I want Emily Berry's skoby

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It’s been a long kindling kind of desire to get Emily Berry’s scoby. She finally arrived one Saturday morning in full splendor looking slightly otherworldly, like a cherished specimen that given the right conditions could grow legs and climb out of the jar.

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Scoby, an acronym for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, is the starter for the increasingly popular fizzy drink Kombucha. If you too have gasped at paying $4 - $7 for a cup of of booch, consider making your own homegrown brew. Even more, if you are interested in promoted a robust gut microbiome, then incorporating some fermented food items into your life is the way to go.

This is how she does it:

Ingredients

  • 5 quarts of water (first brew) 4 quarts every time after

  • 1 cup organic sugar

  • 6 organic black tea bags (can also be 2 tbsp looseleaf tea. Don’t use flavored teas)

  • 1/2 - 3/4 cup starter tea (from last batch or from anyone you know who makes booch)

  • skoby (anyone who makes kombucha will have extras)

  • Fruit at bottling

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Equipment

  • Glass gallon jar

  • Wooden spoon

  • Large saucepan

  • White distilled vinegar

  • White washcloth or small towel (or paper towel). No dyed fabric

  • Rubber band

  • Glass bottles (Saved kombucha bottles are good. Firm glass bottles as carbonation adds pressure)

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Instructions

  1. Boil water

  2. Add sugar until it dissolves

  3. Add tea bags and seep for 15-30 minutes (optional: add a couple of thin slices of ginger)

  4. Take out tea bags and allow sweet tea to completely cool

  5. Once tea is at room temperature, pour into your glass jar

  6. Add starter tea and stir

  7. Place skoby in the jar

  8. Place cloth over jar and secure with a rubber band

  9. Let it sit for 2-3 weeks (less if the room is warm and more if the room is cool). I kept mine in the hall closet.

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Bottling

  1. Only use glass and wood, no metal around the skoby

  2. Remove cloth top and inspect Skoby

  3. If any sign of mold, throw it out!

  4. Rinse glass bowl, wooden spoon, hands and anything else that will touch the kombucha with distilled vinegar. Do not use soap.

  5. Take skoby out of jar, place it in glass bowl and cover

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6. Fill your bottles, add in 1-2 tablespoons of fresh fruit. (It’s mulberry season at Arugula Forest, so that’s what I added) Side note: this tree was planted only two years ago and now it gives several handfuls of delicious berries every day during May and June. 

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7. Leave a little space for fermentation and cap bottles tightly

8. Set aside for about 10 days

Final Notes

  • Never use metal, it will harm the skoby

  • Never wash anything with soap, use distilled white vinegar

  • Fermenting kombucha needs air, so no thick covering over jar. Allow it to breath but not for bugs to get in. 

  • Must use only organic sugar, coconut sugar or sucanat. Sugar is for the skoby not for you, don’t be concerned about it. 

  • No flavored teas, herbal teas, Earl Grey, etc. Only black or green tea.

  • Make sure tea is completely cooled off before adding it to the jar with skoby (allow it to cool overnight). Hot tea will kill the skoby

  • If you need to take a break from making kombucha, store your skoby in starter tea, securely covered with enough air to breath. 

  • Skoby is a living entity and kombucha is a living food. Anything anti-bacterial will kill it.

  • The skoby will reproduce with every batch of kombucha you make. When you have more skoby than you have use for, share them with your friends.

Thanks to Emily and Shawna Berry.

Christine Foerster