How often should you wash kombucha? What does kombucha cure? Proper care of kombucha

Europeans learned about the healing properties of kombucha, or as it is also called medusomycete, a little less than a century ago. Since that time, it has spread to almost the entire continent. Today it is very popular with us, and for good reason. But the fact is that this mushroom has a unique miraculous power that allows you to use the product for the prevention and treatment of many diseases. But for it to really benefit, it is important to know how to care for kombucha in a jar. In this article, we will talk about just that.

Depending on the conditions in which the medusomycete is located, not only taste qualities, but also useful features, and chemical composition. In order for the medusa mycete to develop properly, the following conditions of detention should be adhered to:

• Medusomycete can live and develop perfectly in a spacious glass container, for example, in a three-liter jar. But it can be other dishes, the main thing is that it matches the size.
• The container that contains the mushroom should not be in a bright place. Direct Sun rays slow down the growth of mass, so it is not recommended to put the container on the windowsill.
• The required temperature for development is in the range of 23-27 degrees. If the temperature drops, the development of the fungus may slow down. This can lead to the formation of algae and its death.
• After the jellyfish is ready, do not tightly close the container with a lid. In this case, there is a lack of oxygen, which is necessary for the respiration of the fungus.

Important! To prevent this from happening, you can fold clean gauze 3-4 times and put it on top of the container.

• It is undesirable to fill tea mushroom raw water because it is rich in calcium. For these purposes, use boiled water.
• Before pouring water, dissolve tea leaves and sugar in it. Do not pour tea on top of the mushroom or place the mass in water that contains undissolved sugar. After such actions, the medusomycete can get burned and become covered with brown spots.

Important! The same applies to tea brewing - granules or petals from brewed tea must be completely removed.

• To ensure the normal development of medusomycete, it is necessary to periodically wash Kombucha clean water. Can be used tap water, but it is better to do it with boiled or spring water.
• Care must be taken to ensure that the kombucha does not die. This can happen due to a long stay in one solution. A sign can be a change in color on the upper part - it becomes a dark brown hue. In this case, remove the mushroom from the container, rinse with clean water, remove and discard the upper part.
• If you left somewhere for a long time or simply forgot about your “pet” and he was left without fluid, then he can be resuscitated. To do this, fill it with tea solution or sweet water- Medusa mycete has the ability to be stored dry.

What and how to pour into it?

As the drink from the medusomycete is consumed, it becomes necessary to replenish the habitat in which it lives. Therefore, in order for him to be healthy, his proper nutrition should be a regular procedure. To care for kombucha in a jar, you need to do this:

1. Prepare a tea solution diluted with sugar. In a boiled one percent tea solution, dilute the sugar in a ratio of one to ten.
2. In this prepared solution, you can place the mushroom itself or add liquid to the one in which it is already located.

Important! Make sure that the prepared solution is not too saturated or strong. This can lead to growth retardation. The concentration can be reduced by adding boiled, cooled water.

Top dressing or replacement of the solution must be carried out regularly, approximately once every 3-4 days. When the room temperature drops, this procedure is reduced to once a week. However, in order for the drink to be more saturated, top dressing can be carried out more often.

How to wash?

Medusomycetes needs constant care and attention. It is not enough just to place it inside the container, drain healing drink and occasionally add liquid. So how do you care for a mushroom in a jar? So that the mushroom does not die, it must be washed periodically:

• As a rule, it is washed with running, cool and clean water. Moreover, it must be washed with extreme caution, because if the pressure is too strong, then the structure of the fungus can be damaged. At the end of the “bathing”, the mushroom is returned to its usual environment and poured with a sweet tea solution.

Important! During washing, the mass must be held very gently - any mechanical “injuries” can lead to a violation of integrity, and the medusomycete will die.

• IN summer time at more high temperature indoors, the fungus is somewhat more active than in winter. Therefore, you need to wash kombucha and change the solution more often.

Important! It is desirable to carry out the washing process once every 3-4 weeks in cold weather and at least once every 2 weeks in summer.

• In addition to the fact that kombucha needs regular care, it also needs a thorough cleaning of its “home” - the container inside which it is located. It needs to be thoroughly washed, removing all the mucus, possible algae or other substances. Only after that, the jar is filled with another tea solution and a new product is prepared.

How to share?

Reproduction of jellyfish is very simple. For this:

1. Separate the top.
2. Move it inside a clean container with lukewarm water.
3. Leave new mushroom in a dark place for a day.
4. As soon as the film begins to rise and exfoliate, move the young mushroom into the sweet tea solution.
5. After 2-3 days, it should noticeably increase in size, and the drink can be consumed.

Important! The period of life of kombucha when it can give out quality drink, is a couple of months.

Beginner mistakes

A drink from a medusomycete is not only very tasty, but also incredibly healthy. However, all medicinal taste properties the drink is preserved if you properly care for the mushroom in the jar. Some beginner "mushroom pickers" sometimes make mistakes that prevent the fungus from producing a drink:

• By placing a very young kombucha inside a jar, you should not expect an instant result. It must have a period of growth and maturation. Be patient and let him grow up.
• It is impossible to tear off the lower layers from the medusomycete - it is here that the elements are produced, thanks to which a delicious drink is obtained.
• Make sure that the medusomycete swims only horizontally, smooth side up. Otherwise, there will be no drink.
• It is necessary to regularly refresh the liquid of the fungus after you drink the drink. If the liquid is not refreshed, then the acidity will increase in the solution.

Important! If you do not want to drink a drink, then simply pour out a part and pour in a fresh solution.

What is useful Kombucha Kombucha - a remedy for all diseases. Contraindications. How to care and use How to care for your face with kombucha
Homemade kombucha or kombucha - how to care and use

Homemade kombucha or kombucha - how to care and use. Benefit and harm

Homemade kombucha - it is possible that in our time some do not know what kind of "beast" it is, but in the 70s he lived in almost every home. Lived because it is a living organism, and it needs to be properly looked after.

In this article, you will learn about the benefits and contraindications of this drink. And

This drink, in addition to being tasty, sour and slightly carbonated, is also extremely useful. And its taste is always different, it depends on what it is not clear. There is an opinion that it depends on the environment, the mood of the owners of the house and what words they say. A couple of days ago, my mother brought a mushroom from a friend, I decided to find out everything about it and at the same time write an article on my blog.

He was brought out by a Korean scientist, even before our era, his name was Kombo. Therefore, one of the names of the mushroom is kombucha.

And now it is produced even in industrial scale in the US and Europe, and anyone can buy a bottle of kombucha (as they call it there). And grow your own. It seems like we are starting to slowly release it for sale.

We always called it just a mushroom, but it turns out to have many names.

What are the benefits of Kombucha?

The ancient Chinese called tea jellyfish "the elixir of immortals." And in Rus' they used to say that the one who drinks tea kvass will be healthy up to a hundred years! Indeed, it has a very strong tonic effect. Just drank a glass. But that's not all, read on

• Still, it contains probiotics, and they help to establish proper digestion, with their help the body absorbs proteins and fats better. Accelerate metabolism - metabolism. And since the drink improves digestion, it contributes to rapid weight loss.


• It helps to balance the acid-base balance, and this in turn will help to avoid many diseases.


• Strengthens the immune system, as with its help in gastrointestinal tract supported enough beneficial bacteria.


• Accelerates the elimination of toxins. Which improves the functioning of the body as a whole. It also helps our skin, as toxins that are not removed in time contribute to the appearance of acne and black spots.


• Kombucha drink contains glucosamines, they help prevent and treat all forms of arthritis by increasing the body's production of hyaluronic acid. This acid helps maintain cartilage structure and prevents joint pain.


• Hyaluronic acid helps connective tissue to retain moisture, which helps to maintain tissue structure and reduces the effects of free radicals. Hyaluronic acid contains collagen, which slows down the appearance of wrinkles, improves skin firmness and elasticity. So you can use the drink as a facial tonic.


• Gluconic acid - helps fight cancer, prevent its occurrence and slow down growth cancer cells if they already exist.


• This wonderful drink contains natural antibiotics. And if the throat hurts, then it is necessary to rinse it with a drink that has been infused for at least 5 days. The body of the tea jellyfish itself can be applied to wounds, they heal faster. Heals burns.


• They can prevent caries! If you rinse your mouth with kombucha infused with green tea.


• Those people who constantly drink kombucha notice that it gives extra energy, has a positive effect on falling asleep and sleep at night, helps with colds and lowers blood pressure.

And it is also used in cosmetology, Professor Boris Uvaydov talks about this and not only in the video below.

If you are interested in this topic, then I recommend that you definitely watch the video of Dr. Boris Uvaydov. He is a researcher and clinic consultant in the US and Mexico, professor of naturopathy, psychotherapist, doctor of nutritional psychology, specialist in non-drug treatment.

TEA MUSHROOM magical properties skin rejuvenation, weight loss

And another very interesting video. About a woman who uses kombucha literally everywhere. Once a mushroom even saved her from a trophic ulcer!

She applied the very body of the fungus and slept peacefully all night, there was no pain, and the wound gradually healed. And yet, instead of tea, you can put the mushroom in herbal tincture. But to be honest, I don’t know how he lives there, and whether he will function normally.

So it’s better to put useful substances in the drink itself and make, for example, a tincture for colds and sore throats. We take:

• 100 grams of kombucha drink


• Ground red pepper half a teaspoon


• Honey one teaspoon

Take a tablespoon 3 times a day.

Drink a drink every time 30 minutes before a meal - this will improve digestion. And before going to bed - you will sleep like a baby.

Kombucha Ancient remedy for diseases - in a new way

The list of benefits of kombucha is endless, but like any strong medicine, it has a number of contraindications.

What are the contraindications for kombucha?

Diabetes is due to the high sugar content.

Increased stomach acidity, again due to sugar, but instead of sugar, you can put honey in the kombucha solution. With the help of honey, you neutralize the acid in the drink.

Fungal diseases. But if you use a fermented kombucha drink, on the contrary, it will help, since in this form it resists diseases of this kind.

And you can’t drink a drink from kombucha if a person suffers from hypotension (low blood pressure), a stomach ulcer.

Allergic reactions - they are possible in some people, but this is purely individual.

Do not add sweeteners to kombucha, it will not accept them.

I wrote all this just in case, since I am not a doctor, but there is an authoritative opinion of the same doctor Uvaydov that there are no contraindications at all.

What is kombucha.

It consists of yeast - microorganisms, and acetic acid bacteria. They feed on the environment in which they are. And yeast eat sugar, excrete alcohol, carbon dioxide and other substances, and bacteria feed on what microorganisms secrete. As a result of their vital activity, acetic and hyaluronic acids and a number of other useful substances, which I wrote about above, contains vitamins B1, PP, C malic acid, polysaccharides.

Kombucha drink preparation and care.

So, we took kombucha with sourdough (this is not a large number of liquid in which the mushroom floats) from a familiar grandmother. Now we need to pick up a container for him. The best for this is the usual 3-x liter jar. Wash it properly. And prepare the nutrient solution.

• First, prepare the tea leaves, somewhere around 2 teaspoons per liter of water. It is better to take green tea, without additives, we insist the tea leaves for at least 15 minutes. Since the mushroom is still small, thin, pour half a three-liter jar.


• We always take boiled, cooled or slightly warm water, add tea leaves, strained from tea leaves, and somewhere around 5 tablespoons granulated sugar per liter of water. Mix everything thoroughly.


• Sugar must be completely dissolved, there should be no tea leaves, since sand crystals and tea leaves can harm our kombucha, provoke a burn.


• We bathe the mushroom in water, preferably not from the tap, but filtered. If there are ugly lumps, we pinch them off. You have to wash it once a month. And after that we place our miracle of nature in this solution.


• We cover with gauze and put on an elastic band on top so that nothing extraneous penetrates there, otherwise midges love it very much. After that, put in a dark place, and insist 2-5 days. If the room is hot, then the drink will ripen faster, if the temperature is low, then the ripening will take much longer. And it also depends on what kind of drink we like, if vigorous, then longer.


• When our sea ​​mushroom ripe, we filter it through cheesecloth or a plastic strainer. And put it in the fridge for a couple of days. And you can drink right away. With our kombucha, we perform the operation described above. We charge and wait for a new maturation.


• When the mushroom grows more than 4 centimeters thick, you need to separate one pancake for a new drink.

Watch the video tutorial, everything is explained there in detail.

Kombucha at my house)

I will write about my experience. The mushroom tastes much better on green tea. He grew up with me, became plump and now matures within 2 days. Because the kitchen is very warm, as the steam heating was turned on.

How to use kombucha for facial skin.

With kombucha tincture, you can simply wipe your face like a tonic, do a deep cleansing, or you can make masks and lotions based on it. Mushroom infusion has a pronounced rejuvenating, smoothing, soothing and tonic effect.

But for such purposes, the mushroom must be infused for 30 days! Once the cosmetic tincture is ready, you can put it in the refrigerator and use it as needed.

How to do a deep cleansing of the face.

For this we need:

• Your common remedy for skin cleansing (lotion, tonic, gel or foam cleanser)


• Terry towel


• Cotton napkin

Cleanse your face with your usual cleanser. Soak a terry towel in hot water and apply to the face for 2-3 minutes to steam the skin or steam it, as is usually done with deep cleansing of the face.

After that, we take a napkin and moisten it in tincture of kombucha, wring it out slightly, lie down and put it on the face. Cover the top with a warm towel.

When 5 minutes have passed, get up, wash off the kombucha with water and smear your face with a moisturizer. It is necessary to carry out the procedure 1 time per week, 2-3 hours before bedtime.

Lotion based on lavender for problematic skin based on kombucha.

The antiseptic and healing properties of kombucha make it effective tool in the fight for healthy and beautiful skin. It will also help regulate the functioning of the sebaceous glands.

• 30 day kombucha tincture 250 ml


• Dried lavender flowers 2 tablespoons


• Enamel saucepan and small glass jar

We heat the tincture of kombucha in a saucepan to 60-70 degrees. Pour lavender with mushrooms and leave for 30 minutes. We wait until it cools down, close the jar with a lid and insist in the refrigerator for three weeks.

When the right time has passed, strain through cheesecloth.

We wipe the lotion on the face and décolleté in the morning and in the evening.

You can also add lavender kombucha lotion to your bath.

Magical properties of kombucha.

Yes, they say that they have those, you just need to whisper your desire to him and he will fulfill it.

So, I told you almost everything that Kombucha Kombucha is useful for, how to care for it, how to use it and treat it. Now I will drink it constantly, especially since I really like its taste!

Where can you get kombucha? First ask your elderly friends, and the young ones too, for sure someone at home has it. If not, then look on the Internet, I saw ads where they offer to buy it.

Kombucha extract

About 20 years ago, I met a very interesting creature who lives in a bank, loves sweets and at the same time is very, very useful for human body. No, no, I'm not crazy, just we are talking about the so-called kombucha. In those days, there was no house in which a three-liter jar of mushrooms would not stand on the refrigerator. But the years take their toll, and now it is almost impossible to find such an unusual creature - it has been completely forgotten. But in vain. I will tell you what a miracle this mushroom is and what it is famous for.

Mushroom? Jellyfish? Microorganism? What!?

Kombucha has been known for centuries. But in Russia, he appeared in 1905 thanks to the soldiers who fought in the Russo-Japanese War. And, oddly enough, their gift came to taste. In another way, the mushroom is also called "Japanese", "tea", " japanese mushroom”, “Manchurian mushroom”. Anyone who sees such a strange creature for the first time will be at a loss for a long time what it is and how to call it. In fact, a fungus is a collaboration of two types of completely different microorganisms. By appearance it is very reminiscent of a jellyfish: the top layer is very smooth and shiny, dense and formed by yeast microorganisms. The lower layer, represented by acetic acid bacteria, is a little loose and threads hang from it, which are formed during the growth and nutrition of the fungus. That's why kombucha is sometimes called jellyfish.
The fungus lives in a nutrient solution, which consists of tea leaves and sugar. This converts the sugar top layer into wine alcohol. The latter, in turn, goes into acetic acid thanks to the work of the bottom layer. For 3-7 days of such fruitful work, sweet brew turns into a valuable sour-sweet drink.
The drink contains many useful substances: vitamins B, C, D, PP, enzymes such as amylase, protease and catalase, which enter into chemical transformations in our body. Contains many organic acids, such as lactic, oxalic, acetic, malic, gluconic, citric. In addition, the composition of the drink includes fructose, wine alcohol, glucose, some aromatic substances and dissolved carbon dioxide.

Useful properties of kombucha

Oddly enough, but such a small creature is very useful.
On the medical side, kombucha helps in the treatment of the gastrointestinal tract, gallbladder, and liver. It has a beneficial effect on inflammation of the nasopharynx or throat disease, for example, with tonsillitis,. It can also be taken for constipation, dysentery, migraines, obesity, the infusion lowers cholesterol, drives away. The mushroom also has anti-inflammatory, antibiotic and analgesic properties.
Oriental beauties use the infusion of the mushroom to maintain the beauty of the body:

1. Mixing in equal proportions infusion and mineral water you can get a great tonic for the face.
2. Adding infusion to leads to the formation excellent remedy For .
3. Unruly hair will become shiny and manageable if you rinse it after washing with mushroom infusion.
4. When you can wipe the armpits or the feet of the feet soaked in a concentrated infusion (thirty-day) with a napkin.

Contraindications

No matter how useful kombucha is, it also has contraindications for use:

1. So it is not advised to drink it with people with fungal diseases, and it is also recommended to drink very carefully for people suffering from hyperacidity.
2. In order not to harm the stomach, it is recommended to take breaks of 1-2 weeks.
3. Doctors do not recommend drinking the infusion on an empty stomach or washing it down with food. Best time for taking a drink - an hour or two after eating.
4. You can not drink a concentrated infusion, drink more than 1 liter per day, and also before traveling by car.
5. For people suffering from stomach ulcers or with caution, take an infusion prepared with green tea, since such a drink contains a large amount of caffeine, which enhances the work of the stomach and heart.

reproduction

You won't find kombucha just like that. It is not sold in shops or markets. It is only passed from hand to hand, dividing the mother mushroom.
Mushroom reproduction can be carried out in several ways:

1. direct division. The fact is that, while eating, the fungus grows over time and takes on the diameter of the container in which it is located, and also gains the thickness of its layers. The thicker the mushroom, the greater the likelihood of its independent division into 2-3 independent layers. In principle, if the mushroom is rather thick and does not want to divide, it can be helped by carefully separating the layers on one side. After a while, the layers will separate themselves.
2. Fragment of a mushroom. To be honest, this method is not recommended - the fungus may disappear. But if you take a half-quarter of a mushroom, then nothing terrible will happen. By placing the mushroom in a nutrient solution, after a while it will grow.
3. Another one so unusual way divisions - the use of the finished drink, not younger than 5 days. The older the solution, the more concentrated it is and the faster you get a new mushroom. To do this, just pour into a small container ready drink, cover with gauze and leave in a warm place. After some time, you will see that under the action of the dissolved microorganisms in the drink, they will colonize and form at first a very thin film of the fungus on the surface, which will grow over time. As soon as the mushroom takes on a fairly dense consistency and does not tear, it can be transplanted into a larger container.

How to prepare an infusion on kombucha

Caring for kombucha and preparing an infusion based on it is completely simple. To do this, we will need a clean three-liter jar, 3-4 tsp. black tea, sugar (at the rate of 100 g of sugar per 1 liter of water), cold boiled water, a small piece of gauze and an elastic band for money.

How to care for kombucha

First, a solution is prepared, and only then the mushroom itself is lowered. The fact is that undissolved sugar or tea leaves, falling on the fungus, lead to a burn, and then the death of the fungus.
You can not overdo the mushroom in solution.
If the mushroom lies in the infusion for a long time and begins to turn brown over time, this means that it disappears and it is urgent to reanimate it.
It is not necessary to wash the mushroom after each drained volume of infusion. Once a month is enough.
The first 1-3 days after "washing" the mushroom can lie on the bottom or vertically. It's not scary. When enough is released carbon dioxide The mushroom will pop up on its own.

I told you about such an unusual kombucha and its useful properties. Search and buy - you will not regret it.

The fungus looks like a jellyfish that floats on the surface of a liquid. This is a huge colony of yeast and acetic acid bacteria, which are held together by cellulose cells. scientific name colonies are medusa mycetes.

The photo shows an enlarged image of its surface under a microscope. Balls are yeast. The sticks are bacteria. The rest of the binder is cellulose.

From above, the colony looks smooth, flat. Below - loose and multi-layered, with hanging threads and new layers formed. It is located below most of active microorganisms that process sweet tea and form kvass.

Upper microorganisms produce vinegar. The method of obtaining vinegar with the help of medusomycetes was called "Orleans". It was used in the 19th century on an industrial scale.

For the primary formation of a colony, a donor organism is not needed. The fungus is formed as a result long fermentation brewed sweet tea (in the presence of acetic bacteria, several types of yeast microorganisms). The bacteria themselves enter the tea leaves from the air. However, more often Kombucha is passed to each other, dividing the jellyfish-like colonies into layers.

The environment for the vital activity of yeast and bacteria is indian tea, which appeared in Russia only in the 19th century. Therefore, kvass itself appeared in various Russian provinces at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 30s and 40s, he was on the wave of popularity. After the war, it was forgotten, and again returned to wide use in the 80s of the last century.

In the countries of the East, where tea has been known for a long time, medusomycetes enjoyed well-deserved respect. They treated the sick, maintained the tone of the healthy.

What is this drink used for?

• China- only noble rich families drank tea kvass. For commoners, the drink was not intended. He was given the following qualities: to maintain clarity of thought, tone, rejuvenate, as well as improve digestion, cleanse blood vessels.
• Japan- tea kvass was popular with geishas, ​​who used it to slim and remove spots and warts from the skin.
• India- the drink was added to the bath for bathing babies with skin problems.
• Europe (England, France and Prussia)- kombucha was recognized in the 19th century and began to be used to produce vinegar. For this, the medusomycete was kept in large wooden barrels where it reached enormous proportions.

The benefits and harms of kombucha

The medicinal properties of kombucha are determined by the components formed during fermentation. What secretes a colony of microorganisms during life?

Some of the dissolved sugar is fermented by yeast bacteria. Formed ethanol, which other bacteria convert into acetic acid. Another part of sucrose is processed into gluconic, oxalic, citric, and tartaric acid. A number of enzymes are formed (lipase, catalase, protease, amylase), some vitamins (C, B), caffeine is preserved (it comes from brewed tea).

The therapeutic benefits of kombucha come from acids, vitamins, and enzymes. Invigorating and tonic effect - contained caffeine.

What is useful kombucha for a person

• Disinfects and stops the reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms. Destroys dysentery bacillus, Staphylococcus aureus, pneumococcus, typhoid fever.
• It removes toxins, which means it alleviates the condition with various poisonings - food, industrial, alcohol, and toxicosis of pregnant women.
• Improves digestion, cleanses the intestines, treats diseases of the gallbladder and liver.
• Forms microflora digestive organs, restores the balance of microorganisms after chemotherapy, a course of antibiotics.
• It counteracts infections with various inflammations: dental (gingivitis and periodontitis), skin (pimples, ulcers, fungus on the skin or under the nails, dandruff), ENT inflammations. With this treatment, tea kvass is used externally - for rinsing and rubbing.
• Normalizes the state of blood vessels (dissolves sclerotic plaques and increases the elasticity of the vascular walls).
• Reduces blood pressure.

The beneficial properties of kombucha are more noticeable than others are reflected in the work of digestion. Tea kvass removes bloating and colic, normalizes the movement of digestive juices (bile), removes stagnation. By suppressing the growth of pathogenic flora, it treats inflammation. Forming a normal intestinal flora, it creates conditions for the full absorption of food.

Kombucha contraindications

When can a fermented drink be harmful?

• When peroxidation - if it has a strong pungent taste. There is too much vinegar in this drink. A small amount of acetic acid acts as an antiseptic, used as an antidote. Too much great content vinegar burns the gastric mucosa, acidifies the blood, destroys red blood cells. In addition, acetic acid destroys enamel. So drink sour drinks better through a tube.
• When obsolete - dead layers supply toxic components. To prevent this from happening, the jellyfish colony is washed with water once a week and the old dying layers are removed in a timely manner.
• During the reception medicines(antibiotics, paracetamol, analgin). Between drinking tea kvass and these medicines must pass at least 2 hours.
• Diabetics - for a reason high content Sahara.
• People with high acidity, with a stomach or duodenal ulcer, can take tea kvass only in limited quantities.
• You can not take a fermented drink for motorists while driving (kvass contains up to 2.5% alcohol, which is contraindicated for drivers in any doses).
• For the same reason, you should not take tea kvass during pregnancy, breastfeeding.

How to use kombucha for weight loss

The weight loss effect is explained by the following factors:

• Tea kvass stimulates the processes of cleansing, including the intestines. Many people with overweight the intestines are like a clogged pipe. Active biological substances clean the inner walls of fecal deposits and bring them out. It looks like loose bowels and frequent urination.
• Tea kvass enzymes (lipase/, protease) stimulate the breakdown of fats.
• Components tea drink reduce the feeling of hunger.

How to use kombucha for weight loss? Here are some popular recipes:

• Insist jellyfish on green tea.
• Insist on herbal decoction (nettle leaves, raspberries and currants, buckthorn bark, dandelion roots, fennel fruits, parsley and caraway seeds, mint leaves, corn stigmas).
• Insist jellyfish on compote.

Drink ready kvass½ or 1 glass (200 ml) half an hour before meals (3-4 times a day). You can also drink it in the morning right after waking up to stimulate bowel cleansing.

Is it possible to use kombucha during pregnancy

Is kombucha good for pregnancy? The content of ethyl alcohol (2.5%) causes controversy about the benefits of a tea drink. The largest number the drink contains alcohol at the beginning of fermentation (up to 2.5%). In addition, tea supplies caffeine, which is also not healthy.

Alcohol and caffeine active substances. Even in small concentrations, they are able to cross the placenta. Therefore, despite the low content of these substances, it is not recommended to use kombucha during pregnancy.

In the 19th century, a carbonated drink was produced on an industrial scale. In the 21st century, it is drunk and bred at home. Making kombucha at home is easy.

For the cultivation of jellyfish, glass jars with a volume of 1 to 5 liters are used (depending on the size of the jellyfish). If the thickness of the colony is more than 1.5 cm - take a jar of at least 3 liters. To speed up fermentation - leave ¼ of the finished drink.

Tea is brewed, cooled and filtered. Proportions for brewing: for 3 liters of water - 6-8 tablespoons of sugar and 2-3 tea bags.

When using tea bags, tea can be left unfiltered. If you are brewing tea without bags, then after 20 minutes you need to filter the brewed liquid. Sugar can be added immediately.

Filtered sweet tea is poured into a glass container and a jellyfish mushroom is placed in it. The neck of the jar is covered with gauze and placed for fermentation in a dark place. Direct rays of the sun should not fall on the surface of the glass container. As fermentation bubbles appear. You can determine the readiness of the drink by the bubbles and a slight sour smell.

Kvass fermentation takes 2-4 days in summer and 5-7 days in winter.

How to care for kombucha

Proper care for kombucha at home determines the quality of the drink. After all, this is a living organism, and in response to care, it gives a tasty and healthy drink.

What is contraindicated with proper care:

• A tightly closed jar or other container. Bacteria and yeasts need to breathe. Without access to oxygen, they die.
• Hot water. Bacteria and yeast die in boiling water and just hot water (like other living organisms, protein structures). Therefore, before adding the mushroom to tea, it is cooled to room temperature.
• Sugar - a colony of microorganisms feeds on sugar dissolved in water. If you pour sugar directly on the surface of the mushroom, burns (holes, depressions) will appear.
• The sun's rays - heat up the liquid in which the mushroom floats, and this leads to the partial death of its colony. Therefore, you can not keep it on a sunny windowsill.
• Metal containers without enamel, ceramic surfaces. The fungus must be stored only in containers made of inert material (glass jars).
• Smoke of cigarettes. In rooms where they often smoke, the medusa fungus is covered with mold.

A fungus or a colony of microorganisms must be stored in a glass container, under a gauze bandage, in a darkened corner of the kitchen. An indicator of the health of the colony is the position of the "jellyfish" on the surface of the liquid. If the medusomycete does not float for a long time, it is necessary to inspect it and remove the dead layers.

Like any living creature, a jellyfish colony needs periodic washing. The mushroom is rinsed 1 time in 7-10 days in clean cool water. To do this, the medusomycete is taken out of the container with tea, placed in enamelware(bowl, pan), into which water is poured and drained several times. After that, the mushroom is inspected for old yellow layers (if any, they are removed). The washed mushroom is placed back in a jar of brewed sweet tea.

Where to get or how to make kombucha

Where to get kombucha? And is it possible to grow it at home without having a donor colony? It turns out yes. If there is no person in your circle of acquaintances who could offer you a mushroom, grow it yourself on the basis of ordinary tea leaves and sugar. How to grow kombucha at home?

• To grow a colony, ordinary leaf tea leaves without aromatic additives are needed.
• We prepare a glass container (jar) - wash it with soda or mustard (you cannot wash it with synthetic degreasers, they leave a mark on the surface and do not allow microorganisms to gather in colonies).
• For half a liter of boiling water, take 5 tablespoons of tea leaves and 7 tablespoons of sugar. Brewed, cooled and filtered. Pour into glass jar. Cover with gauze on top.
• After 7-10 days, the smell of vinegar appears. After it passes, and a thin film of mucus forms on the surface. This is the germ of the future fungus. The time required for the formation of a primary colony is 1.5-2 months.

For growing kombucha, you can also use green tea, rosehip broth, sweet compote.

Growing kombucha at home is available to everyone. The cultivation technology is simple and accessible even to a child. The finished colony is a thin film of living bacteria that will eventually grow into big mushroom and bring you health. In order for it to bring you only benefit, you can not use the old sour drink.

Europeans learned about the miraculous power of kombucha a little less than a century ago. Since then, it has spread across almost the entire continent. Kombucha is also very popular in our country. And not without reason. The fact is that the mushroom has unique healing properties allowing it to be used for the treatment and prevention of many diseases. It is also very important that the medusa mycete (namely, that is how it is scientifically called because of its external resemblance to a jellyfish) is picky about its habitat. Therefore, the care of kombucha does not require any special conditions and can easily be grown at home. However, for this, some nuances still need to be known.

In China and Japan, sometimes family members gave girls kombucha as a wedding gift. . It was preserved throughout life and passed on from generation to generation. So your first kombucha may be the only one left. If you do not know where to get it, ask your friends or search the Internet where you can buy kombucha in your city.

What to feed kombucha?

First of all, kombucha needs a liquid nutrient solution. Although the medusomycete will be able to do without it for some time, it is precisely for the sake of this solution, or rather, for the sake of the “magic” healing drink that it will soon turn into, that we have acquired this curiosity. Therefore, without wasting time, we prepare the solution. To do this, you need to boil required amount water, dissolve in it ten grams of tea leaves and sugar in the ratio of half a glass per liter. Let the water cool to room temperature and then filter. Thus, we get rid of excess salts and provide the nutrient solution with the necessary softness. Sugar is necessary for fermentation, during which ethyl alcohol is formed, which, in turn, turns into acetic acid. The fact is that chemical reactions fermentation and acetylation (transition to acetic acid) are provided by yeast fungi and acetic acid bacteria, the colonies of which are the very miracle that we know as kombucha.

Having prepared the nutrient solution and cooled it, we pour the liquid into the container in which the medusomycete is already waiting. Clean glass is suitable for this. three-liter jar. The container may be larger, but it must be glass so that our fungus receives enough light for its life. Please note that we do not pour boiling water directly into the kombucha jar. Thus, we simply “cook” him alive. For the same reason, we do not throw sugar into this jar, since sugar grains burn the delicate “skin” of the mushroom and can even lead to its death. By the way, sugar can be successfully replaced with any other sweetener, such as honey. However, it must still be dissolved in a separate container! Stick to the dosage of tea as well, since a high concentration of tannin inhibits the growth of the fungus, and a low concentration leads to a lack of vitamin C in the solution, which affects both the taste of the future drink and the life of the jellyfish.

Of course, you noticed that kombucha floats in its solution. However, it becomes buoyant only when manufacturing process manufacturing healthy drink is already in full swing. Therefore, as soon as you carefully fill it with freshly prepared liquid, at first the mushroom will remain at the bottom. Don't let this scare you: the ascent will occur in the next few days, when a sufficient amount of carbon dioxide accumulates in the solution, making the drink similar to carbonated water, or rather, to kvass.

Keeping Kombucha Healthy

Kombucha can live for a very long time if given the right conditions.

What to avoid:

How to care for kombucha

As you will see, kombucha renews itself very quickly, growing new layers. When it reaches a total thickness of 5-6 cm, you can remove several upper layers and give them away or use them yourself, and remove and discard a few of the lower ones.

Before touching kombucha, make sure you remove your rings and that all utensils and your hands are spotlessly clean. Otherwise, you will infect the kombucha and spoil the infusion.

Kombucha should receive enough light, but direct sunlight is contraindicated for it. The average temperature in which the mushroom should be located ranges from seventeen to twenty-five degrees. In more warm conditions the mushroom can turn sour, and with more low temperatures blue-green algal microorganisms will start in the jar. In addition to light, medusomyces must be provided with sufficient air access. Therefore, the jar cannot be closed with a lid. The neck of the jar is only tied with gauze folded in several layers to avoid dust.

The nutrient solution should be changed weekly in winter and twice a week in summer. Otherwise, the fungus will be covered with brownish spots, which is fraught with the most serious consequences for it, up to death. When changing the liquid, be sure to rinse it with clean boiled (again cooled down!) Water.

When the kombucha reaches a sufficient size, separate the bottom layer. From it, you can then grow a new mushroom.

Hygiene in the preparation of kombucha infusion

The preparation of kombucha infusion requires little time, simple tools and good hygiene. If you take good care of your kombucha, it can serve you for years to come. This amazing culture was also used in old times when sanitary conditions were much worse. Kombucha has the ability to protect itself, and under adverse conditions, it can "fall asleep" in order to survive.

Making kombucha infusion at home will help you always have a healthy tonic drink on hand. With it, you can take your health into your own hands.

The process of preparing the infusion is quite simple, let's talk about hygiene. Sweet tea- a nutrient medium for the most different types bacteria and mold. Therefore, we must try to keep workplace clean to reduce the risk of infection. Be sure to wipe the table on which you are going to make the infusion. The dishes must also be clean, otherwise infection is possible, and the infusion itself will be hazardous to health. If kombucha becomes infected, it should be discarded and a new one used. Never use an infected mushroom.

Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching the mushroom. Better yet, use wooden or plastic utensils or rubber gloves.

Kombucha is able to fight foreign microorganisms, but it is better not to test this ability and ensure cleanliness during the process.

As additional measure safety, you can wipe the kombucha container with organic white vinegar and let it dry upside down.

Be sure to cover the container with a cloth that is thick enough to prevent insects from getting through. This is protection against mold and foreign objects.

Another way to take care of kombucha is to add a couple of cups of old kombucha when you prepare a new batch of infusion - this will make the mixture more acidic, which contributes to rapid fermentation and prevents the development of foreign microorganisms. If there is no old infusion left, you can simply add a little organic white vinegar.

The use of kombucha

After 7-10 days of fermentation, tea fungus infusion you can drink. Strain the drink and bottle, reserving just one glass to add to the next serving.

You can bottle the infusion and store it in the refrigerator. If this is not done, fermentation will continue, however, the infusion ferments in the refrigerator, but much more slowly.

Keep in mind that even the smallest pieces of kombucha will continue to grow, so you may need to strain the drink again before drinking.

If you have extra kombucha, you don't have to throw it away. It can be used as a fertilizer for household and garden plants- to do this, you need to cut it into small pieces and dig deep.

Kombucha can also be used as a poultice for burns or cuts - for this you need to cut off small pieces and bandage. Kombucha has antiseptic properties.

If you follow all these simple rules for caring for a jellyfish, it will serve you for quite a long time.