2 weeks Ago By Andrea Borsvold
I’m a big fan of kombucha, but not so much the price. All the lovely juices and combinations of flavors they come up with is amazing. I’ve even experienced a kombucha food truck at an event once.
But at $5 a bottle, that becomes a luxury for this mama. So a couple of years ago, I decided to learn how to make my own. I figured “how hard can it be?” as I’m always willing to try kitchen things at least once.
Then I sat down and did the math, and for the same amount as what was in those $5 bottles, I could make it at home for 18 cents — and in larger batches, too. ADVERTISEMENT Now, there is some art to fermentation, but some of it is luck, or forgetfulness. It’s mostly trial and error in my kitchen.
Kombucha takes a SCOBY, or a symbiotic culture Of bacteria and yeast, to almost seal the top of the liquid in the jar. It looks like a jellyfish, but acts like a scab, sealing in the good stuff and keeping the bad stuff out. I keep a “hotel” of SCOBYs in a jar in my cupboard if my current one were to get forgotten long enough to mold or dry out.
I’m just about to start my kombucha season, as it’s more of a spring and summer beverage for me. My sourdough is about to go to bed in the back of my fridge for the summer, as I like to switch out my sourdough and kombucha in their seasons, so I only have to keep track of feeding one ferment at a time. I’m not a diehard sourdough fan, but I try to bake it at least once a month.
Sourdough takes a starter, which requires feeding and keeping alive. I mostly just don’t have the patience for sourdough, because I know there’s a quicker way to make bread and that’s with yeast. I can start a batch and have it ready to eat in three hours, but with sourdough, it takes a whole day.
I much prefer the “make it and forget it” kind of ferments, like sauerkraut. I get a good-sized cabbage at a local farmer’s market each fall and start a half gallon jar of “homestead kraut” which is simply cabbage and salt. I’d like to learn to can smaller jars of kraut and something with a little more flavor, but I haven’t found the right recipe yet.
We like to make Reuben sandwiches and Reuben bake from time to time throughout the year. Corned beef is usually out in stores year-round, but if all else fails, any deli meat will do in a pinch. Each of these ferments are good for our gut, and the more I learn about our gut biome and how it can affect our overall health, I want to keep ferments a regular part of our diet.
Some are easier than others to make and all of them are kind of an acquired taste. But like anything I try in my kitchen, it’s often an experiment and subject to change in the future. Sometimes I try new things and decide they are not for me, or I see the worth is paying someone else to make it for me.
But you can be assured, I like to have fun with fermentation. Andrea Borsvold is a busy homesteading mama of three who loves God, coffee, sewing and the beauty of nature living in northwestern Minnesota..
