see page 13) in the first ferment (see page 20), so it is best to add your flavourings and fruit in the second ferment once the culture has been removed. The two recipes from Brooklyn Kombucha on pages 90–91 are a good example.

Black Tea will produce a kombucha with more yeast activity than one made with green teas. Its flavour is strong and earthy, and the yeast gives a depth to the kombucha with a taste profile similar to that of apple cider. The ideal brewing temperature of the water is 100ºC (212ºF).

Green Tea is usually roasted then dried and will produce a kombucha that sours faster than one made with black teas. The ideal brewing temperature of the water is 75ºC (170ºF).

White Tea is the least processed of all teas and will produce a much lighter version of kombucha than other teas, with a more Champagne-like finish. The ideal brewing temperature of the water is 75ºC (170ºF).

Oolong, Pu-erh & Jasmine Teas are hybrid teas, somewhere between black and green in taste. They all produce delicious kombucha, but I particularly love a jasmine brew. The ideal brewing temperature of the water is 85ºC (185ºF).

I like to use a blend of both black and green tea to create a sour but full-bodied brew – as black tea is brewed at a hotter temperature, you can steep it in boiling water, then add the green tea to steep once the temperature has dropped. Experimentation is recommended – I personally like to use a ratio of one-third black tea to two-thirds green tea to give a good all-round light kombucha with a wonderful taste profile on its own before any additional flavours are introduced. The lightness of its taste after the first ferment enables you to add flavour easily with the other ingredients listed in the recipes for the secondary ferment.

Caffeine is present in kombucha but in lower quantities than other teas. Most of it (up to 80%) will be released within the first minute of brewing as it is water-soluble, but if you would like to reduce the caffeine significantly, you can pre-steep the tea for 30 seconds before discarding the water and repeat the steep – the tea will still release all of its flavonoids without the caffeine.