Re: Kombucha SCOBY question

[Guest guest]

If they smell fine and look good, I would give them a try, but check out

these questions. I am surprised you have not had them in the

refrigerator. I keep mine in the fridge. Have they grown any in this

time? This should tell you something.

I one time made a lot of tea up and when I took it all off, I was

missing a jar of tea. I dont know why I was so blind I could not see it

but 3 weeks later I saw it and the scoby was about 1-1/4 inches thick or

more. It was huge!! It has been sitting in plain sight but I could not

see it.

So this is why I ask how thick is the scoby? A live one sitting in the

warm will grow. Has it made any babies? These are signs of it being

good.

Hope it helps.

--- In , " Tamara " <all-natural-nut@...>

wrote:

>

> I'm hoping you Kombucha experts can save me from wasting a batch of

tea.

>

> I have a couple of SCOBY's that have been sitting in a small amount of

> Kombucha since the end of October 2007, at room temperature, with no

> attention whatsoever since I last made it. They LOOK fine. They SMELL

> fine. Do you think they are still active? Or does 5 months of

> inactivity necessitate that they are dead?

>

> If it is worth a try to get them going again, is there anything

> special I should do to give them tender loving care?

>

> Thansk for your advice,

> Tamara in NJ

>

[Guest guest]

As says if you see another mushroom growing then you know its good.

The problem I see with refrigeration is that the microbes go dormant and

then have to be revived. Often (as in 's Law) things don't go as

expected. There is an additional concern that during the revival other

micro-organisms may overtake the dormant beneficial probiotics before they

can become fully active.

However even if here is no new formation (on your stored mushrooms) does not

mean it won't work. You may be able to create kombucha mushroom tea without

a mushroom. There have been several published studies on this. All the

studies indicate that the mushroom is beneficial and recommended.

Roussin, in his research wrote that the mushroom itself is liken to DNA. It

gives the kombucha its direction for growth. (where without it may go awry)

A new ferment of kombucha tea may even produce some pretty ugly babies, and

still have a good cup of mushroom tea - but the mushroom itself will reflect

the state of health of the prevailing bacteria and yeasts.

see pictures of different mushroom growth.

http://tinyurl.com/2pbs6m

Peace

Ed Kasper LAc. & family

www.HappyHerbalist.com

..................................................

Re: Kombucha SCOBY question

Posted by: " mkathryn59 " mkathryn59@... mkathryn59

Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:01 pm (PDT)

If they smell fine and look good, I would give them a try, but check out

these questions. I am surprised you have not had them in the

refrigerator. I keep mine in the fridge. Have they grown any in this

time? This should tell you something.

I one time made a lot of tea up and when I took it all off, I was

missing a jar of tea. I dont know why I was so blind I could not see it

but 3 weeks later I saw it and the scoby was about 1-1/4 inches thick or

more. It was huge!! It has been sitting in plain sight but I could not

see it.

So this is why I ask how thick is the scoby? A live one sitting in the

warm will grow. Has it made any babies? These are signs of it being

good.

Hope it helps.

[Guest guest]

Thank you all for your help. I am going to give it a try! I'm also

surprised to hear the thoughts about refrigeration! Hm!

Thanks again,

Tamara