Re: fermented foods
[QUOTE=floridaorange;1138904]dude - you make your own kombucha? I'm a little afraid to try it simply because I've read so many warnings about messing it up and having it turn toxic.
how do you make it and flavor it? how long did it take you to perfect it? how's yours taste? If I could get some batches going I'd be stoked, I love that shit. Have you tried including chia seeds? I want a lacto fermented hot pepper ffs![/QUOTE]
It's super easy to make once you grow your own mother. People sell mothers on craigslist all the time, but i think it's fun to grown your own. Every new batch of Kombucha grows an additional mother so it's kind of a cool thing to pass mothers along to friends as you go through batches. Selling them kinda ruins the vibe of the whole thing imo. I've never had a toxic batch, and honestly don't even think it's possible unless you're a dumbs. If you're too afraid to experiment and try something outside your comfort zone you're never going to have any fun at all.
How to make it is a google search away. It's basically just water, sugar, black tea and time. Perfecting flavoring is another story- some work, some don't, but that's just a trial and error process based on your tastes. We use our Omega juicer to extract juice from ginger, citrus, strawberries, etc. Favorite combos so far have been just plain strawberry, and citrus ginger. I'm sure you drink the GT brand kombucha- we just use those as guides for flavor ideas. Less is definitely more in this case, as I actually like the funky flavor of plain kombucha, so I don't want to dilute the taste too much with fruit, which also adds sugar. The bottling process is no big deal either, you just have to be sanitary and take care in the amount of sugars you're adding to each bottle else you'll have bottle bombs.
Lacto fermented peppers- same deal, easy peasy. With anything fermented, the most difficult part of the process is waiting. Let those microbes do their thing.