FLAVORINGS
Research & Development
The kombucha koolerator in your local grocery store is a showcase of commercial brands. To clone your own delicious home-brewed batches, spy, buy, and try: take cell phone camera pictures of ingredient labels; purchase bottles with the most appealing flavors; taste test at home.
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Fruit Herbs Spices Flowers
Once the primary fermentation is finished, the kombucha is ready to be consumed, but take the secondary fermentation step and buy, grow, or forage adjunct flavorings for a bucha boost of flavor.
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Zingiber officinale Fresh ginger not only enhances the flavor of kombucha, but also increases carbonation. Peel and dice the ginger root to expose more surface area for flavoring. Shred to turbo-charge it.
Dried ginger is more convenient, and won't spoil between batches. |
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Citrus limon
A large pinch per quart jar is enough lemon zest to pack a pucker punch.
Bitter is not better than tangy -- don't zest with so much zeal that you scrape the bitter white pith along with the citrus peel. |
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Granny Smith Apples Tart, crisp, and readily available year round
If adding cinnamon, use sticks or bark chips because powder does not easily dissolve. |
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Berries Fresh picked in summer, fresh from the freezer in winter |
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Chai
Pepper the bold blend of chai spices even more with a kick of cayenne, or mellow out with vanilla bean.
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Floral Rose Aroma and Flavor
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Dried Flowers
Make sure that the rose buds are food grade without added perfumes or chemicals. Add a few cherries or a pinch of hibiscus for a rosey hue.
To complement the delicate flavor of lavender buds, pitch a wee bit of lemon zest. Plop in some blueberries for lavender-like coloring. |
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