Kombucha Christmas gift

 Christmas gifts

This year all my family got a "Make Your Own Grape Soda" kit for Christmas.  It was really grape flavored kombucha.  I thought it would be a fun activity for my nieces and nephews to make.  

I started making kombucha for myself a few years ago in an attempt to reduce my Diet Coke habit.  Kombucha is fermented tea that originated in China or Japan.  It is made by adding bacteria, yeast and sugar to tea and allowing it to ferment.  The bacteria and yeast is a living symbiotic colony and is called a SCOBY.  Some bacteria gets into the kombucha and provides probiotics in the drink. The tea is also rich in antioxidants and other nutrients.  There are lots of benefits to drinking tea.

I have a a continuous brew system.  I take out the brewed kombucha from the bottom and add fresh sweet, tea to the top each day (the sugar in the sweet tea helps to feed the SCOBY).  Then, I add flavoring (which is usually left over jelly/jam) and put the kombucha through a second ferment in a closed bottle to make it bubbly.  Here is a pic of my set up.  I keep it on top of a water heater so it stays warm.

Every 3 months, I clean out the whole system and re-start it.  I cut up the SCOBY and usually just feed it to the girls.  They love it!

This time, I cut the SCOBY up and distributed it to my family in their Christmas gifts!

 

 

I also put together a kombucha starter kit to go along with the SCOBY.  I included a jar for brewing the kombucha, tea, funnel, brush, grape juice and bottles to complete a second ferment.  Of course, I gave them directions on how to make the grape soda too!

There are limitless ways to flavor kombucha by using herbs, fruits, or even vegetables.  One of my favorite flavors is grape so I thought it would be a good gift for family.

Here is another gift I gave out this past Christmas.  Eggnog truffles!  I thought they looked cute in the little egg carton!

Did you make any homemade gifts this past Christmas?  I have already started some for this next Christmas but need some ideas for 2022...

~Denise