edible how-to
KOMBUCHA CULTURE
Two local companies cook up a healthy drink.
WRITTEN BY MELISSA SIIG
PHOTOS BY CANDICE NYANDO
In 2006, Margaret Jackson was suffering from health issues when her brother advised her to drink kombucha, a sweetened, fermented tea. After doing some research, she decided to give it a try. Like many kombucha novices, Jackson had a hard time at first getting past the vinegary taste, but it soon grew on her.
“It was all I could do with the first bottle to finish it over the course of the day,” she says. “After the third sip you say, ‘OK, this is good.’ You don’t know what to expect. It’s like your first sip of coffee or wine or beer — most don’t have an automatic appeal.”
But soon after she started drinking kombucha, Jackson noticed an improvement in her health, including better energy and digestion. She now is the president of Minden-based Sierra Kombucha Co., which produces around 100 cases of its six flavors of kombucha per week during peak production.
Kombucha benefits
“It gives you a good feeling,” Jackson says. “… it feels like you are getting rid of toxins in the body and have a healthy gut.”
Up until a few years ago, many consumers had never heard of kombucha, an ancient, effervescent beverage that traces its origins back to China thousands of years ago and was, reportedly, the favorite elixir of the Japanese samurai. Now the drink is one of the country’s fastest-growing functional beverages (a nonalcoholic drink that includes ingredients such as herbs, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids). Although kombucha’s health claims have not been verified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, legions of fans swear by it. Kellan Adams, who started Bella Bucha Kombucha last year in Reno, says that after she began drinking kombucha, she had healthier nails, skin, and hair, as well as increased energy and weight loss.
One reason that may account for kombucha’s health benefits is probiotics, which is produced by combining green tea and sugar with a cultivated SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), also known as the Mother. (Some kombucha companies, such as Sierra Kombucha, also add organic juice.) Through the fermentation process, the cultures feed on the sugars, producing valuable acids and good bacteria.
“Probiotics are the main element that makes kombucha so beneficial,” Adams says. “It replenishes bacteria in the system and counteracts bad fungus that can attack our systems, like Candida. Cultures that have fermented foods in their diets usually are some of the healthiest cultures in the world.”
One byproduct of the fermentation process is alcohol. In 2011, almost all commercial kombucha was pulled off the shelves over concerns about the levels of alcohol. The majority of kombucha now found in stores contains under .5 percent alcohol — the legal limit for a drink not to be considered alcoholic. Kombucha with higher alcohol content can only be sold to consumers over the age of 21.
Finding success
Like Jackson, Adams also has been ramping up production of her six flavors of kombucha, which is made with tea from Davidson’s Organics in Reno, along with herbs, extracts, and honey. Her production jumped from 100 or 150 gallons a month to 750 gallons for May’s Lightning in a Bottle Festival in Central California, and she is moving into a bigger space this summer.
Jackson credits kombucha’s rise in popularity to consumers’ search for a healthier drink.
“People are seeking out lower sugar, healthier beverages,” she says. “They are moving away from soda.”
Resources
Sierra Kombucha can be found at Scolari’s in Gardnerville, Reno, Yerington, and Fernley, as well as Raley’s in Reno. For details, visit http://www.Sierrakombucha.com
Bella Bucha is sold in Truckee and Lake Tahoe at Whole Treats, Coffeebar, Tahoe Central Market, and in Reno at The Studio, Elixart, and Electric Blue Elephant, or online at http://www.Bellabucha.com Bella Bucha also offers a CSK (community-supported kombucha) for 10 or 20 weeks. Adams expects pickups and refills of 1-gallon jugs to be available at Truckee Thursdays and in Reno on Fridays, location to be determined.
Make Your Own
You can order a SCOBY, learn about the brewing process, and find kombucha recipes at http://www.Getkombucha.com or http://www.Kombuchakamp.com
Melissa Siig is a writer based in Tahoe City, Calif. After holding her nose the first time she tried kombucha, now she can’t get enough of Synergy’s Cherry Chia kombucha and Bella Bucha’s Hibiscus Honey Rose.
