The mysterious covered jar in the corner...

[fajrdrako]

I am making a magic potion. It's currently sitting in a cool, dark spot in my apartment, the jar covered with a tea towel while it... matures.

It isn't just from reading too much Asterix and J.K. Rowling, though that might have something to do with my fascinating. It isn't really magic either, or at least, no more than anything else: it's kombucha, a kind of tea. Or, rather, a cultured drink made from tea.

It all started with my friend Hildegarde, who has been drinking it for years. Hildegarde has better health than just about anyone I know. She's slim, strong, and has a superb immune system -hardly ever even gets a cold. When she started drinking a little kombucha every day, she slowly lost 25 pounds without even dieting. That alone would make it attractive to me, but what really made me want to try it is that it is supposed to be a good remedy for candidiasis. When I was seriously sick with candida symptoms, I was drinking a foul concoction called Cthulhu Juice. No, not officially called Cthulhu Juice - called that by me. I drank eight ounces of it every day, a slimy grey cocktail that I had to pinch my nose to swallow. Kombucha is much nicer.

So Beulah, who loves to study naturopathy and herbal remedies, learned from Hildegarde how to make the stuff - it's like sourdough or yogurt in that you need a starter culture. She has been cultivating it for a few weeks now, and bringing me bits of potion in small glass jars.

Yesterday she brought over my early birthday present - a home-made starter kit including a large glass biscotti jar, tea bags, kombucha pancake, printed notes, and her own expertise. I now have my very own jar of kombucha fermenting in a corner.

My favourite line on the Wikipedia article I linked to above: "Chef Josef Desimone of Google makes Kombucha for Google employees. Almost 100 glasses of Kombucha are served every day at Google cafeterias." And here I wondered if there was anywhere you could buy the stuff, as an alternative to making your own.

Comments

[swanswan.livejournal.com]

You can buy it in the UK and Ireland in most shops in pre-made form. It's sold alongside energy drinks and health drinks, and is marketed as a sort of hangover cure for the executive class. It's expensive! You're probably best off making your own ;-)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I really should search in the health food stores and see if they have it. I'm sure making my own is much more economical - and that's definitely a good thing!

I didn't know it was good for hangovers. I wonder how it is with regular headaches.

[swanswan.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have no idea if it's good for hangovers in reality - it's just that in Ireland, when people drink healthy stuff, it's usually because they've got a hangover!!!

The company that makes the stuff I've seen around a lot is http://www.carpediem.com/ if you want to check it out.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

in Ireland, when people drink healthy stuff, it's usually because they've got a hangover!!!

Y'know, that makes a lot of sense. Whether it really works or not.

Thanks for the link.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You know, that link is really fun. I love its page on the myth of kombucha - http://www.carpediem.com/eng/Produkte/Kombucha/Mythos.html - no nonsense about chemical composition there, but delightful images of the kombucha-drinking Zen warrior. Makes me feel like Ziyi Zhang. (I wish.)

Now I want to go and do yoga on the London Eye.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Your Hildegarde should talk to my Xiao, who is from China and has never been sick to my knowledge and is full of these strange medicines/teas for various ailments in her cubboard. She had some stuff she was giving us all that heals bruises and cuts within a day and SHE doesn't even know what it is.

She's like super woman. Spritely little 40-something gorgeous woman who knows karate, LOL!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

She really sounds like my type - and handy to know, too! Impressive.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Too bad her husband can't learn from her. He's atypical 'refuse to go to the doctor until I collapse and end up in the hospital,' or so happened about a month ago.

Silly boy, you have superwoman for a wife!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Having a superwoman for a wife can't be a bad thing.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I would think not. I'd take her.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_ming/]

i tried kombucha a little while ago but it tasted exactly like vinegar to me. which isn't bad i guess, it's just that i had never previously envisioned myself drinking vinegar so it was a bit of a shock. is that how your kombucha tastes, or are there different brewing techniques to produce different flavors?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Different brewing techniques produce different flavours, and a lot also depends what type of tea you use. I think this is where experimentation comes in. The first time I drank it, it tasted better than the second time - much better, it tasted like something I would drink for pleasure. The second time, it was more vinegar-tasting and less pleasant - and since I absolutely hate the taste of vinegar, that was disappointing. Subsequent drinks have been much better, though not (yet) as good as the first batch I tasted.

With any luck, I'll find a flavour that suits me perfectly, and be able to reproduce it at will.