HOW TO GROW TEA MUSHROOM FROM BLACK TEA OR ROSE HIP, which contains more vitamins than the most expensive vitamin-mineral complex

In this article we will look in detail at how to grow kombucha from scratch at home and how to get guaranteed results from growing it yourself.

Kombucha is a product that in recent years has been gaining popularity again among adherents of a healthy lifestyle and those who want to improve their health. It is a layered elastic plate that forms on the surface of sweet tea leaves.

Now you can purchase zooglea (this is the scientific name of the mushroom) in online health food stores and other resources. But if you don’t want to spend money on a purchase, you can make it yourself.

Self-cultivation

The future drink is always based on 2 ingredients: tea and sugar - they are found in almost every home, so diluting a special infusion for mushrooms is quick and easy. How to grow kombucha yourself from scratch at home?

Kombucha: recipe

Let's figure out how to grow kombucha step by step.

1. First of all, you should prepare a large, clean container. The ideal option is a 3-liter jar. It has sufficient volume and is also transparent. You can also take another glass container. Surprisingly, kombucha has the ability to grow over the entire permissible area and take any shape. Those. if you start kombucha from scratch in a regular cylindrical jar, it will take a round shape, and if your container is square, then the mushroom will take the same shape. There are even known cases when they tried to put zooglea into a small aquarium that was not used for its intended purpose, and it grew over the entire surface of the liquid contents.
2. Now you need to prepare the dressing. How to make it? First you need to take good loose leaf tea - 2-3 tablespoons. Then boil about 1 liter of clean water. Pour boiling water over the tea to get an infusion of medium strength.
3. Add 80-100 g of regular sugar to already brewed tea. Stir until completely dissolved.
4. Wait until the tea leaves have cooled to room temperature and pour it into a 3-liter jar.

Important! Dishes for kombucha should be made of transparent glass.

Now you know how to brew kombucha tea. But let's consider a few more important questions:

When the tea and sugar are poured into the jar, it should be placed in a suitable place. How to choose it correctly?

1. The optimal temperature for kombucha is room temperature (23-26 degrees). If you leave the container at a lower temperature, the ripening process will proceed more slowly.
2. Direct sunlight should not fall on the jar (for example, you should not place the container on the windowsill).
3. The place should not be too dark (do not put the jar in a closed cabinet).

It is ideal if the kombucha jar is on the dining table or table top.

Important! The neck of the container with the tea solution should be covered with several layers of gauze or a thin cotton towel. This will prevent dust and insects from getting inside. Flies especially love to flock to the sweet drink.

Now you know how to prepare a solution for kombucha. What will happen next?

Kombucha ripening

After about a week, a thin film will begin to form on the surface of the liquid - this is how kombucha is born. Now you should be patient, because zooglea will “gain mass” only after 6-8 weeks. By this time, a thin leaf of a young mushroom will be floating in the jar.

To make ripening faster, you can add a little apple cider vinegar to the tea (no more than 1/10 of the total volume).

If you follow the recipe and prepare everything correctly, then after 1.5-2 months the film will become strong and will be clearly visible on the surface (1-2 mm high), and the aroma of the drink will acquire a pleasant sourish tint. During this period, you can see with your own eyes how kombucha is made: first, small swellings and bulges will appear on the thin film - the structure will be uneven, and then everything will merge into one smooth, dense substance.

Important! The longer the mushroom is infused, the more concentrated the drink will be.

Drinking tea kvass

Once you have managed to prepare a 3-liter drink from scratch, it can be consumed. Usually tea kvass is drunk undiluted. It is poured into a glass or glass directly from the jar, but the gauze is not removed from the neck.

Kombucha containers with tap

For ease of use, you can purchase a special jar with a dispenser. It can be found in hardware stores or in specialized online stores. (For example, here cookhouse.ru/store/product/W0000181876).

The cost of such a container with a dispenser is usually up to 1,000 rubles. You can also order a ready-made set on the Leovit company website, which includes a jar with a tap for kombucha and the zooglea itself in the package (www.leomax.ru/goods/nabor-chajnyj-grib-banka-s-dozatorrom-v- complete). The cost of the set is 990 rubles.

How to feed Kombucha

When the jar already has a ready-to-eat product, you can start consuming it. Depending on the purpose of its use, from 1 to 3-4 glasses of the drink will be consumed per day. And if several family members drink tea kvass, the consumption will be even greater. Therefore, it needs to be “fed” correctly. What does it mean? This means adding a new portion of sweet tea to the jar.

There are several important conditions for how to properly pour kombucha:

1. Under no circumstances should sugar be poured directly onto the mushroom plate - this will cause a burn and the zooglea will die. First you need to brew tea, then add sugar to it, wait until it is completely dissolved, and only then add a new solution to the jar. Also, do not forget to first cool the tea to room temperature; do not pour hot liquid into the jar - the mushroom will spoil.
2. How often should the tea leaves be changed? Depends on the time of year and room temperature. Usually in summer the infusion is changed once every 3-4 days, and in winter - once every 5-6 days or a week. If you change the infusion less often, the drink may overstay and the taste will be too sour.
3. It is also recommended that when changing the tea infusion, rinse the mushroom plate under clean running water at room temperature.
4. A new portion of tea is brewed in the same way as the initial infusion was made.

So, we found out how to make a solution and how to feed kombucha at home. Now it’s worth talking separately about those components on the basis of which you can grow kombucha from scratch: tea and sugar.

Kombucha: how to care and use

Several recommendations can be found in the literature:

1. Drink from a third of a liter to half a liter every day, with a cool and strained drink two to three times a day, namely after breakfast, lunch and dinner.
2. Every day, early in the morning on an empty stomach, 1 to 1.5 cups or a glass of wine.
3. Drink one cup of the drink every morning on an empty stomach. Once upon a time in Russia, Japan, and India, only 1/3 liter of the drink was consumed daily. It is likely that this amount should be recommended (maximum 3, minimum 0.1 L) because in these populations it was based on the observation of beneficial effects from such doses. Namely, one glass in the morning on an empty stomach - about 15 minutes before breakfast, one glass before or after lunch, and the last glass in the evening before bed.

These recommendations are guidelines for action, but do not indicate strict necessity. Determine the quantity for yourself based on your own needs. It is advisable to drink kombucha for two months and take a break after a month to prevent stomach irritation.

How to rinse (bath days)

We learned how to grow kombucha, now we learn how to care for it and wash it properly. So, 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.

How to feed kombucha

There are two methods for infusing mushrooms. The classic method is to make a drink from weak, sweetened tea. The herbal option is no less popular.

• Traditional tea. The dosage is as follows: three to four teaspoons of tea leaves, five tablespoons of sugar, 2 liters of water. The mushroom can be “seasoned” with both black and green tea. According to reviews, the latter is more tonic and contains more vitamins. It is useful to replace sugar with honey. It is diluted in cooled liquid.

• Herbs. There are many recipes for making a drink based on herbal infusions. So, at your own discretion, you can combine green tea with rose hips (chopped berries and leaves), linden flowers, birch leaves, raspberries, strawberries, currants, blackberries.

Mushroom brewed with nettle, white thorn, and plantain will be no less useful. Use two to three teaspoons of herbs per 1 liter of boiling water, leave for at least a couple of hours. Sugar is diluted in the strained infusion, cooled and added to mushroom kvass.

You cannot use herbs that contain essential oil: for example, sage and chamomile are not acceptable for “feeding” kombucha. The mushroom is ready on the fifth or sixth day in winter, on the second or fourth day in summer. This is easy to understand by the bubbles and unobtrusive sour aroma.

The percentage of sweetness of mushroom kvass in all preparation options will depend on the amount of sugar that the medusomycete is fed with.

It has a characteristic aroma that is given to it by tea and some varieties of yeast. In terms of taste, the “correct” mushroom is not tart, not too sharp and without a pronounced alcoholic taste. You can use it at any time of the day.

About sugar

We will answer the most popular questions:

Rosehip kombucha: proper care

Caring for kombucha infused with rose hips is standard: when draining the finished kvass, be sure to immediately add fresh infusion to the jar. The vessel should not be tightly sealed; the fungus needs air to function. Make sure that the added liquid does not contain tea leaves, grains or undissolved sugar; this is harmful to the medusomycete.

The jar with the mushroom should always be kept at a temperature not lower than +17 and not higher than +35 degrees.

Once a month, the mushroom should be removed and washed under warm water. The jar should also be washed and filled with fresh tea. Read more about the care, division and propagation of the fungus here.

About tea

Tea is the basis for making kombucha. The quality of the resulting zooglea and the overall success of the infusion procedure will depend on the quality of the original product. What kind of tea should I pour into kombucha? The main recommendation is to take good loose leaf tea. Growing kombucha from a tea bag is not always possible. If you decide to take the bags, then make sure that the tea leaves inside are free of additives and impurities.

According to the classic old recipe, large-leaf black tea without additives is taken. It is also a very common way to prepare kombucha using green tea. This drink is considered more healthy - it contains more vitamins and caffeine, which means the finished kvass will be better invigorating. How to properly infuse green tea with sugar and kombucha? The answer is simple - just like with black tea.

In some cases, herbal tea can also be used. Collections of herbs and leaves of linden, birch, plantain, strawberries or blackberries are well suited. But preparations with a large amount of essential oils are not suitable (for example, chamomile and sage).

Is it possible to pour kombucha into hibiscus? Yes, you can. The taste of the resulting drink, of course, will be slightly different from classic tea kvass, but there are also lovers of such an exotic infusion.

Other components

In addition to tea, the mushroom is also grown for other ingredients.

Rose hip

Rose hips have long been known for their benefits, high content of vitamin C and microelements. It is not surprising that they also began to grow zooglea using his infusion of these berries.

How to grow kombucha from rose hips from scratch?

To do this, you need to take a large handful of dried berries (12-15 pieces) and pour 500-700 ml of boiling water over them. As a container, take a liter thermos with a tight lid. Close the thermos and leave it standing still for a long time. After about 7-8 weeks, a thin film of fungus forms on the surface of the rose hip decoction.

Now you need to prepare a weak tea infusion - 2-3 teaspoons of tea leaves per liter of hot water. Add sugar, stir it and wait until the tea cools to room temperature. Now take a glass container, maybe a jar with a tap, and pour the cooled sweet tea into it. Carefully place the rosehip mushroom on top. Let it brew for 2-3 days. Now the drink can be consumed.

Kombucha with beer

There is also a known recipe for making kombucha from beer and wine vinegar. As a basis for growing zooglea, take 100-150 ml of beer and 2-3 teaspoons of wine vinegar. Instead of vinegar, you can add 3 tablespoons of wine. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to the mixture and mix everything.

Place the container with the resulting liquid in a dark, warm place until a thin film of fungus forms on the surface. Then we brew tea in the usual way and place the “beer” zooglea there. How to pour kombucha into a 3-liter container has already been described earlier.

Kombucha with milk

Sometimes kombucha is infused with milk to obtain a special kefir, which is used to treat dysbiosis. To do this, they do not use the mushroom layer itself, but a ready-made infusion. Take a liter of milk and add up to 5 tablespoons of mature tea kvass to it - it will act as a starter. On day 2-3, the milk will turn into slightly acidified kefir, which you can drink.

Rosehip kombucha: properties, treatment

Kombucha drink is called a natural antibiotic. Thanks to its high bactericidal properties, kvass fights many viruses, bacteria and is able to cure various diseases. When the medusomycete is infused with rose hips, its healing qualities are only enhanced. After all, rose hips themselves have great benefits for our body.

Beneficial properties of kombucha infused with rose hips

• Increases immunity and resistance to colds.
• Improves blood circulation.
• Lowers blood pressure.
• Improves the functioning of the stomach and digestive system.
• Relieves flatulence and constipation.
• Has a choleretic, diuretic effect.
• Helps the liver remove toxins.
• Clears blood vessels from cholesterol plaques.
• Fights inflammation and infections.
• Improves metabolism, therefore effective in the fight against excess weight.
• Increases the permeability of small vessels and capillaries.
• When used externally, it can act as an antiseptic when treating any wounds, the oral cavity (for sore throat and gum disease).

Treatment of any serious illness with the drink should be agreed with a doctor. For most ailments, a standard regimen for taking kvass is recommended: 2-3 glasses a day shortly before meals or 20 minutes after. People with high acidity in the stomach are recommended to drink kombucha only after meals.

Lots of benefits, little effort

We looked at how you can grow kombucha yourself at home. As it turned out, this process is not too labor-intensive, it just requires a lot of time waiting for a new young zooglea to grow.

The cost of the finished drink is very low, but the benefits that tea kvass gives to our body are great. This is not only a pleasant, refreshing carbonated drink, it is a source of valuable acids, enzymes and vitamins.

Try growing your own kombucha and start drinking it regularly. It is likely that your trips to the pharmacy for medications will be significantly reduced.

How to propagate kombucha at home

Separating kombucha at home is not difficult if you understand the principle of the procedure.

Medusomycetes can reproduce by degeneration. If it is not taken out of the container for a long time, it sinks to the bottom. At this point, a thin layer is separated from the top edge. This is a reborn culture. The remaining part is discarded, as it produces a large volume of acetic acid.

To obtain a new infusion, the removed film is sent to fresh sweet tea leaves.

How to separate layers of kombucha

When the medusomycete reaches a thickness of more than 9 cm, it can be divided into parts. The procedure is carried out very carefully, since it is easy to harm an adult body.

Separate one plate or several. The amount depends on the thickness of the body. An excellent option is a transparent film that often forms on the surface of the medusomycete. It is carefully removed and placed in a new container with sweet tea. You can clearly see how to separate kombucha in the video.

Only dense organisms can be divided

How to propagate kombucha by piece

To propagate, you need to peel off a piece of kombucha and take it with a small amount of the infusion in which it was located.

Then place in a sterilized glass container with sweet tea. Keep away from sunlight under gauze. Leave for two weeks.

The body must be separated very carefully to avoid injury.

Advice! The new tea body gives a more delicate and pleasant-tasting drink.

How to properly propagate kombucha from a ready-made drink

You can propagate a mature organism by properly dividing the kombucha. To do this, you need to peel off part of the medusomycete and transfer it to a jar with a solution that is prepared in advance. To do this, 100 g of black tea without additives is poured into 1 liter of boiling water. Pour in 60 g of sugar. Completely dissolve.

The solution is passed through cheesecloth so that no tea leaves or crystals remain, as they cause burns. Cool completely and pour into a jar. After this, a medusomycete is placed.

Advice! There should always be two containers. The first is for the drink, and the second is for the growth of the body.

Scientists have bred a tea jellyfish weighing about 100 kg