Re: I'm finally back and have some kombucha questions

[Guest guest]

HI Caroline ,

The Kombucha will turn to vinegar if you leave it to ferment/process longer than the 7-14 day window. I let mine sit for up to 2 months, at that point it has a nice tartness.

I was also wondering if you could use K-tea Vinegar for the tonic and then i realized that this would not necessarily be a good symbiosis for the following reason: K-tea itself is a symbiotic organism, some of the organism is a yeast and it feeds on the sugar you use to make the tea. Anything that would interfere with the growth of the yeast and the culture would stop the process or kill the benefical elements that you get from K-tea. Garlic and ginger would definitely rank high in the KILLING catagory

When making K-tea you are not supposed to even use honey (due to its antiseptic type properties). So the short answer (sorry) is NO.

SylviaCaroline <ladyguinevere@...> wrote:

Hi guys!I finally got my power back yesterday, whew! I had to wait until the water company came out to fix my system before I could get water though, but they did come within an hour so I was very pleased. I have showered for the first time since Sunday and feel brand new again! Luckily the weather was tremendous this last week...with highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's at night. Last year when Charley came through we were not that lucky and no water was miserable to say the least!!Anyway, I have a few questions from reading some of the back emails...mainly about the fact that the kombucha turns to a vinegar. Being that fact....and we tincture our Complete Tonic in ACV...is it possible to use the kombucha type of vinegar with any tinctures? Also, I saw references to other uses for the tea and wanted to know if there is

a place I can look to find additional recipes, such as the skin care type and stuff like that...for things to do with the "mushroom" as well as the tea, aside from drinking it, which I have every intention on doing!How about for my son who is 12...weighs about 85lbs? Is this stuff okay to let him have as well? I know he will want to try it and of course if he likes it...he will want to continue having it...and I don't want to have to tell him no if I don't have to. I plan on joining one of the groups but am a bit overloaded right now and wanted to just get started with knowing what to do in the mean time.Thanks in advance for everyone's ideas and advice!Caroline No virus found in this outgoing message.Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.12.5/150 - Release Date: 10/27/2005

[Guest guest]

oops PS.

Caroline it's ok to give your son kombucha, but here are some guidlines for K-tea and kids:

Start him with a very small amount at first to see how his belly reacts with it, some people can be sensitive to K-tea and kids and elders are especially sensitive

Cut the K-tea with half juice such as apple (gives it a nice apple cidery snappy taste) peach, grape or cranberry. We also tried orange and Pineapple and this is not something i would recomment...it was not good

Lastly, give him un fermented K-tea. In other words as soon as you harvest a batch, bottle it and put it in the fridge (at this point there is a minute amount/percentage like 1 or percent of alcohol). Many recipes call for curing or fermenting the batch following harvest, this gives the batch effervescence or carbonation and a slightly beer type flavor. There is more alcohol at this point but still small but my grandkids did not like it at this stage.

Check out Ed Kaspers page at: http://happyherbalist.com/pictures.htm

He has brewing instructions with pictures and ideas on how to use and you can link to other Kombucha pages from his.

Good Luck and happy brewing.

SylviaSylvia <h10feet@...> wrote:

HI Caroline ,

The Kombucha will turn to vinegar if you leave it to ferment/process longer than the 7-14 day window. I let mine sit for up to 2 months, at that point it has a nice tartness.

I was also wondering if you could use K-tea Vinegar for the tonic and then i realized that this would not necessarily be a good symbiosis for the following reason: K-tea itself is a symbiotic organism, some of the organism is a yeast and it feeds on the sugar you use to make the tea. Anything that would interfere with the growth of the yeast and the culture would stop the process or kill the benefical elements that you get from K-tea. Garlic and ginger would definitely rank high in the KILLING catagory

When making K-tea you are not supposed to even use honey (due to its antiseptic type properties). So the short answer (sorry) is NO.

SylviaCaroline <ladyguinevere@...> wrote:

Hi guys!I finally got my power back yesterday, whew! I had to wait until the water company came out to fix my system before I could get water though, but they did come within an hour so I was very pleased. I have showered for the first time since Sunday and feel brand new again! Luckily the weather was tremendous this last week...with highs in the 70's and lows in the 50's at night. Last year when Charley came through we were not that lucky and no water was miserable to say the least!!Anyway, I have a few questions from reading some of the back emails...mainly about the fact that the kombucha turns to a vinegar. Being that fact....and we tincture our Complete Tonic in ACV...is it possible to use the kombucha type of vinegar with any tinctures? Also, I saw references to other uses for the tea and wanted to know if there is

a place I can look to find additional recipes, such as the skin care type and stuff like that...for things to do with the "mushroom" as well as the tea, aside from drinking it, which I have every intention on doing!How about for my son who is 12...weighs about 85lbs? Is this stuff okay to let him have as well? I know he will want to try it and of course if he likes it...he will want to continue having it...and I don't want to have to tell him no if I don't have to. I plan on joining one of the groups but am a bit overloaded right now and wanted to just get started with knowing what to do in the mean time.Thanks in advance for everyone's ideas and advice!Caroline No virus found in this outgoing message.Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.12.5/150 - Release Date: 10/27/2005