Kombucha at home. Kombucha: benefits and preparation features

In the late 80s, kombucha lived in almost every home. Resembling both a jellyfish and a multi-layered pancake pie, he ate scarce tea and sugar, gained weight and was considered a panacea for most diseases. Kombucha infusion is a wonderful drink that gives strength, quenches thirst and allows you to tone your body for the whole day. They willingly distributed it to relatives, friends and complete strangers, carefully separating the top layer.

Today, the forgotten kombucha is becoming extremely popular again. However, it is not easy to get: it is sold on various Internet forums, sent from other countries across the ocean, and they are very sad when the mushroom dies.

But it’s quite possible to grow kombucha at home yourself “out of nothing.” However, you need to be patient because the process of growing kombucha is long.

tea mushroom(another name for Japanese mushroom, sea mushroom) consists of different types of yeast fungi and bacteria of acetic acid fermentation. It is the symbiosis of these cultures that allows kombucha to process sweetened tea into a healthy and tasty drink.

There are several recipes for growing your own kombucha.

Recipe No. 1

Brew fresh strong tea, add 1 teaspoon of sugar and leave for three days in a warm place. A thin oily film will begin to form on the surface. This is the germ of the kombucha. After a month and a half, when the membrane has become stronger, it must be transferred to a new jar and filled with cooled, weak, sweetened tea at the rate of 5 teaspoons of sugar per 2 liters of tea. Water for tea must be boiled, since raw water contains a lot of potassium salts, which can destroy the mushroom. Do not seal the jar with the mushroom, but simply cover it with a napkin. Keep away from windows as cold and direct sunlight will stunt the development of kombucha. The mushroom will grow, acquiring its familiar dense consistency and shape. According to some recommendations, a young embryo should be placed in a weak solution of apple cider vinegar for several minutes. And after that he can be sent to a permanent place of residence. As a rule, kombucha lives in a fairly spacious container (for example, a three-liter jar) with a wide neck, filled with sweetened tea; the neck of the jar is always covered with gauze.

Recipe No. 2

Another way to get kombucha is to use apple juice. To do this, you need to leave the apple juice at the bottom of the container for 1.5–2 months. The resulting substance on the surface of the juice should be placed in a nutrient medium of slightly sweetened tea leaves until the subsequent formation of kombucha. The neck of the jar must be covered with two layers of gauze.

Recipe No. 3

According to another recipe, kombucha can be grown from homemade kvass. To do this, pour freshly prepared homemade kvass without filtration into a small container and place it in a warm place. Do not close the lid, as free air access must be ensured. Within a few days, a thin film forms on the surface. The young mushroom will grow and try to occupy the entire surface of the liquid, thereby blocking the access of air to the solution in which it grows. Due to this, the fermentation process may slow down. To prevent this from happening, you need to carefully bend the edges of the mushroom, letting air inside. After a few days, the embryo will turn a little white and become more visible against the background of the drink. Now you can transplant the young kombucha to a permanent place in a jar of sweetened tea.

Recipe No. 4

Pour 100 g of live unpasteurized beer into a jar, add 1 teaspoon of sugar and pour in 2 teaspoons of sour wine. Mix and place in a warm and preferably dark place. After a few days, the surface of the mixture will be covered with a thin film - the embryo of the future fungus. It should be carefully removed and transferred to a jar with a pre-prepared solution of tea and sugar.

Recipe No. 5

Kombucha can be obtained by making homemade apple cider vinegar. Take apples, without wormholes or rot, and grate them together with the core on a coarse grater. Place in a glass bowl and pour in warm boiled water at the rate of 1.5 liters of water for every 400 g of grated apples. Add 10 g of yeast and 100 g of honey for each liter of water. Yeast can be replaced with a piece of dry bread, and sugar can be used instead of honey. Store the container with the mixture open in a dark place at room temperature for 10 days. The contents must be carefully mixed with a wooden spoon 2-3 times a day. Then transfer the mixture into a gauze bag and strain. Pour the liquid into a new glass container, cover with gauze and leave so to continue the fermentation process. Apple cider vinegar matures within 40–60 days. By this time, the liquid calms down and becomes transparent. And on the surface a so-called vinegar queen is formed - a dense jellyfish, which is nothing more than a young kombucha. Next, it needs to be placed in a pre-prepared nutrient medium of sweet tea and infused.

Kombucha helps to prepare a delicious drink and, in addition, it has a lot of useful properties, which we will also remember in this post. How to grow kombucha yourself from black tea or rose hips, how to store kombucha and many other tricks for you.

Growing Black Tea Mushroom

If you only need kombucha for a tasty drink that has a general strengthening effect, you can grow kombucha only from black tea. You will need a three-liter jar, gauze cloth, a teapot, boiling water, sugar and large-leaf black tea. Moreover, the brew should be as usual, without any additives - the cheaper, the better.

The first thing you need to do is to very thoroughly wash the three-liter jar, which will become the residence of your mushroom. This is a mandatory requirement, since kombucha loves cleanliness very much. Otherwise, he will die without having time to grow. And one more very important point: under no circumstances use synthetic detergents to wash the jars - regular baking soda is enough.

Place five tablespoons of black tea in a teapot and pour half a liter of boiling water over them, leave until the tea leaves have cooled completely. Then add 7 tablespoons of sugar to the brew, stir thoroughly and strain using gauze. Pour the sweet, strong brew into a three-liter jar, cover it with gauze on top and place in a warm place for about a month and a half.

After about a week or a week and a half, a strong vinegar smell will appear - this is completely normal, you will have to be patient a little. After 5-6 days, the smell will practically disappear, and a thin film will form on the surface of the liquid - this is kombucha. Every day it will become thicker and thicker - the growth of the fungus does not stop throughout its life.

Growing mushrooms from rose hips

If the task of your kombucha is not only to relieve thirst, but also to take care of your health, it is best to give preference to growing it from rose hips. This kind of kombucha is a real find during the cold season, during the flu and cold season, as well as in the spring, when vitamin deficiency becomes more active. The principle of growing is the same as from simple tea leaves, but there are some nuances, which we will talk about now.

First you need to prepare a rosehip infusion. To do this, you can use both fresh and dried fruits, which are sold in any pharmacy. Place four tablespoons of rose hips in a thermos, pour half a liter of boiling water and cover with a lid, leave for five days.

After the rosehip infusion is ready, you can proceed directly to growing the mushroom. Wash a three-liter jar, pour the rosehip infusion and pre-prepared tea leaves into it - at the rate of a tablespoon of large-leaf black tea per glass of boiling water. Add 5 tablespoons of sugar and mix thoroughly, leave for a day.

Then strain using a gauze cloth, rinse the jar and transfer the infusion into the jar again. Cover the jar with a gauze cloth, previously folded in several layers, and place it in a warm, dark place. Next, the process will develop according to the standard pattern - after about two weeks a strong vinegar smell will appear, which will soon disappear. And the mushroom itself forms in one and a half to two months.

Kombucha care

Growing kombucha at home from scratch is only half the battle. The second equally important half is proper care of the mushroom. Otherwise, you risk getting something that resembles vinegar rather than a tasty drink. Or even worse - the kombucha grown with such care will simply die.

By the way, there is an excellent indicator of the health of kombucha - it should always be on the surface of the water. If your mushroom sank to the bottom, or refuses to float up again after adding tea leaves, there is a very high probability that it has become ill. If your kombucha gets sick, you made a mistake in caring for it. This means that it must be treated, and in all cases, without exception, the treatment is the same - cleanliness and proper care.

Liquid volume

As you remember, initially the jar contains a small amount of liquid - approximately 0.5 liters. But when the mushroom has already grown, there should be much more liquid - about three liters. It goes without saying that your kombucha is not a piece of decoration and you will drink it. This means that don’t forget to add fluid regularly.

To do this, you can use already dried tea leaves - pour boiling water over it, cool and add sugar, then pour it into a jar. There should not be too much sugar - no more than two tablespoons per liter of liquid. If necessary, it is better to add sugar to the cup of drink.

Many people do not strain the tea leaves - they simply add it. There is no harm in this for the mushroom, it just won’t be very convenient for you to drink the drink later. But there will be no harm only if all the sugar is completely dissolved - grains of sugar should under no circumstances come into contact with the surface of the mushroom.

Bath day

Once every two to three weeks, be sure to give your kombucha a bath day. Very carefully remove the mushroom itself from the jar and place it on a wide plate, being careful not to deform it too much. Thoroughly strain the liquid in which the mushroom was located using a gauze cloth and pour into a clean three-liter jar.

Place the plate with the mushroom in the sink and carefully rinse with warm (but not hot) water, leave in the air for a couple of minutes. Then also carefully transfer the kombucha into a jar and cover with gauze. That’s it, the “brainwash” of kombucha is over. It would seem like a completely simple procedure, which is very easy to do, and it is thanks to it that your kombucha will be healthy.

Otherwise, the mushroom will begin to hurt - first it will acquire a brown tint, and then it will begin to separate completely. It is very difficult to save such a mushroom, and in most cases it is easier to grow a new one. And drinking a drink from such kombucha is generally not recommended, because it not only loses its benefits, but moreover, it becomes dangerous to health. Remember that the kombucha infusion should always be extremely clear.

Storing Kombucha

Another necessary condition for the health of kombucha is its proper storage. Firstly, the temperature – it should only be high enough when growing kombucha. Then the optimal temperature should not exceed 18 degrees. Secondly - illumination. For the normal functioning of kombucha, light is simply necessary, and the daylight hours should be at least 8 hours. But direct sunlight should be avoided, so don’t make the very common mistake of placing a jar of kombucha on the windowsill.

Benefits of Kombucha

It’s impossible not to at least briefly mention the beneficial properties of kombucha - after all, it’s not for nothing that you bother with it?

Metabolism and immune system

The first thing worth mentioning is vitamins. The kombucha drink contains much more useful substances than the most expensive vitamin and mineral complex. Vitamins, minerals, carbonic, lactic and other acids, minerals, enzymes - this is not a complete list. Therefore, it is not surprising that a drink made from kombucha has a very positive effect on the functioning of the immune system and normalizes metabolism.

Digestive tract

Are you suffering from gastritis, colitis, peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum, dysbacteriosis? Just one glass of kombucha drink, drunk on an empty stomach, can improve the situation in just a week. And its regular use promotes complete healing. By the way, the drink eliminates even the most severe heartburn very well.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in growing and caring for kombucha. Therefore, if you set out to grow this miracle mushroom yourself, go for it, because the benefits are obvious!

Kombucha (medusomycete), popular in the times of our mothers and grandmothers, was undeservedly forgotten, but only for a while. Now he is regaining his position. Europe and the USA appreciated the pleasant taste and beneficial properties of this drink. There it is produced industrially and sold in health food departments. It's time for us to remember this healing substrate. Medusomycete can be ordered online, but it is better to produce it yourself. Learn how to grow kombucha from scratch.

There are different options for obtaining medusomycetes. No difficulties: following the step-by-step instructions, you can easily grow this miracle kombucha at home.

On tea leaves

How to make kombucha with loose leaf black or green tea on hand? The classic recipe looks like this:

Place 5 tbsp in a large teapot. l. tea leaves and pour 0.5 liters of boiling water;
Add 7 tbsp to the infused tea. l. Sahara;
Pour the liquid from the teapot through a strainer into a clean liter jar;
Wrap the neck of the jar with gauze and place the container in a warm, dark place.

After 1.5-2 weeks, a slight vinegar smell will appear. This indicates that fermentation processes are taking place. Soon a thin mucous film will begin to form on the surface, and the smell of vinegar will disappear. After 1.5 months, the film will acquire a dense consistency. This is young kombucha. It is necessary to carefully transfer it into a 3-liter jar, previously filled with cooled sweetened tea of weak strength. Here the medusomycete will continue to grow, and you will get a tasty drink.

Kombucha containers must be clean. If there are microbes on the walls of the vessel, the medusomycete will simply die. It is not recommended to use chemicals when washing. It is better to use soda and then rinse the bottle thoroughly under running water.

Place the jar of kombucha in a warm place, avoiding exposure to sunlight. The container is covered with gauze.

On the rosehip

Rosehip infusion is rich in vitamins and is good for health. But it is contraindicated for those who have kidney stones. This should be taken into account when choosing rose hips as a base. The cultivation of the mushroom is carried out as follows:

Pour 4 tbsp into a thermos. l. mashed rose hips and pour boiling water (0.5 l);
The contents are infused in a thermos for 4 days;
Strain the infusion and pour it into a 3 liter jar;
Add a glass of tea, having previously dissolved 5 tbsp in it. l. Sahara;
Cover the jar with gauze and leave it in a dark place.

After 1.5 months, a young mushroom will appear on the surface.

On apple cider vinegar

Preparing a medusomycete drink with apple cider vinegar has its own characteristics. The process takes longer. The algorithm of actions is as follows:

A bottle of apple cider vinegar is left in a warm, dark place for 2-2.5 months, waiting for sediment to form;
When sediment appears, the contents of the bottle are poured into cooled sweetened tea;
The mixture is kept for some time until a thin film appears and then a full-fledged mushroom forms.

It is very important to use quality apple cider vinegar. A product with various additives and preservatives is not suitable for growing.

Now the young medusomycete can be transplanted to a permanent place of residence - in a jar of weakly brewed tea.

With homemade kvass

Many people prepare a refreshing drink in the summer - kvass. It can be used to form kombucha. How to do it?

Pour 0.5 liters of freshly prepared unfiltered kvass into a liter jar;
Place the container in a warm, dark place;
Wait for the film to appear and let the mushroom grow.

If the medusomycete grows so much that it blocks the access of air to the liquid, its edges should be carefully folded.

When the mushroom germ turns white against the background of the drink, it can be transported to a jar of tea.

On beer and wine

It is worth trying an interesting but rarely used method of forming a tea jellyfish, following the rules:

Combine 100 g of live unpasteurized beer, 2 tsp. sour wine and 1 tsp. Sahara;
Place the container in a warm, dark place for several days until a thin film appears;
Carefully remove the kombucha germ and place it in a bottle of sweet tea for further development.

Growing kombucha is only part of the story. It is important to preserve it. Medusomycetes need to be properly cared for. This product really likes cleanliness. Tea for it is prepared only with purified water, and the mushroom itself must be bathed once a month. There are other rules for caring for medusomycetes. You can get acquainted with them in the article “Kombucha how to care for and use.”

Kombucha propagation

You make tea. For 1 liter of boiling water, 2 tsp is enough. green or black tea;
Dissolve 40-50 g of sugar;
Cool the tea to room temperature and pour it into a clean jar;
Place a piece of mushroom in this container;
Cover the neck with gauze and place the vessel in a warm, dark place.

In a week, the drink will be ready for consumption, and the medusomycete, having been saturated with sweet tea water, will noticeably increase in size. To your joy and health!

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

How to grow your own kombucha

There are several ways to obtain kombucha at home. It is not difficult 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 medusomycetes 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 that is what made it famous.

We grow from scratch from tea

First of all, you will 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 flavors, aromas and other additives. You should prepare the following equipment: a 3-liter jar, gauze, a teapot for brewing. In addition to tea, you need sugar and boiling water.

Rinse the jar where the drink will be infused well. Cleanliness is a very important factor; if the bottle is not washed thoroughly, then due to food residues and microbes the mushroom will simply die without reaching the required size. It is important not to use chemicals when washing. Use baking soda. Don't forget to rinse the jar well with clean running water at the end.
Brew tea using 5 tbsp. spoons of tea per 0.5 liters of water. Let it brew.
When the brew has cooled, add 7 tbsp. spoons of sugar. Stir well. All grains of sugar should completely dissolve.
The resulting broth is filtered using a sieve or gauze and poured into a previously prepared jar.
The bottle is covered with gauze folded in a couple of layers and placed in a warm place where it will remain for 6 weeks. During this time, the medusomycete will grow.

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

Growing from rose hips

When using an infusion of a mushroom grown from rose hips, you will get a pleasant-tasting drink and a healthy, immune-strengthening remedy. Drinking such drinks in the fall and early spring is especially beneficial, when the body so needs additional vitamins.

To grow medusomycetes on rose hips, you must follow the recommendations:

First of all, you need to prepare a rosehip infusion in a thermos. Pour in the fruits (4 tablespoons). Pour boiling water (0.5 l) over the berries. The thermos is tightly closed with a lid. Leave the infusion for 5 days.
Wash the jar in which you intend to grow it thoroughly. Pour the infusion into the bottle.
Brew tea using 1 tbsp. spoon of tea leaves for 1 tbsp. boiling water Add the resulting tea leaves to the rosehip infusion.
Pour 5 tbsp into a jar. spoons of sugar. Stir until all sugar crystals are completely dissolved. Leave the infusion for a day. Strain through cheesecloth.
The strained infusion is covered with gauze. They stand in the same way as when growing on tea leaves.

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

Important! After a few weeks, the infusion will begin to smell vinegary. This is fine. It indicates that the fermentation processes are successful. Within a week, a film will appear on the surface of the tea leaves, from which a medusomycete will form. After this, the smell quickly disappears.

Growing with apple cider vinegar

It is necessary to leave the bottle of apple cider vinegar in a warm, fairly 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 will later grow and become a full-fledged kombucha.

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

How to properly grow from a piece

If you have friends who have fairly developed kombucha specimens, just ask for a piece for propagation. The medusomycete grows quickly and exfoliates. There are often people who sell it not only in the market, but also on the Internet. The only thing you will need is to know how to properly care for the mushroom until it adapts to new conditions.

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

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

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

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

Important! Do not cover the jar with a lid. The medusomycete must breathe freely. Otherwise, the infusion may quickly deteriorate.

Mushroom care

Now you know how to properly grow kombucha. But it is very important to properly care for the medusomycete 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 increasing to 3 liters. To do this, you can use the tea leaves left over from drinking tea. It is poured with boiling water again, sugar is added, and then allowed to cool. Already cooled tea can be safely poured into a jar.

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

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

Every month you need to thoroughly wash the mushroom. Take it out of the jar. Movements must be careful and careful so as not to cause damage. Place the mushroom on a wide plate and rinse thoroughly with water. After this, leave to air dry a little (no more than 3 minutes). Place carefully in a normal environment. It is worth considering that tap water is often unsuitable for rinsing. 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. It is better to refrain from drinking the infusion.

There are many myths associated with caring for kombucha. Let's look at the most popular of them:

If the color of the medusomycete has changed and turned white, it may simply be developing and 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.
The appearance of long threads in the jar that come out from the base of the medusomycete and look like legs is not a harbinger of something terrible. This phenomenon occurs quite often.
When transplanting into a jar did the mushroom sink to the bottom? Don't panic, give him a little time to stand and adapt. It will definitely float to the surface.
The mushroom has turned brown and will not rise from the bottom. The medusomycete got sick. It is better not to use this infusion.

Storage rules

After receiving the drink, you must follow the rules for storing it:

the mushroom should stand in a dark place;
temperature up to +25 degrees;
Drain the infusion regularly (once every 5 days in winter, 3 days in summer);
store the drink in the refrigerator;
do not infuse 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, you just need to be patient. But don’t forget, in order to get a tasty, healthy drink, you need to properly care for the mushroom.

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

Features of Kombucha

Official medicine has proven that kombucha (also known as kombucha, medusomycete) actually has therapeutic and prophylactic properties and can become an alternative to expensive pharmaceuticals. The unusual-tasting drink improves body tone, gives strength and vigor, and, in addition, successfully fights various diseases.

The popularity of kombucha can also be explained by its unpretentiousness. Create minimal conditions for it, the necessary nutritional environment in the form of sweet tea, and it will grow and develop very rapidly.

The puff jellyfish owes its biological origin to a community of living cultures such as bacteria and yeast. During the life activity of organisms so different in nature and other characteristics, sweet tea is transformed into a sour drink that has a number of healing properties:

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;
intestinal microflora is restored;
cholesterol levels decrease;
the activity of the cardiovascular system and blood pressure are normalized;
the activity of the gastrointestinal tract improves;
the activity of the musculoskeletal system increases.

And this is not the entire list of benefits of kombucha. A drink rich in organic acids, vitamins, enzymes and microelements 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 for weight loss. The consumption of kombucha, as in other therapeutic and prophylactic cases, should be regular.

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Indications for use

Based on research into the properties of the tea product, it is recommended as one of the means to help recover from the following diseases:

acute respiratory infections, flu, sore throat;
scarlet fever;
diseases of the ear, nose and throat;
viral eye infections;
liver or gallbladder problems;
dysentery;
tonsillitis;
diphtheria.

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

Contraindications

Not everyone can use kombucha. For a certain category, there are contraindications: with increased stomach acidity, patients with diabetes, drivers are allowed to drink only fresh tea, and those with problems with fungal diseases should abstain.

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Making 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 you will need patience and time.

Growing kombucha from tea leaves

It is advisable to prepare a glass jar with a volume of 3-5 liters, wash it well with the addition of soda and leave to dry naturally.
To prepare a nutrient solution in a separate container, 3 tsp. green or black brewed tea, pour 1 liter of boiling water and leave for 15 minutes. Strain, add 5 tbsp. granulated sugar and cool.
Pour the cooled tea into a prepared jar and place in a warm but dark place.
Cover the neck of the glass container with a piece of gauze and tie it with braid or secure it with an elastic band. Periodically it is necessary to open for a short time to replenish the liquid with oxygen.
After four days, you will notice a thin film on the surface - this is the beginning of the emergence of kombucha.
After 10-20 days, the contents of the jar become lighter, a sour smell appears, and the film increases in size.
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, which is poured into it.
The drink in the first jar is ready; it needs to be strained and stored in a cool place so that the fermentation process stops. And the infusion of the second jar can already be consumed after 5-7 days.

The grown medusomycete is unpretentious, but requires care, cleanliness and the absence of bright light.

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Growing from rose hips
Rose hips themselves are rich in vitamins, and a drink made from them is a godsend for boosting immunity, preventing viral diseases and other problems in the body.

Select dense, evenly colored fruits, rinse, dry a little and chop. 6 tbsp. l. pour into a clean thermos, pour 0.6 liters of boiling water. Close and leave for 6 days. Then strain and pour into a three-liter jar, adding 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 gauze 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 medusomycetes yourself from homemade vinegar.

Dry the washed sour apples and grate them with the core on a coarse grater. Place fruit puree (approximately 400 g) in a clean jar and fill with cold boiled water. Add 150 g of honey and 15 g of yeast. After this, the container remains open; it must be placed in a dark place. The mixture should be stirred daily.

After ten days, the applesauce must be squeezed out through several layers of gauze, and the resulting liquid must be poured into a clean jar, covered with a thin cloth and left for fermentation for 1.5-2 months.

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

Kombucha with 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, transfer it to a bowl with sweet tea. After a week, the drink is ready.

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

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

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Care for medusomycetes

Growing kombucha is part of the challenge. Proper care is required for its development and reproduction. An indicator of health, first of all, is buoyancy. If he begins to sink to the bottom and does not float to the surface on his own, it means he is “sick” and it’s time to save him. The optimal temperature should not exceed 25 degrees.

The thickness of the jellyfish should not exceed 4 cm. The excess layer that appears should be carefully separated from the top and placed in other jars. The lower part is the most productive.

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

Volume of liquid in container

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

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Bath days for kombucha

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

The fungus' habitat itself should be clean, without signs of cloudiness, and the tea product should be light in color.

To grow kombucha at home, you do not need any special knowledge or abilities. It is enough to adhere to the strict recipe, step-by-step technology and observe the storage conditions.

Video: how to grow kombucha from scratch

Few people know about kombucha now. By the way, back in the eighties it was in almost every home. 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 friends. And it was not for nothing that many people then grew kombucha from scratch. After all, it 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 kombucha from scratch by accident

After the 1980s, the fashion for it passed, and this mushroom was forgotten for some time. But now they have remembered it again, and people are interested in how to grow kombucha at home. And it turns out that it’s not at all difficult to do this! After all, as soon as you forget about the tea leaves for a while, 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 don’t have used tea leaves lying around for months, then you need to grow the mushroom purposefully. To do this, you will need a clean three-liter jar, gauze and 0.5 liters of strong, sweetened tea. This tea needs to be poured into a jar and covered with gauze. Then the jar is placed in a warm place, all that remains is to wait. And after a certain time, a film forms on the tea, which will “get fatter” every day. And in a few months you will learn how to grow kombucha from scratch. During this time, it will become strong enough, and then it will be possible to make a miraculous drink from it.

Kombucha from a piece of layer

But how can you grow kombucha from scratch without waiting several months? The most impatient people are interested in this question. And it can be solved if you get a piece of kombucha layer somewhere. It should be placed in weak tea, sugar should be added to it, and left to steep 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 should be washed with warm running water every 2-3 weeks.

Kombucha infusion

But it’s not enough to know how to grow kombucha from scratch. You also need to be able to make a useful infusion from 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 for 15-20 minutes, and then sugar is added to it. After this, the solution should cool to room temperature. Then it must be poured into a clean container. Then the mushroom is taken, carefully washed in clean water and placed in a bowl with a solution. It is best to use a glass jar for such utensils. 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 longer - up to 7 days.

Proper care of tea mushroom

If handled improperly, kombucha may lose its healing properties. Therefore, you need to follow a few basic rules for caring for it:

The mushroom should be stored in a dark, warm place.
It must breathe, so the jar does not close tightly.
Tea leaves and grains of sugar should not come into contact with it.
The mushroom should not be filled with hot solution.
It should only be washed with warm water.
It should also be washed before preparing a fresh infusion.
The mushroom should be fed with sweet tea twice a week.

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

There are several ways to prepare it. For the traditional version 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, just 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 there will be enough space for the mushroom to grow freely. It is important to choose the right place to store the infusion, since the jar cannot be moved while the mushroom is maturing. 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 smell of vinegar is an indicator that the mushroom is fully ripe. The film thickens to 1–2 mm. The infusion can be drained and replaced with sweet tea. It is important not to deform the mushroom itself; it will compact 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 washed carefully with warm water every month. Using this mushroom you can prepare a healthy tea drink every day.

To prepare it, not only tea is used; rose hips and apple juice are also suitable.

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. boiling water;
add 5 tbsp. l. Sahara.

The mushroom is obtained from apple juice as follows:

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

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

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

How grow kombucha at home depends on what kind of drink you are expecting. If you just need a refreshing, tasty drink with a general strengthening effect, then grow kombucha at home Can be based on black tea.

In what way you decide to help your body with the help of kombucha or dietary supplements, it is better to consult a doctor.

How to grow kombucha at home from black tea

Take a 3-liter jar, gauze-based fabric (gauze), a teapot, sugar, large-leaf black tea without additives, boiling water.

Rinse the 3 liter jar very thoroughly.

Kombucha is picky about its “living conditions” and loves clean dishes. Otherwise, it will not grow, but will simply sour and die.

When cleaning the jar, use baking soda rather than synthetic detergents. Rinse the jar well after washing.

Put 5 tablespoons of tea leaves into a teapot and pour 05.0 liters of boiling water.

Then leave the tea leaves to cool completely in the kettle.

When the tea leaves cool, add 7 tablespoons of granulated sugar to the kettle. Mix well and strain the resulting sweet, strong brew through gauze.

Then you need to pour the resulting sweet brew into a 3-liter jar, cover the top with gauze and place in a warm place for about 6 weeks.

After a week or a week and a half, you will feel that the jar smells like vinegar - this is a normal oxidation process. When another 5 or 6 days have passed, the smell of vinegar will almost disappear, and you will find a thin film on the surface of the broth.

This film is the nascent kombucha. Every day the layers of the mushroom will increase, and this will continue throughout its “mushroom” life. This is how you can grow kombucha at home yourself from black tea.

How to grow kombucha at home from rose hips

A drink made from kombucha based on rose hips has an excellent supply of microelements that are useful during the cold and ARVI season and will become a real helper for your body and the health of your loved ones.
The principle of growing kombucha at home using rose hips is the same as the principle of growing kombucha at home using black tea. However, there are some important nuances here, which we will tell you about now.

First of all, you need to buy rose hips, which are probably available in every pharmacy. Take a thermos and pour half a liter of boiling water over 4 tablespoons of rose hips. Close the thermos tightly with a lid and leave for five days.

Then prepare the tea leaves: 1 tablespoon of large-leaf black tea per 1 tbsp. boiling water + 5 tbsp. spoons of granulated sugar - mix everything thoroughly until the sugar dissolves and pour into a jar with rose hips - mix again. Next, leave the resulting infusion alone for a day in a warm place, covered with gauze, so that debris does not accidentally get there.

When the day has passed, strain the infusion through cheesecloth, rinse the jar with boiled water and pour the infusion back into it.

Cover the jar with a clean gauze cloth, which you have previously folded in several layers. Leave in a warm, dark place.

Next, everything will happen along a well-known chain. After about two weeks, you will notice a strong smell, reminiscent of vinegar, which will soon disappear. And after 1.5-2 months you will see the formed young kombucha grown at home.

Tips for caring for kombucha

Grow kombucha at home- this is not your whole task. There is an equally important part of this process: proper care of kombucha.
Otherwise, the processes occurring inside the jar may go the wrong way and instead of a tasty, invigorating drink, you will end up with an unpleasant sour liquid. Otherwise, carefully grown kombucha at home may even die.

The most telling indicator of the health of kombucha is its buoyancy.

That is, if the kombucha suddenly begins to sink from the surface to the bottom of the jar, if after you add a new portion of tea leaves it does not want to float to the surface on its own - then this indicates that it “feels” unimportant and it’s time to take action urgent actions to “reanimate” him.
If your kombucha suddenly begins to hurt, this indicates that you are doing something wrong. The only true treatment for kombucha is keeping the “banker” clean and proper aftercare.

Monitor the volume of liquid in the kombucha jar
When your kombucha grows, instead of the initial half liter of liquid, it will need much more, about 3 liters.

In addition, you will pour the drink. Therefore, do not forget to add liquid to the mushroom every time you pour a tea drink from a jar.

For such purposes, you can use tea leaves that have already been consumed. You need to pour boiling water over it, cool and add about two tablespoons of granulated sugar per 1 liter of boiling water - mix very thoroughly so that all the grains of sugar are completely dissolved.

If the sugar does not dissolve completely and gets on the mushroom, it “will not like it very much.”

Water procedures for the “health” of kombucha

Wash the mushroom once every two weeks. Remove it carefully from the jar and place it without deforming it on a plate.

Then rinse "gently" under lukewarm water in the sink. Then carefully place the mushroom on a plate and leave to air bath for about two minutes. Meanwhile, strain all the liquid from the jar through a gauze cloth into a clean container.

Rinse the jar itself well with water. Then pour the strained drink back into the jar and put out the kombucha, “carefully” covering it with a gauze cloth folded in several layers.

The liquid in which the mushroom floats should be transparent, not cloudy. The mushroom should not be brown in color. Otherwise, such a drink may harm your health instead of the expected healing effect. By regularly washing your mushroom, you will keep it healthy and enjoy your kombucha drink for a long time.

How to store a jar of kombucha
While you are growing kombucha, the temperature should be about 22-25 degrees, then, when the mushroom has already “gained weight”, the jar with it should be placed in a place where the temperature will be about 18 degrees, that is, not too hot.

It is important to remember that kombucha needs light to survive. That's why you can't put it in a closet. However, be sure to keep in mind that putting a mushroom on the windowsill is a mistake! In direct sunlight, he will “cook” and get sick.

To grow kombucha at home- you don’t need to do anything extraordinary, everything is quite simple. All that is required is compliance with the recipe and preparation technology, and then proper storage.