My First Batch of Kombucha

Last week I wrote about Kombucha, giving the basics: what it is, how it's made, and other benefits, proven or not.

Pomegranate Flavored Kombucha

No matter how one looks at it, it is really tasty, to my palate, and so far it appears it is acceptable to my husband's palate also. Yesterday was 7 days fermenting. The pH registered at about between 2.5 and 3.0, so that was right on target. I opted to do a secondary ferment using fruit juice, so I poured off two bottles of plain kombucha, to taste as a baseline and then added 2 ounces of pomegranate juice to each of the jars, before filling with Kombucha. This will re-ferment on the counter for another 2 or 3 days, or until it tastes right and is fizzy. 

I was so excited last week, the day my SCOBY was to arrive - that I completely forgot to take any photos of it when it came! The temperature of SCOBY and the tea must be the same, so it took some time and monitoring to have them become equal. And then I slipped the SCOBY into the tea - set it on top of the fridge, covered and thought - DRAT! forgot to photograph. 

I had planned to get photos yesterday when draining and making the new batch of tea - and again I forgot. That said, the kombucha was delicious! I am hoping the pomegranate juice (from a jar) will also be as good as I anticipate.

Plain Kombucha in front and
Pomegranate Kombucha behind

The one thing I had wondered about receiving a SCOBY in the mail - is there any waiting period? As in, maybe it could be in shock from travel and need a grace period. Do you think I could find an answer to this? I looked online and just could not find an answer. So, yesterday when I uncovered the kombucha, preparatory to draining it into containers, there was no new SCOBY on top! I certainly wondered at that, because everywhere I read it said that with each batch a new SCOBY will form. Obviously I was not entering the right question.

As I saw no new baby SCOBY, I looked online for that concept and found that yes, if the SCOBY is weak, it may not produce a new SCOBY the first and even possibly a second time, but eventually, given its preferred diet of sweet tea, it will recover. I hope next week to see a new baby SCOBY on top. Meanwhile, there was nothing wrong with the one I got, because the tea was fermented nicely and the flavor was very similar to the store bought bottle (only better!). 

I used one gallon of boiled water, 2 tablespoons of black tea, steeped for 10 minutes, then sweetened with 1 cup of cane sugar. Actually, since it is taking such a very long time to cool the tea, this time I steeped the 2 tablespoons of tea in one quart of boiling water, then sweetened it and added in the other 3 quarts of water. This way it only took 5 hours for the tea to cool to the 77 degrees of the SCOBY! 

I am using the continuous brew method. I bought a large 1½ gallon glass jar with spigot. I drained off the tea, leaving about 2 cups in the bottom of the jar, and added the new batch of tea on top. 

It remains to see the flavor of the pomegranate kombucha, but it surely looks pretty. The plain is delicious. This is fast becoming a love affair!

July 30, 2015: Three days later . . . 

Just Poured, left                  |          after 20 seconds, right

Today makes three days since I decanted my first Kombucha. The plain is delicious, and I love it. But - once the secondary ferment takes place, with the addition of juice or any other flavoring agent, it becomes far more fizzy and active. In the case of the addition of 2-ounces of pomegranate juice to the jar, the flavor is amazing! The fizz-factor is really up there. In general, I do not drink anything fizzy. Even Champagne takes some work to get through. About the only sparkling wine I have used repeatedly over the years is the Italian sparkling red from Banfi called (these days) Rosa Regale. In past, this was called Brachetto d'Acqui. It is a lovely flavored sparkling wine, reminiscent of raspberries and rose petals. While I will not say the flavor of my Pomegranate Kombucha is alike, this is the only thing that even comes close in my taste memory. The bubbles respond the same way, filling the glass immediately and then coming down, slowly. After pouring, it took over 20 seconds for the bubbly fizz to come down from near the top of the champagne flute to about ¼-inch thick. The flavor is most lovely. Once getting past the bubbles, I do love this stuff!



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Delicious and Gourmet Dessert

I had a great idea yesterday. I love rice pudding. The cooked kind. With tapioca. My Mom would make rice pudding when we had enough rice leftover from a meal, and it was a special treat. There were 7 of us kids in the family, so having enough left over was tricky. We would beg Mom to make lots of rice, so there would be leftovers. She always thickened her rice pudding with tapioca, and with egg. Over the years, I have found the egg not to be necessary, and I like my rice pudding usually just a little less thick. The basic ingredients have always been milk, sugar rice, tapioca and vanilla, with or without eggs and with cinnamon sprinkled over top. 

Gourmet Saffron Rice Pudding with Cardamom

I was writing an article yesterday about coconut milk; what it is, its nutritional value, and some suggestions for using coconut milk, beyond the world of Indian Curries and Thai foods. One of the thoughts was to use it instead of milk to make rice pudding. I have played with my Mom's basic recipe for some years, changing out seasonings. I really love cardamom, so I have been using that either along with cinnamon, or on its own. The other thing was that the rice I had leftover in the fridge was Saffron Rice. 

Saffron is another thing I grew up loving. I know it is not everyone's special cup of tea, and have read commentary in places about the awful taste of saffron. To me, it is one of those smells and flavors that is evocative of great childhood memories. In particular, my paternal Grandma always made her soup with saffron, and the whole house smelled of her saffron flavored chicken soup when we arrived. My husband and I were lucky enough to be in Spain for a day on a cruise long ago, and though the large box of saffron I bought was not the highest quality, it still worked great and smelled heavenly and it goes a long way. My saffron rice is simple, just Basmati rice, a dab of butter or oil, salt and saffron.

So okay, back to the Rice Pudding. I had the leftover rice. I have added a pinch of saffron to my rice pudding at times also, so this saved a step. I had coconut milk. I had tapioca and cardamom. I set to work to make myself some pudding, and this is what came out of it. It is one of the best rice puddings ever, in my book. The saffron can be left out. Cinnamon can be used instead of cardamom. But I did really love the creaminess and flavor when made with the coconut milk. The recipe seems vaguely middle eastern, with the saffron and cardamom and coconut.

Gourmet Saffron Rice Pudding with Cardamom

Gourmet Saffron Rice Pudding with Cardamom

1 can coconut milk (14 - 18 ounces)
3 tablespoons minute tapioca
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon cardamom, ground 
2 1/2 cups precooked, cooled saffron rice 

In a 4 cup measuring cup, pour in the coconut milk. Add in water to make a total of 3 cups. Stir, and pour into a medium saucepan. Add in the sugar and tapioca, stir and allow to stand for 3 - 5 minutes. Add in the cardamom and rice, to combine. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, lower heat and cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Stir occasionally to prevent a skin from forming, or place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding until cool. 

This makes enough for 6 to 8 servings, depending on who's eating! I had pomegranate arils in the fridge also, and sprinkled some of those over top. Then I got the idea to layer the arils with the pudding in a wine glass. Pistachios added another pop of color and goodness. The whole thing was just so pretty, I got carried away with the photos. I hope someone finds this idea as enjoyable as I. The recipe is completely gluten-free, also, and if you haven't used butter in the rice (as I did), it is both vegetarian and vegan. Yum.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Green Peas and Pomegranate Arils

I mentioned the other day that I made a green pea appetizer spread. Oh man, it is so good. I baked a new batch of No-Knead bread just for that. The recipe came from Michael Symon, on The Chew, but I changed it a bit. The ingredients are there, but the amounts are different. As with most recipes, you try something and add a little of this or that. Whatever tastes good. This is the recipe as I made it. It's naturally gluten-free, too.

Green Pea, Feta and Mint Spread

Green Pea, Feta and Mint Spread

1 cup frozen sweet green peas, thawed
3/4 cup feta cheese
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons olive oil, or more, as needed
salt and pepper

Thaw the peas under running water. Place them in a food processor with all ingredients except the salt and pepper. Process until well mixed, but still a little chunky. Check to see if salt is needed; the feta cheese might be salty. I put in 1/2 teaspoon of Kosher salt without tasting and it was too salty, so check first. Add in pepper as desired and process briefly to combine.

Okay, that said, I didn't have any lemons in the house. I usually keep limes rather than lemons, but I didn't even have any limes. What I used was Boyajian Lemon Oil, about 3 drops, cause that stuff is really strong. Do not try using lemon extract or flavoring or it will be awful. This lemon oil, for anyone who has not tried it, is pure oil of the fruit and looks, smells and tastes just like concentrated essence of the zest of the fruit. Three drops was good. I might have been able to use 4 drops, but I stopped while ahead. Next time I will use real lemon zest because I think it will make a spectacular spread just that much better.

Pomegranate Arils

This morning I decided to open up a pomegranate I had gotten a few days ago. I had it on the counter so I would remember and use it. Today was the day. I have liked pomegranate arils in past, but they were a little distractingly crunchy. I don't know if this pomegranate was more ripe, but these were sweet and only minimally crunchy. They were downright delicious. I got all the little arils out. There were two whole cups of them. That was one large pomegranate.

Supremed Grapefruit and Pomegranate Arils for breakfast

By the way, in case you didn't know, those little things are not seeds. Arils are a covering for the seed of some fruits. The aril itself is attached in some way to the plant and the seed is inside the aril covering. Mace is an aril to the nutmeg. The cotton fibers are the aril to the cotton seed.

So there I stood, tasting how sweet those little arils were and thinking I had planned to have a grapefruit for breakfast. I decided to have both. I supremed the grapefruit segments and put some pomegranate arils on top. It was, I believe, one of the prettiest breakfasts I have had.


My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook and Pinterest.