How to grow kombucha at home from scratch?

Kombucha (medusomycete) is useful, perfectly quenches thirst on hot summer days, and is used in cosmetology. Medusomycete easily reproduces by division and grows quickly even from a small piece. How to grow a kombucha from scratch? It turns out that everything is quite simple. The main thing is to be patient to wait until he grows up.

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How to grow kombucha yourself

There are several ways to get kombucha at home. It is not hard to guess that it can be grown from tea leaves. This is the most suitable environment for him. But there are many other ways to grow jellyfish from scratch at home, so everyone will find the most suitable recipe for themselves.

Important! Not many people know about the medicinal properties of kombucha, but it is for them that he became famous.

Growing from scratch from tea

First of all, you need large-leaf black tea. It is not necessary to buy expensive varieties, take the most common one, but make sure that it does not contain various flavoring, aromatic and other additives. You should prepare the inventory: a 3-liter jar, gauze, a teapot. From products, except for tea, sugar and boiling water are needed.

Then proceed according to the scheme:

1. Rinse well the jar where the drink will be infused. Cleanliness is a very important factor, if the bottle is washed unreasonably, then due to food residues and microbes, the fungus will simply die without reaching the required size. It is important not to use chemicals when washing. Apply baking soda. Do not forget to rinse the jar well with clean running water at the end.
2. Brew tea with the calculation of 5 tbsp. spoons of tea for 0.5 liters of water. Let it brew.
3. When the tea leaves have cooled, add 7 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar. Stir well. All sugar grains should be completely dissolved.
4. The resulting broth is filtered using a sieve or gauze, poured into a previously prepared jar.
5. The bottle is covered with gauze folded in a couple of layers, placed in a warm place, where it will stay for 6 weeks. During this time, the jellyfish will grow.

Important! Mushroom cultivation is possible with both black and green tea. The benefits of kombucha will not diminish from this.

Growing from rose hips

When using the infusion of the mushroom grown from rose hips, you will receive a pleasant-tasting drink and a healthy, immune-strengthening agent. Especially useful is the use of such drinks in autumn and early spring, when the body so much needs additional vitamins.

To grow jellyfish on rose hips, you must adhere to the recommendations:

1. First of all, it is necessary to prepare rosehip infusion in a thermos. Fill in the fruits (4 tablespoons). Pour boiling water over the berries (0.5 l). The thermos is tightly closed with a lid. Leave the infusion for 5 days.
2. Wash the growing jar well. Pour the infusion into the bottle.
3. Brew tea with the calculation of 1 tbsp. a spoonful of tea leaves for 1 tbsp. boiling water. Add the resulting brew to the rosehip infusion.
4. Pour 5 tbsp into the jar. tablespoons of sugar. Stir until all sugar crystals are completely dissolved. Leave the infusion for a day. Strain through cheesecloth.
5. The strained infusion is covered with gauze. Defend in the same way as when growing on tea leaves.

When grown in this way, the appearance of Kombucha can be expected in 1.5-2 months.

Important! After a few weeks, the infusion will have a vinegar smell. This is fine. He testifies that the fermentation processes are going well. After a week, a film will appear on the surface of the infusion, from which the medusomycete will form. After that, the smell quickly disappears.

Growing on apple cider vinegar

Leave the bottle of apple cider vinegar in a warm, sufficiently dark place for at least 2-2.5 months. When sediment appears at the bottom of the bottle, pour the contents into the previously prepared sweetened tea leaves. The resulting mixture is kept for some time. After a couple of weeks, you can see that a thin film has appeared on the surface of the liquid, which later grows and becomes a full-fledged kombucha.

Important! When grown by this method, high-quality apple cider vinegar is used, which does not contain various additives, preservatives. If you use a low-quality product, you will hardly be able to achieve the desired result.

How to grow from a piece correctly

If you have friends who have fairly advanced kombucha specimens, just ask for a breeding bite. Medusomycete grows rapidly and exfoliates. Often there are people who sell it not only in the market, but also on the Internet. The only thing that is required from you is to know how to properly care for the mushroom until it adapts to the new conditions.

If you have a piece of kombucha, you need to prepare a solution for it.

1. To do this, you need to brew tea. For 1 liter of water, 2 teaspoons of tea are enough. It doesn't matter which tea you choose, black or green.
2. Add a little sugar (40-50 g) to it and stir until all the sugar crystals are dissolved.
3. Cool the tea leaves to room temperature, pour into a clean jar.

Important! The dishes must be perfectly clean. Otherwise, mold may form in the jar, due to the appearance of which the infusion may simply deteriorate.

Part of the mushroom is placed in this container. Cover the bottle with gauze, folded in several layers, and put it in a warm, dark place. After 7-10 days, you can enjoy a delicious effervescent tincture.

Important! Do not close the jar with a lid. Medusomycetes must breathe freely. Otherwise, the infusion can quickly deteriorate.

Mushroom care

Now you know how to grow kombucha properly. But it is very important to properly care for the jellyfish in order to enjoy this healthy refreshing drink for a long time.

Initially, 0.5 liters of liquid is enough for the development of kombucha. But over time, the medusomycete begins to grow rapidly, so the amount of solution is periodically increased, gradually bringing it to 3 liters. To do this, you can use the tea leaves left over from the tea party. It is re-poured with boiling water, sugar is added, and then allowed to cool. Already chilled tea can be safely poured into a jar.

Be careful with the added sugar. Its amount should not exceed 2 tbsp. spoons for 1 liter of water. Also, make sure that the tea is completely dissolved in the brew and its grains do not fall on the surface of the mushroom.

Important! Keep it clean so that mold does not form in the infusion.

The mushroom must be thoroughly washed every month. Get it out of the jar. Movements must be careful and accurate so as not to damage. Place the mushroom on a wide plate, rinse well with water. After that, leave to air dry a little (no more than 3 minutes). Place gently in normal environment. It should be borne in mind that tap water is often unsuitable for flushing. Filter or boil it before use.

Important! Healthy kombucha floats on the surface of the infusion. If it changes color or begins to exfoliate unnaturally, it means that the medusomycete is sick. Better to refrain from drinking the infusion.

There are many myths associated with the care of kombucha. Let's consider the most popular ones:

1. If the color of the medusomycete has changed, it has become white, perhaps it is simply developing, a new layer is forming. For the same reason, small bubbles or tears may appear on the surface of the medusomycete in the form of round holes.
2. The appearance of long filaments in the jar, which emerge from the base of the medusomycete and look like legs, are not harbingers of something terrible. This phenomenon is observed quite often.
3. When transplanted into a jar, the mushroom went to the bottom? Do not panic, give it a little time to stand, adapt. He will definitely float to the surface.
4. The mushroom has turned brown and will not rise from the bottom. Medusomycete fell ill. It is better not to use such an infusion.

Storage rules

After receiving the drink, you must follow the rules for its storage:

• the mushroom should be in a dark place;
• temperature up to +25 degrees;
• regularly drain the infusion (in winter 1 time in 5 days, in summer - 3 days);
• store the drink in the refrigerator;
• do not insist on the drink for more than 1 month;
• pinch off the top layers of the mushroom (optimal thickness 4-5 cm).

The infusion is quite easy to prepare at home, just be patient. But do not forget, in order to get a tasty healthy drink, you need to properly care for the mushroom.

The peak in popularity of kombucha is in the early 80s. Then this miracle product, and as such it was recognized by both the people and medicine, was present in almost every family. And no one reckoned with the incredible consumption of sugar and tea, since the panacea for all diseases cost such sacrifices. Over time, it went into oblivion, and various dietary supplements came to replace it. But everything is returning to normal, and today there is an increased interest and demand for kombucha again.

Features of kombucha

Official medicine has proven that kombucha (aka kombucha, medusomycete) really has therapeutic and prophylactic properties and can become an alternative to expensive pharmaceuticals. The unusual taste of the drink increases the tone of the body, gives strength and vigor, and, in addition, successfully fights against various diseases.

The popularity of kombucha is also explained by its unpretentiousness. Create the minimum conditions for him, the necessary nutrient medium in the form of sweet tea, and he will grow and develop very rapidly.

The puff jellyfish owes its biological origin to the community of living cultures such as bacteria and yeast. In the course of the life of such organisms that are different in nature and other features, the transformation of sweet tea into a sour drink, which has a number of healing properties, occurs:

• the risk of cancer is reduced;
• the protective function of the liver increases;
• the body's metabolism is normalized and the process of cleansing from toxic substances is activated;
• the intestinal microflora is restored;
• the level of cholesterol decreases;
• the activity of the cardiovascular system and blood pressure are normalized;
• the activity of the digestive tract improves;
• the activity of the musculoskeletal system increases.

And this is not the whole list of the advantages of kombucha. The drink, rich in organic acids, vitamins, enzymes and trace elements, promotes weight loss. It quenches thirst, dulls the feeling of hunger, but does not replace the daily food intake. In combination with fractional and balanced nutrition, kombucha is an auxiliary component in weight loss. The use of kombucha, as in other therapeutic and prophylactic cases, should be regular.

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Indications for use

Based on studies of the properties of the tea product, it is recommended as one of the means to help recovery in the following diseases:

• ARI, flu, tonsillitis;
• scarlet fever;
• diseases of the ear, throat, nose;
• viral eye infections;
• liver or gallbladder problems;
• dysentery;
• tonsillitis;
• diphtheria.

A tonic drink can simultaneously serve as a diuretic and a choleretic agent. It also helps with hypertension, hair loss, nail fungus and various cosmetic procedures.

Contraindications

Not everyone is allowed to use kombucha. For a certain category, there are contraindications: with increased acidity of the stomach, patients with diabetes mellitus, drivers are allowed to use only fresh tea drink, and those who have problems with fungal diseases should refrain.

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Cooking Kombucha

The process of growing kombucha at home is simple, but requires precision and consistency. The procedure itself takes about a month and a half, so patience and time will be needed.

Growing kombucha from tea leaves

1. It is advisable to prepare a glass jar with a volume of 3-5 liters, wash well with the addition of soda and leave to dry naturally.
2. To prepare the nutrient solution in a separate container, 3 tsp. Pour green or black tea leaves into 1 liter of boiling water and leave for 15 minutes. Drain, add 5 tbsp. granulated sugar and cool.
3. Pour the cooled tea into a prepared jar and place in a warm, but dark place.
4. Cover the neck of the glass container with a piece of gauze and tie it with braid or fix it with an elastic band. Periodically it is necessary to open for a short time to make up the liquid with oxygen.
5. After four days, notice a thin film on the surface - this is the beginning of the kombucha formation.
6. After 10-20 days, the contents of the can become lighter, a sour smell appears, and the film grows in size.
7. By the end of the process, a mobile thickened substance has already formed on the surface. The formed kombucha is transferred to a clean container and a new nutrient solution is prepared, with which it is poured.
8. The drink in the first can is ready, it must be filtered and stored in a cool place so that the fermentation process stops. And the infusion of the second can can already be consumed in 5-7 days.

The grown jellyfish is unpretentious, but requires care, cleanliness and lack of bright light.

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Growing from rose hips
Rosehip fruits themselves are saturated with vitamins, and a drink made from them is a godsend for enhancing immunity, preventing viral diseases and other disruptions in the body.

Select dense, evenly colored fruits, rinse, dry a little and chop. 6 tbsp. l. pour into a clean thermos, pour boiling water in a volume of 0.6 liters. Close and put on for 6 days. Then strain and pour into a three-liter jar, adding there the tea solution, which is prepared in the following proportion: 1 tbsp. l. tea, 5 tbsp. l. sugar, and boiling water in a volume of 220 ml. Place cheesecloth on the neck of the container and leave in a warm, dark place. Then repeat the previous method.

Apple Cider Vinegar Kombucha
You can grow your own jellyfish from homemade vinegar on your own.

Dry washed sour apples and grate with a core on a coarse grater. Put the fruit puree (about 400 g) in a clean jar and pour cold boiled water over it. Add 150 g of honey and 15 g of yeast. After that, the container remains open, it must be placed in a dark place. Mix the mass daily.

After ten days, squeeze the applesauce through several layers of gauze, and pour the resulting liquid into a clean jar, cover with a thin cloth and leave for 1.5-2 months to ferment.

At the final stage, the liquid becomes lighter, and a multi-layered jellyfish grows on its surface. It is transferred to a clean dish with sweet tea and then according to the usual scheme.

Kombucha on beer
Mix 100 ml of live beer, 10 ml of wine vinegar, 5 g of sugar. Pour the mixture into a container, covering the neck, and place in a warm place until a film forms on the surface.When it is 2 mm thick, move it to a bowl with sweet tea. After a week, the drink is ready.

The listed methods are for those who are just starting to master the art of growing kombucha. For those who are more fortunate and have shared a piece of the finished product with them, the process is greatly simplified. And if you connect your imagination, then the healing qualities of the medusomycete increase significantly.

Kombucha with herbs
The cooking scheme is standard, and select the herbal preparation depending on your disease. Pour 200 grams of herbs with 3 liters of boiling water and leave overnight. Add a little honey to the infusion and place the mushroom in it. After a week, you will get a tea infusion. Thus, you can prepare a hibiscus-based tonic drink.

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Medusomycete care

Growing a kombucha is part of the challenge. Proper care is required for its development and reproduction. First of all, the indicator of health is buoyancy. If he began to sink to the bottom and does not float to the surface on his own, it means that he is "unwell" and it is time to save. The optimum temperature should not exceed 25 degrees.

To protect the medusomycete from viruses, it is recommended to have two containers: one for its content, and in the other you will drain the finished liquid.

The thickness of the jellyfish should not exceed 4 cm. The extra layer that appears should be carefully separated from the top and laid out in other jars. The bottom is the most productive.

The duration of the healing effect of the finished drink is no more than one month. Subsequently, taste is also lost, it will be more vinegar than an invigorating elixir. Having withstood the liquid for a week, it is half drained and stored in the refrigerator. And again strained tea kvass is added to the jar. When a new portion is ready, pour off a portion again and replenish with fresh tea leaves.

The volume of liquid in the container

During growth, the fungus requires more liquid medium, about 3 liters. And when you pour out the drink, make up for the shortage each time by adding liquid. It can be unfinished tea leaves, which are cooled, sweetened per liter of boiling water, 2 tbsp. l. sugar and stir until the granulated sugar is completely dissolved. The undissolved sugar on the kombucha is one of the causes of jellyfish disease.

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Bath days for kombucha

Every two weeks, the jellyfish must be bathed by carefully removing it from the jar. Rinse gently with warm water, being careful not to injure. Then let it sit on a plate for a couple of minutes to breathe some air. Strain the contents of the jar and pour into a clean container. And wash the jar and return the mushroom to it.

The mushroom habitat itself should be clean, without signs of turbidity, and the tea product should be light in color.

Growing a kombucha at home does not require special knowledge and abilities. It is enough to adhere to a strict recipe, step-by-step technology and observe the conditions of its storage.

Video: how to grow a kombucha from scratch

Few know about kombucha now. And by the way, back in the eighties he was in almost every house. Mothers and grandmothers kept something resembling a jellyfish in three-liter jars, looked after it, fed it with tea and sugar and distributed the grown layers to their friends. And it was not for nothing then that many people grew kombucha from scratch. After all, he has always been considered the elixir of health and immortality. It is used for the prevention and treatment of many diseases. It also has excellent taste, and with its help you can quench your thirst even in the hottest time.

How to grow a kombucha from scratch by accident

After the 1980s, the fashion for it passed, and this mushroom was forgotten for some time. But now they remembered about him again, and people are interested in how to grow a kombucha at home. And it turns out that this is not at all difficult to do! After all, one has only to forget about tea leaves for a while, as a slippery coating forms on its surface.And after a couple of months, a dense mushroom will grow from this plaque.

How to purposefully grow kombucha

But if you always wash the dishes, and you do not have used tea leaves for months, then you need to grow the mushroom purposefully. To do this, you will need a clean three-liter jar, cheesecloth and 0.5 liters of strong sweetened tea. This tea should be poured into a jar and covered with gauze. Then the can is put in a warm place, you just have to wait. And after a certain time, a film forms on the tea, which will "get fat" every day. And in a few months, you will learn how to grow a kombucha from scratch. During this time, it will get stronger enough, and then it will be possible to make a miraculous drink from it.

Kombucha from a slice layer

But how to grow a kombucha from scratch and not wait several months? The most impatient are interested in this question. And it can be solved if you get a piece of the kombucha layer somewhere. It should be placed in weak tea, add sugar to it, leave to infuse for a week. And the mushroom will gradually grow, and new layers will appear on it. In this case, the level of the drink in the container will drop. Therefore, you need to monitor and, when necessary, add sweet tea. Also, from time to time, you should wash the jar in which the mushroom "lives" and change the tea in it. The mushroom itself needs to be washed once every 2-3 weeks with warm running water.

Kombucha infusion

But it is not enough to know how to grow a kombucha from scratch. You also need to be able to make a useful infusion out of it. And for this, a solution is first prepared. It will require a liter of water, 2 tsp. tea leaves and 100 g of sugar. First, tea is brewed, 15-20 minutes, and then sugar is added to it. After that, the solution should cool down to room temperature. Then it must be poured into a clean bowl. Then the mushroom is taken, gently washed in clean water and placed in a bowl with a solution. It is best to use a glass jar as such a dish. Then this jar, covered with gauze, is placed in a warm place. In the summer, after 4 days, you will receive a wonderful infusion. In winter, you will have to wait a little more - up to 7 days.

Proper care of tea mushroom

If handled incorrectly, kombucha can lose its medicinal properties. Therefore, you need to follow several basic rules for caring for him:

1. The mushroom should be stored in a dark, warm place.
2. He needs to breathe, so the can doesn't close tightly.
3. It should not get tea leaves and sugar grains.
4. The mushroom should not be poured with hot solution.
5. It should be rinsed only with warm water.
6. It should also be rinsed before preparing a fresh infusion.
7. Twice a week, the mushroom should be fed with sweet tea.

If these rules are followed, then the mushroom will be healthy and useful.

There are several ways to prepare it. For the traditional option, you will need tea, sugar, and apple cider vinegar.

Step-by-step instruction:

• make tea leaves from 1 tbsp. l. tea and 0.5 liters of boiling water, let it brew;
• add 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar and 100 g sugar;
• pour this infusion into a three-liter jar;
• the jar does not need to be closed with a lid, it is enough to tie it with a piece of gauze;
• the jar with the infusion must be placed in a warm place where the temperature is maintained at + 23ºC- + 25ºC.

In a three-liter jar, the mushroom will have enough room to grow freely. It is important to choose the right place for storing the infusion, since the jar cannot be moved during the maturation of the mushroom. It is also necessary to exclude the possibility of sunlight hitting the jar. This is the traditional way to grow kombucha from scratch.

After 3 weeks, a thin film is visible. The vinegar smell is an indicator of complete maturation of the mushroom. The film thickens up to 1–2 mm. The infusion can be drained by replacing it with sweet tea. It is important not to deform the mushroom itself, it will harden only after a couple of months.

The surface of the mushroom becomes porous over time. After six months, the mushroom reaches the required consistency. It should be gently rinsed monthly with warm water.With the help of such a mushroom, you can prepare a healthy tea drink every day.

For its preparation, not only tea is used, rose hips and apple juice are well suited.

1. A tea drink based on rose hips is a real storehouse of vitamins. It will help strengthen the immune system and become a reliable prevention of seasonal colds. To prepare it you need:

• in a thermos, make an infusion of 4 tbsp. l. fresh or dried rose hips and 0.5 liters of boiling water;
• close the thermos and let the drink brew for 5 days;
• pour the infusion into a three-liter jar, add brewed black tea made from 2 tbsp. l. tea and 2 tbsp. steep boiling water;
• add 5 tbsp. l. Sahara.

Next, you need to follow the same instructions as when growing a black tea mushroom.

1. The mushroom is obtained from apple juice as follows:

• let the juice settle at the bottom of a three-liter jar for about 2 months;
• then mix this infusion with black tea infusion (1 tbsp. l for 0.5 l of boiling water);
• add 3 tbsp. l. Sahara.

In the following stages, the process does not differ from the previous recipes.

Knowing how to grow a kombucha, you can enjoy a healthy and refreshing drink all year round.