Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Blob, part 1

During Spring Break, I got to do what I love best. Find new things to spend money on. I mean, find ways to make my life healthier, and save money in the long run. Yes, that's it.


That's when Kombucha flitted across my screen, caught my attention, and reignited my interest...


I had done kombucha years ago. I found an offer on Freecycle, and raised my virtual hand, and soon picked up a lovely little round rubbery disc to adopt, feed, and drink the resultant liquid. I enjoyed the taste, but in my youth, experienced no miraculous relief of assorted ailments...and then I got tired of feeding, brewing, and so on, and let it sit on top of my fridge, growing steadily, and averted my eyes when I noticed it. 


(For those that aren't familiar with kombucha, it is a fermented drink created from tea, sugar, and water in which the SCOBY ( Sybiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) resides and converts the tea brew into something that's reminiscent of vinager. You can find bottles of it in most health food stores, with words like 'enzymes' and 'probiotics' and 'antioxidants' on it. Along with the $4 sticker price.)


Anyway, my former neat little scoby grew into an alarmingly large mass of bacteria/yeast, and with a great deal of guilt, I eventually laid it to rest in my compost pile, not knowing what else to do with it.

And here I was, maybe a decade later, a decade older, and thinking of adopting another. 

50's is tough. Joints ache, getting up from sitting is sometimes painful. My sound sleep is a thing of the past. My digestion is shakier. Small, superficial skin injuries don't heal and disappear anymore. Winter weight no longer melts away when my cycling increases in the warmer weather...

So even if most of the folklore surrounding the healing properties of Kombucha weren't true, it would be a nice drink I could brew myself and save a lot of dollars for those times when I crave the flavor of Kombucha~

SO I did what many would turn to in this time and age. I asked on Facebook. And that's how the Blob came into my life.

M replied to my request. And I could come over right away and pick it up! I rode my bike over, and M met me outside, and I went in. Everyone else in the household was asleep, and she starts telling me about 'ET'. Not a neat little off-white disc here, ET looked huge, and floating slightly folded over in the mason jar, and a few shades of brown. 

She was  mine now. I carefully rode her home.

Reservations? Sure! I had no idea how long ET has been in the jar, how ET was kept, or where ET has been. But I followed through and washed my pitcher with soap and hot water, brewed a few miscellaneous teas I found in the cupboard, and threw in a cup of white sugar. Letting it cool to around room temperature, I slid in the Blob ET, and poured in most of the liquid. I placed it on top of my fridge, and tried to convince myself I would drink the result.

Does this look appetizing to you?










3 comments:

Melissa said...

Did you drink the result of the tea mixture?

And to answer your question at the end no the drink in the pitcher doesn't look very appetizing but I'm not a tea or coffee drink. I'm someone else will find it very appetizing.

-Melissa
nariedesigns.com

Anonymous said...

Kombucha has always sounded interesting to me, but after working in a lab years ago I know I don't have the skills to keep a long term culture contamination free. Educate yourself and stay safe!

Knittynutter said...

wow, i have never heard of this, but as I am approaching my 50's may well go off and investigate..
interesting..