Sunday, 24 November 2024

Kombucha: Further Developments

In last month's post I talked at length about homebrewed kombucha, but I forgot to say – and I will just put it out there without false modesty – it's really good. Or as the kids say, my kombucha slaps. A few people have independently told me that it's the best kombucha they ever tasted.

I continue to experiment with different flavours. The bottle on the right is plain kombucha, but the one on the left has blue-pea tea (my Japanese neighbour got dried blue-pea flowers from an organic farm in Thailand, and gave me some to try).

My blue-pea kombucha is purple because anthocyanin, the pigment in blue pea flowers, is a pH indicator. It's blue in water, but if you add an acid – like lemon juice or kombucha – it turns purple.

I still do kombucha-tastings with Chiok and Guofeng, who, like me, got their SCOBY from my friend Violet. In the photo below, Chiok is offering me her grapefruit and pomelo kombucha, which also slaps.

I also started making water kefir (below left) which is another fermented drink. Also tasty, and easier than kombucha – shorter fermentation time, and only needs sugar (not tea). But to me, it's not as delicious and complex as good kombucha.

The jar on the right is kombucha-pickled cherries. These turned out okay – nothing special. But I think that's because the recipe calls for fresh cherries, and I could only find frozen ones here in Singapore.

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