Kombucha, from which an amazingly healthy drink is prepared, resembles a yellow-brown jellyfish with a dense upper part and a loose base from which thin long threads hang. The composition of the tea "jellyfish" includes yeast fungi and acetic acid bacteria, which turn ordinary tea into a carbonated infusion of sweet and sour taste, slightly reminiscent of kvass. The resulting drink, containing many organic acids, vitamins, enzymes, lipids, sugars and caffeine, has a beneficial effect on health and prolongs life - it is no coincidence that in ancient China it was called the elixir of immortality. Now we can prepare this magic potion at home and enjoy the refreshing, tasty and healing “tea kvass” every day.
Kombucha: step by step instructions
- Prepare black, green or herbal tea in the following proportions: 1 liter. water, 2 tsp. tea leaves and 5 tbsp. l. sugar, insist tea for 15 minutes.
- Strain the infusion and cool it to room temperature.
- Place the mushroom in a jar, cover with cheesecloth and place in a warm, dark place. For young mushrooms, it is recommended to add 100 ml of tea infusion from the previous jar where the mushroom was infused.
- After 5-10 days, a delicious drink is ready. Rinse the mushroom and dip it into a new jar of prepared tea.
- If you want to get a spicy fizzy tea with gas, pour the finished infusion into a glass container, close tightly and keep in a cool place for 5 days.
Some tips for making kombucha
- Do not use metal containers (except stainless steel) to prepare tea kvass to avoid a chemical reaction of acids with metal.
- Do not cover the jar with a lid so that the mushroom can "breathe", use gauze or a napkin as an alternative.
- The jar should be at a temperature of 25 degrees, since temperatures below 17 degrees and direct sunlight slow down the activity of kombucha and promote algae.
- Strong tea should not be taken as the basis for the drink, as it inhibits the growth of kombucha.
- You should make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved in the tea, and only then place the mushroom in the liquid, since sugar crystals cause burns on it. Grains of tea leaves or tea leaves can cause exactly the same effect, so the liquid must be well filtered and cooled - hot tea will kill the fungus.
- From time to time, the mushroom should be washed with clean water - in the summer once every 1-2 weeks, in the winter - once every 3-4 weeks.
- If part of the "jellyfish" has begun to turn brown, you need to carefully separate the damaged part, rinse the mushroom and use it further.
How to drink tea kvass
The most important rule of drinking a drink is not to mix it with food, as it speeds up the digestion process, and very soon you will want to eat again. You can take kombucha as a non-alcoholic aperitif 30 minutes before a meal, but most often doctors recommend drinking the "elixir of youth" 2 hours after plant foods and 3 hours after meat or fish. Reception of tea infusion in the morning on an empty stomach tones and energizes, and evening tea soothes and facilitates falling asleep.
How to store kombucha?
If you want to “rest” from tea kvass for some time and not use it, you should dry the mushroom in the right way. Put the "jellyfish" on a dry plate and turn it over every day, providing reliable protection of the fungus from midges. When kombucha turns into a thin plate, store it in a cupboard, and place it in tea before use - in a week it will come to life and will be in a "working" state again.
1. We take a glass container the size of which is suitable for your Mushroom (usually a 3-liter jar is used)
2. First you need to make tea leaves from the ratio of 2 teaspoons of black or green tea leaves to 1 liter of water. It is recommended to brew tea for at least 15 minutes. The water must be filtered and boiled, poured into the jar not to the very neck, but leave room for air in the jar so that the mushroom can breathe. Water is taken approximately 2.5 liters.
3. Tea leaves need to be filtered from tea leaves, because they can stick to the fungus, this can make it sick. You can also use tea bags.
4. Approximately 5 tablespoons without a slide of sugar per 1 liter of water are placed in the filtered tea leaves. Sugar should be completely mixed, and there should be no pieces of it. If sugar particles get on the mushroom, they will damage the mushroom. Unmixed sugar can burn through the mushroom to holes!
5. The ratio, how much sugar and tea leaves, is taken to taste. If you do not want to make a very sweet or strong infusion, you can put less sugar or tea leaves. For example, 3 tablespoons per 3 liter jar. A large amount of sugar in the infusion makes it not very useful for the teeth, and harmful to diabetics.
I always make an infusion of 150 gr. sugar and 3 tablespoons of tea leaves per 3-liter jar.
6. Let the tea cool to room temperature. The mushroom culture will die if placed in a hot solution.
7. For young mushrooms: a little infusion of the mushroom from the jar where it was previously kept as a “starter culture” should be added to the tea (the amount of infusion should be approximately 1/10 of the total liquid volume.
8. Put the mushroom in a jar. We close the neck of the dish with gauze or a paper napkin and fasten it with a braid or elastic band so that the kombucha can breathe, but so that small midges, dust and plant spores cannot enter the jar.
9. We put the jar in a dark, warm place - the ideal temperature for the tub mushroom is about 25 ° C.
10. After 1-10 days of infusion, Kombucha is ready for use. The fermentation time depends on the air temperature in the room - the higher the temperature, the faster the drink will be ready.
In summer, the mushroom is ready for use within 1-2 days, in winter it takes 3-4 days.
When you first start the mushroom, the infusion may take longer to cook.
11. When the drink reaches the desired acidity, according to your taste, remove the kombucha with clean hands, rinse it under cold running water and dip it into a jar of cold sweet tea prepared in advance according to the same scheme.
12. Pour the finished drink into a glass container with a tight lid, filling it to the brim. To get the most out of the drink, let it ripen for a few more days in a cool place - bacteria cease to function without access to air, and yeast continues to work if the container is tightly closed, the gas resulting from the activity of the yeast will not be able to escape and you will get a delicious fizzy drink .
13. Before drinking, the drink can be filtered through gauze or a plastic (not metal) strainer
14. It is convenient to have two identical jars available: Kombucha will live in one, and you will pour the finished drink into the other. In the refrigerator, glass hermetically sealed containers with tea mushroom infusion can be stored for quite a long time, retaining their healing and taste properties.
15. Tea infusion can be used as a drink with the taste of kvass or soda. With a longer content of the fungus in the solution, you can make vinegar, which can be used instead of store-bought.
16. A mushroom at a venerable age reaches a thickness of several centimeters (its area depends on the area of \u200b\u200bthe container in which it lives) and allows you to drink the infusion daily directly from the jar containing the mushroom (of course, you need to remember to replenish the loss of liquid with a new portion of cold sweet tea ).
In order for kombucha to give you joy and benefit, you should love and take care of it. Only proper handling of kombucha guarantees that the drink obtained with its help will be truly healing!
Important rules for the care and maintenance of kombucha.
· It is necessary to keep kombucha in a glass container suitable for its size, usually a regular 3-liter jar. It should not be kept in containers made of metals other than stainless steel, as the acids produced by the culture may react with the metals. You can use high-quality synthetic materials of the polyolefin group, such as polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene, but containers made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polystyrene should not be used.
· It is better to keep a jar of mushrooms in a dark place, you can allocate a special box for it in the kitchen - with ventilation and without extraneous odors. Cold and direct sunlight inhibit the development of kombucha, so it's best to keep it away from a window.
· Kombucha is usually kept at normal room temperature. The optimum temperature for kombucha is around 25°C. Temperatures below 17 ° C are harmful, as it reduces the activity of the fungus and blue-green algae can start in it.
· A jar of kombucha should not be covered with a lid, since the mushroom must breathe, it is simply covered with a clean napkin or gauze so that dust does not get in and insects (which, by the way, are not very indifferent to it) could not get to it.
· Kombucha must be placed in boiled (!) Water with sugar already dissolved in it and tea leaves: raw water contains a lot of soluble calcium salts (water hardness salts), which form calcium gluconate with gluconic acid, which precipitates.
· Do not pour sugar on kombucha and place it in a solution with undissolved sugar - this causes burns on his body in the form of brown spots.
· You can not make too strong tea - an excessive concentration of tea inhibits the growth of kombucha.
· Leaves or granules of tea leaves should not be left in the tea solution for kombucha - this is very harmful to kombucha and can cause wounds on its body.
· It is necessary to periodically rinse the kombucha in clean water (it is possible from the tap, but if possible - with clean or spring water). In summer, this should be done every one to two weeks, and in winter - every three to four weeks.
· You can not put the mushroom in hot tea.
· If the top of the kombucha has begun to turn brown - this is a sign that the kombucha is starting to die (sometimes this happens if the kombucha is allowed to stand in solution) - you should rinse it, separate and discard the top layer and try to take better care of your pet.
You also need to take into account that in summer Kombucha “works” faster than in winter, and accordingly, you need to change the solution much more often.
If you pour the kombucha infusion into a free container and leave it to infuse at room temperature, then after one to two weeks a thin translucent layer forms on the surface of the liquid - a colony of microorganisms, which over time will also turn into an adult fungus.
If you leave for a long time or completely forget about kombucha, then all the liquid may evaporate. But the mushroom will come to life as soon as it is poured with sweet water or tea. Thus, it turns out that the storage of kombucha can be carried out in dried form.
Reproduction of Kombucha.
If you pour the kombucha infusion into a free container and leave it to infuse at room temperature, then after one to two weeks a thin translucent layer forms on the surface of the liquid - a colony of microorganisms, which over time will also turn into an adult fungus. Sometimes kombucha can be "reborn". It sinks to the bottom of the jar and separates from itself a new clean transparent film - the daughter Kombucha. In this case, the old mushroom can be used further or thrown away (buried with full honors). If the old mushroom is already very thick, it can be used to make vinegar, because by old age the mushrooms begin to produce too much acid, and put the film in a fresh solution - very soon it will turn into a full-fledged adult mushroom that will serve you faithfully. If your Kombucha has become too thick, has accumulated many layers, and it is inconvenient for you to care for it, or the drink becomes sour too quickly, you can detach the part yourself and give it to your relatives, friends, neighbors or work colleagues after talking about its beneficial properties and giving website link:
www.gribtea.ru
Sebum and sweat, covering the skin with a thin layer, create an acidic environment that is unfavorable for many microorganisms, pathogens of various skin diseases. If your scalp or body itches, it usually means that you have used a cleanser that is too strong and that it has changed the natural acidity of your skin. When acid is used as a cleanser, the skin receives a natural product that meets its natural needs. The skin, which is naturally acidic, thus performs an important protective function in relation to the entire body.
The vast majority of soaps violate this protective shell of the skin, since alkali is involved in it. Therefore, after washing with soap, it is necessary to rinse the skin with an infusion of kombucha for a month or more.
Rubbing the skin with kombucha infusion restores its acidic environment, so the infusion has proven to be an effective skin care product.
Infusion of kombucha is added to the water when taking a bath. Based on it, a lotion for facial skin care, mouthwash and hair rinse are made. This lotion eliminates dandruff and gives hair shine. Cosmetology products using kombucha infusion are useful for any skin type. Below we offer you some recipes.
Acne treatment
Kombucha Monthly Lavender Flower Infusion contains ingredients that are particularly beneficial for the skin. This mixture cleanses and soothes unhealthy skin covered with blackheads and pimples. To prepare an anti-acne bath mixture, you will need a handful of dried lavender flowers. Pour them with 250 ml of kombucha infusion, seal the container with the mixture and leave in a cold place for three weeks. Then the mixture should be filtered and the resulting infusion added to the water while taking a bath.
Massage with kombucha infusion
Add two or three tablespoons of a month-old kombucha infusion to a liter of water and, after washing with soap, wipe the whole body with this infusion. During this procedure, you will remove all soap residue. For some time, the kombucha infusion will act as a natural deodorant. If you do not have the opportunity to massage with kombucha infusion daily, be sure to perform it at least once a week.
Bath with kombucha infusion
When taking a bath, add a quarter liter of a month-old kombucha to the water. Stay in the water for at least 15 minutes to allow the acid to work on your skin. Baths with infusion have a persistent regenerating effect on tired and sluggish skin.
Facial cleansing with kombucha infusion
First, cleanse the skin with cosmetic milk. Then soak a small washcloth in warm water, wring it out lightly, and apply it to your face for one to two minutes.
Soak a linen cloth in a month-old kombucha tea and squeeze lightly. Apply a napkin to your face and cover with a warm terry towel. Remove the washcloth and towel five minutes later, wash your face with warm water and rub it vigorously with a damp terry towel. As a result, dead skin cells will be removed. Such a gentle way of cleansing the face is recommended to be done in the evening once a week.
Hair loss
Usually, each person loses about a hundred hairs during the day. During pregnancy, as well as in spring and autumn, hair begins to fall out more intensively, especially in young girls and older women, as well as in middle-aged men. If you're losing more hair than usual, especially if you're starting to develop bald patches, it's likely to be metabolic related. In this case, it is recommended to drink a glass of kombucha infusion every day for six to eight weeks at each meal. This measure normalizes metabolism, compensates for the lack of minerals, strengthens hair and promotes their growth. Additionally, you can massage the scalp with an infusion of kombucha. If hair loss is not caused by a hereditary predisposition or illness, then the hair should soon begin to grow intensively and densely and be strong and healthy.
After washing, rinse your hair with an infusion of kombucha for a month. It is best to rinse your hair with kombucha infusion after each shampoo.
Kombucha for hair and scalp
Pour the dried leaves of nettle, bought in a pharmacy, with warmed-up kombucha for a month. Insist for some time, then strain the infusion. After shampooing, gently moisten the scalp with infusion and massage it. Rinse your hair after this procedure should not be.
Treating dandruff with kombucha
Dandruff is a completely natural phenomenon, as dead cells of the scalp are constantly exfoliated. Intense dandruff formation can be reduced with kombucha infusion. With a large amount of dandruff, after each shampooing, rub a monthly extract of kombucha into the skin. The same procedure helps with itchy scalp. Pour some kombucha infusion into a small bowl. Soak a piece of cloth in the infusion. Dividing hair into strands, gradually moisten the entire scalp. Half an hour later, drink the head.
With a large amount of dandruff, the procedure should be performed before each shampooing.
Kombucha for strengthening hair
Prepare one tablespoon of honey, one glass of kombucha infusion for a month. Heat the infusion, but do not bring to a boil. Dissolve honey in it, then stir thoroughly. The resulting mixture should be evenly distributed over wet hair. If you want to slightly lighten your hair, use a decoction of chamomile flowers, to which add a monthly infusion of kombucha and honey. To dye hair red, add one tablespoon of henna to distilled water, boil this mixture for ten minutes, then add to a month-old kombucha infusion with honey.
Cold treatment
With colds, a tincture made on water will come to the rescue.
Infusion of kombucha of monthly exposure should be drained into a glass or faience container, pour vodka from a ratio of eight parts of vodka to two parts of kombucha infusion. Insist 10-15 days in a dark place. Strain, store in the refrigerator.
If you have a cough, the most important thing is to find its cause. It can be a cold, glandular enlargement, flu.
The cough will stop when the source of irritation is removed. But if the cough is only a symptom of a disease, then it is necessary to eliminate the cause, and not to suppress the cough. One of the best ways to tone the body is hot baths followed by cold showers. Eat more antioxidants like onions, garlic, chives, and ginger.
In the 70-80s, in every Soviet family in the kitchen one could see a three-liter jar with an incomprehensible slippery cake floating in a yellowish liquid. Any child knew that it was kombucha, it makes a delicious, sweet and sour refreshing drink. He perfectly quenched his thirst on hot days. For some time, the mushroom was undeservedly forgotten. Now many people are returning to natural products. But not everyone knows how to care for this drink, how to store kombucha.
What is useful Kombucha
Kombucha, also known as kombucha, is a slimy, jellyfish-like formation. Many do not like its appearance, but it is extremely useful. The fungus is a mixture of acetic acid bacteria and yeasts. He is able to turn ordinary tea or green tea into a carbonated drink. In ancient China, this drink is valued for its properties.
The composition of the tea drink contains:
- organic and fatty acids;
- carbohydrates;
- vitamins B1 and C;
- tea caffeine;
- digestive enzymes.
It improves digestion by supplying the body with essential digestive enzymes. Tea is useful for dysentery, diarrhea, intoxication, poisoning. Kombucha is great for viral diseases, you can gargle with infusion, rinse your nose. It has a wound healing effect, if you apply it to the wound, it will heal faster, the inflammation will pass. Such tea is useful after people over 45 years old, at this time the number of enzymes produced by organisms decreases, they need to be replenished.
Kombucha contraindications
It is forbidden to drink kombucha with the following health problems:
- with gastritis, gastroduodenitis, serious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
- allergies;
- with diabetes;
- increased acidity;
- pregnant women;
- children under three years of age.
How to care for kombucha
For the normal functioning of the body, kombucha requires a tea solution. Anyone can do the cooking. For a liter of water, 2 teaspoons of tea leaves and 5 tbsp. spoons of sugar. Regular tea is being prepared, sugar is completely dissolved in it. Tea must be cooled to room temperature and strained. Then pour into a clean three-liter jar, put the mushroom there, cover the jar with gauze.
It is recommended to put the jar in a dark place, it will feel comfortable at a temperature of 20-25 ° C. The drink is usually ready in 5-10 days. The ripening time depends on the temperature in the room and the age of the kombucha. If you do not drink the resulting drink, a new layer may appear on the surface, which will grow and turn into a new fungus.
It is better to regularly drain the prepared drink, you can use it immediately, or you can put it in the refrigerator in a tightly closed container so that it brews a little. Get a real carbonated drink to quench your thirst.
Long-term storage of kombucha
Sometimes there is a desire to take a break from taking a drink. How to save kombucha if you are going on vacation or on a business trip? To do this, place the mushroom in a freshly prepared tea infusion, put it in a cool place, it can be a pantry, a balcony, a darkened place on the windowsill in winter. It is necessary during the rest of the fungus to get a jar, rinse it, make a new solution for it.
Some prefer to use kombucha only during the intense heat of summer. Therefore, it is removed in winter. For such long-term storage, it is better to place the mushroom in a plastic bag, removing it from the jar. Put the bag in the vegetable compartment in the refrigerator. Cold will slow down the vital activity of bacteria and yeast, they fall into a deep sleep. As soon as the mushroom is placed again in favorable conditions, it will begin to produce a delicious drink.
There is a way to store kombucha in a dried state. The mushroom is washed, put in a dry plate and periodically turned over so that mold does not appear. It is better to put the plate on the bottom of a deep container, cover it with gauze or a cloth so that dust and other harmful microorganisms do not get inside. Once the mushroom has dried, it can be stored in a kitchen cabinet or refrigerator. To revive such a mushroom, you need to take the usual solution of sweet tea. In a week the fungus will return to normal. The first infusion should be drained, and then the mushroom will begin to give a healthy drink as usual.
Rules for storing kombucha
- You can not store the mushroom in a metal container.
- The jar needs to be sterilized periodically, regularly washed thoroughly.
- It is recommended to filter the drink through a plastic strainer.
- You can not tightly close the jar. Kombucha cannot live without oxygen.
- You should not keep a jar of mushrooms in the sun, drafts should also be avoided.
- Rinse the mushroom with cool boiled water in the summer at least once a week, in the winter this should be done less often.
- When pouring a new solution, you need to be careful not to get grains of sugar and tea leaves on the mushroom.
- Regularly you need to inspect the fungus for the absence of painful areas, mold, damage.
It is very useful for our health, it began to be used many hundreds of years ago, but the healing properties of this organism have interested scientists only in recent years. They found that the liquid of such a fungus has a beneficial effect on all organs of our body, cleansing them of pathogenic microflora. This remedy helps in the treatment of the stomach, kidneys and liver. In the countries of the Far East, kombucha is considered an indispensable medicine that is drunk in a variety of cases.
Outwardly, Kombucha looks like a large jellyfish. It consists of many enzymes, vitamins and acids that are extremely beneficial for our body. This drink is practically incapable of harming a person, but it should not be considered a panacea either. However, kombucha has a wide range of beneficial properties, it is used in the treatment of colds, insomnia, hypertension, intestinal disorders, in addition, it can cure excruciating headaches. Regular consumption of this drink facilitates the fight against many ailments.
Kombucha does not require any special care. It is recommended to place it in a large jar (two or three liters), and put gauze folded in several layers on the neck. Do not close the neck with a lid, as this will only interfere with the development of the fungus. To ensure rapid and efficient growth, the jar is filled with sweet tea.
To prepare it for one liter of weak tea leaves, take one hundred grams of sugar. Cool and mix the liquid thoroughly, then pour it over the mushroom. In no case should you just fall asleep, as this will lead to burns of the mucous membrane of the body and may even cause its death.
You need to drain the infusion every four days in the summer, and once a week in the winter. In the event that you notice that the upper film of the fungus has turned dark brown, quickly drain the solution - it has stood still and can cause the death of the fungus. Place the drink in a separate jar, which you put in the refrigerator. You can grow and take it for years, since even in very old mushrooms worms do not start.
About application
Kombucha is an excellent cosmetic product. It effectively cleanses the skin, tightens pores, rejuvenates, adds elasticity and smoothness. To prepare the mask, you just need to warm the infusion a little, moisten a cotton napkin in it and place it on your face for ten minutes. Cover the top with a towel.
To narrow the pores, freeze the monthly infusion in ice cube molds and use it to wipe the cleansed face.
Another way to make a mask from kombucha: thoroughly knead the pulp of a banana, mix a couple of tablespoons of this mass with half a glass of mushroom infusion (it is best to take a month). Add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil, a couple of egg yolks and a teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice to the mixture. Beat all the ingredients with a mixer and apply on a pre-cleansed face for thirty minutes. Rinse off such a product with plain warm water without the addition of detergents.
Kombucha will help you heal burns faster. Apply the mushroom mass to the affected area in a thin layer and constantly change as it dries.
For allergic diseases, you should drink a couple of glasses of a three-day infusion in the morning on an empty stomach, adding to it herbs used to treat such ailments. During the day, you need to drink a couple more glasses of the drink. Such a tool will help in a short time to strengthen the immune system and forget about the disease.
For gastritis, regardless of the level of acidity, you need to take a couple of glasses of infusion per day, adding natural honey to the drink. Already on the second day, pain and heaviness will disappear, and appetite will also normalize.
Regular consumption of kombucha infusion significantly reduces blood cholesterol levels, therefore it is an excellent method for the treatment and prevention of atherosclerosis. At the same time, it is recommended to drink a five-six-day remedy.
With sinusitis, you need to use an infusion of the fungus to wash your nose. Warm it up and pour it into a saucer, then bend over the sink and draw in the remedy of one nostril, holding the other with your finger. If the solution gets into your mouth, spit it out, otherwise just exhale it into the sink. Repeat the procedure several times with different nostrils.
Kombucha liquid perfectly removes even very strong thirst. It retains all its healing properties even when stored in the refrigerator for a long time. Everyone can take such a remedy, it has no contraindications. The only thing that is recommended is to refrain from taking this drink for diabetics, as it contains quite a lot of sugar. In addition, you need to know the measure, you should not drink a very strong infusion, and the daily dosage should not exceed a liter. It is also recommended to take breaks in the reception - at least for a couple of weeks, and better - for a month.
Those who have fungal diseases should also be careful, as they are especially sensitive to sugar. To enhance the bactericidal properties, add a little natural honey to the drink, but do not overdo it, as this can significantly slow down the development and growth of the fungus.
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