New Fermentation Book: "Real Food Fermentation"

My friend Alex Lewin, author of the blog Feed Me Like You Mean It, has recently written a book titled Real Food Fermentation.

The book covers fermentation of all kinds of foods and beverages, including lacto-fermented vegetables, dairy such as yogurt and kefir, fermented fruit condiments, and kombucha of course! I even contributed a few pages to the kombucha section of the book, offering tips on how to take care of kombucha cultures!

Alex Lewin is a graduate of Harvard, The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. He calls himself a health strategist, advocates for real and healthy food, and serves on the board of the Boston Public Market Association. Read more about Alex Lewin here.

Why buy the book? Lewin says on his blog:

"It is a photo-illustrated, step by step cookbook that shows you how to make fermented foods. The photos really make the recipes come alive (pun intended!). And they are beautiful photos; my photographer is an ace. There are other fermentation books out there, including some new ones, but to be honest, mine is the prettiest by far, and the step by step pictures make my recipes very easy to follow."

The photographs in the book really are gorgeous. In addition, I would highly recommend Alex's sauerkraut recipe (also provided in his book), which I have been using ever since he did a Sauerkraut Demo with Slow Food BU!

To purchase Real Food Fermentation, ask your local independent bookstore to order it for you, or purchase it on Amazon this Monday, June 18, which will help to promote the book and help it to rise on Amazon's best-sellers list. Of course, if you cannot purchase the book on June 18, purchase it anytime!

For more information and updates about Real Food Fermentation, visit http://RealFoodFermentation.com.

The Different Teas for Your Kombucha Brew

I have finally been able to start reading the book Kombucha - Healthy beverage and natural remedy from the Far East by Gunther W. Frank. Wondering which tea(s) to use to brew your kombucha? Here's the quick and dirty about the main varieties of tea and how they relate to your brew.

Black Tea

• Examples: Russian and Ceylon tea
• Fermented
• High caffeine content
• Produces the more typical apple cider vinegar taste of kt
• Using more of it increases the ratio of yeast to bacteria in your brew (3)
• What Kombucha tea is "typically" brewed with

Oolong Tea

• Semi-fermented (1, p. 20)
• Inbetween green and black tea in taste and appearance (1, p. 20)

Green Tea

• Examples: Gunpowder, Jasmine, and white tea
• Comes from the same plant as black tea, but is unfermented (1, p. 19)
• Can contribute an astringent quality to kt
  
• Lower caffeine content than black tea
• Using more of it decreases the ratio of yeast to bacteria in your brew (3)
• Often used because of its numerous health benefits

Yerba Mate (2)

Yerba Mate

Herbal Teas

• Avoid teas with too many volatile oils (ex. sage, peppermint, chamomile, and St.-John's-Wort), which can alter the microorganism balance in the Kombucha culture over time (1, p. 25)
• Used for their medicinal properties and for individuals who want to avoid caffeine (1, p. 25)
• The Kombucha culture feeds on the nitrogen in herbal teas (2)

Herbal Tea Possibilities with Kombucha Tea:

• Rooibos (2)
• Recommended by Pastor Hermann-Josef Wendinger: Equal parts bilberry leaves, raspberry leaves, blackberry leaves, and blackcurrent leaves (1, p. 25)

Recommendations Regarding Herbal Teas

• Include at least some green or black tea in your herbal brews to "[make] the best nutrient solution for the Kombucha culture" (1, p. 25)
• According to Happy Herbalist, brew with 25% "real" tea and 75% herbal tea. OR, ferment 3 brews with herbal teas and every fourth batch use "real" tea (2)
• Add herbal teas in the bottling process

Advantages of Black Tea vs. Herbals

• Produces the highest concentrations of lactic and gluconic acid (1, p. 28)
• Provides the "best conditions" "as a source of mineral nutriments for the culture" (1, p. 28)
• Bing (1928) "describes the Kombucha culture as a community of living things which are particularly adapted to a nutrient milieu rich in purine, and which need this rich supply of purine to maintain their metabolism." (1, p. 28). Black tea contains this necessary purine (1, p. 29).
• According to Bing, the tannin content of the tea also affects the formation of the zoogloea (the new baby mushroom that form at the surface) (1, p. 28)
• Herbal teas contain higher amounts of volatile oils and phenol than black tea. And because the volatile oils float to the surface where the new baby mushrooms grow, they can destroy/inhibit bacteria in the Kombucha culture and change the culture's composition (1, p. 29)
• Herbal teas contain more germinal spores than black teas, which can "germinate in the warm nutrient solution" (1, p. 30)

Which teas do I brew with?

• I typically enjoy using a combination of green and black teas in ratios of around 3:1 or 3:2. I also do brews using only black tea, such as only Ceylon, Darjeeling, or Assam tea.

Read more about different tea types for your kombucha brew at Happy Herbalist and Seeds of Health UK.

Sources:
1. Frank, Gunther W. Kombucha - Healthy beverage and natural remedy from the Far East. 4th ed. Austria: Wilhelm Ennsthaler, 1994.
2. http://www.happyherbalist.com/differentteas.aspx
3. http://geocities.com/kombucha_balance/

The Kombucha Journal + Kombucha Mailing List + Book + Funny Video!

I recently came across the website The Kombucha Journal by Kombucha Guru, Günther W. Frank. Not only is The Kombucha Journal available in 30 languages, but it also hosts a Worldwide Kombucha Exchange where you can find kombucha starters and also offer to share your mushrooms with others.

On the site I found a Kombucha Mailing List, which so far has been wonderful. However, the mailing list is quite active- so don't say you weren't warned!

I was so excited with all of these new discoveries, that I broke down and bought Frank's book "Kombucha, Healthy beverage and natural remedy from the Far East." I cannot wait to receive the book, and I will write posts about it when I do!

And through the kombucha mailing list, I also found out about the video, Kombucha and You. The video is extremely entertaining, and I would highly recommend it for a good laugh! Although, it illustrates more of what you shouldn't do with your kombucha mushroom than what you should. :)