Saturday 13 April
It has been a while since we’ve last left an entry in our Kombucha brewing journal, but don’t think for a second that we’ve stopped brewing! The reason for the lack of activity has been due to the fact that we’ve just been doing the same-ol’ brews, so there wasn’t much to journalise.
But this week we’ve attempted our first foray into zhuzhing-up our standard kombucha- injecting some liveliness into our brew by the way of GINGER!
After cooking a Chinese fish dish last week we had some leftover ginger, so instead of letting it just wither until the next weekend when we found another recipe which required the root- we added it to our secondary kombucha brew.
For us we kept it pretty simple, first peeling away the outer skin of the ginger, and then just dicing up the ginger into thin matchsticks and dividing the spoils equally into the three bottles of kombucha we produce each week.
After a week of secondary fermentation, there was definitely more effervescence when the cap was twisted off, and the flavour? Oh it was a real nice pure ginger flavour! It was remarkably similar to a ginger beer, but tart due to the kombucha’s usual properties.
When compared to a store bought ginger flavoured kombucha, the home brew is definitely more intense in gingery flavours, and it tastes more natural (perhaps that is a psychological thing, due to knowing the provenance of each ingredient).
And when compared to standard kombucha, it’s less sour- so ideal for those who might find kombucha usually too vinegary for their liking. If given the choice now, we prefer ginger infused kombucha, than stock standard kombucha.
P.S. Before consuming, pour the kombucha through a strainer to remove the pieces of ginger. However if you don’t mind expending more effort to extract the ginger flavours? You can first mince-up/grate/puree the ginger and add this into your secondary brew- this will eliminate the need to strain when it’s time to drain……your glass!
Published by