Booch!

Nope, I am not talking about something a parent needs at the end of a long day. I am talking about Kombucha, also known as fermented tea.

Kombucha is a fermented tea, usually starting with black or green tea. You have a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) also know as the "mother" that eats the sugar you add to the tea. The "mother" then starts to produce a new "baby" and releases good bacteria as the sugar is ingested. For more on the background of Kombucha go to this great website The Food Renegade- Kombucha Health Benefits.

My daugher and I love it! For a about a year I made it myself at home. It was kind of cool, like a science experiment at school meets snack time. It was fairly easy to make, pretty cheap and tasty. In fact, as I just wrote that I thought, "why am I not making it myself?!?"

The reason, we moved into a much smaller house. While I was making it we were caretaking a house that is about 3 times as big as our current house. I had a seperate counter and sink to deal with it and store it. In our current house a large jar of it would take up precious counter (or cabinet) space. It also tends to draw fruit flies in the summer, which can again be overwhelming in a small space (fruit flies, take a small bowl, some apple cider vinegar and add a few drops of dish soap, they are attracted and drown. Thanks Momma Sheila!).

Another problem I had with making it is I was never 100% confident I was doing it right. Fermented too long and it can turn into alcohol (not something you want to be giving your 3 year old), not long enough and the sugar is not completely "eaten" by the "mother". Not brewing it long enough is not the end of the world, but then you are just drinking another sugary beverage and not getting the complete health benefits of Kombucha. 

So now I just suck it up and buy it. I figured that since we don't have pop or regular juice in our fridge, we can afford to grab a few bottles when we go shopping. In fact, I apologize, if you come over to our house I can offer you water, whole milk, coffee or tea. My daugher and I don't drink it every day, and we split a bottle between us (or even make it last for 2 days), but it is a nice change from water. I like to believe that all the good bacteria is making our tummies happy!

The two NessAlla bottles are local kombucha brewed in Madison, WI. The two Synergy bottles are kombucha brewed by G.T.'s Kombucha a national brand. These are our favorite flavors!