Fermented Food | Gracefulfitness

WARNING: If your name is Jeff Lewis or Kath Younger you probably just want to skip the following post altogether. You’ve been warned.

Summer may be 3 weeks away but apparently the heat arrived early to the party. Drippy, intense, wilting heat. I actually have a serious pet peeve with complaining about the weather but it is such a strong influence in our lives it’s hard not to talk about it!

And plan my meals around it. Our kitchen is very small and not well insulated so the idea of standing over a hot burner to make dinner has been totally unappealing. Time to get creative with the grill!

We do a lot of the usual grilled veggies, fish, shrimp, and tofu but lately I’ve been interested in exploring some more creative options for outdoor cooking.

Grilled Onion Rings!

I used red, obviously, but a sweet onion like Vidalia would be great for this recipe too.

The crust was a mix of course ground local cornmeal, rosemary salt, and smoked paprika.

Each ring was dipped in an egg wash (1 beaten egg) then dredged with spiced cornmeal.

And laid to grill over medium heat.

I served the crunchy rings with some homemade ketchup, garden picked salad, sauerkraut, and quinoa.

The onion rings were good but there is definitely room for improvement. Tate’s suggestion was to “cook them quickly in really hot oil”. Umm, not exactly what I am going for here. Next time I will use a finer cornmeal and spray them with a little olive oil before cooking.

Dessert, however, hit it out of the park.

Organic frozen strawberries purred with a splash of soy-milk and topped with chocolate-coconut magic shell. My magic shell consisted of liquid coconut oil, a spoon of peanut butter, cocoa, stevia, and a splash of vanilla. I made a big batch (4 ounces?) and stored the leftover in a jar. Cannot wait to try it over purred frozen banana!

I am still figuring out what my workout will be today, I don’t mind sweating but I find that a hard workout in this heat can be challenging to recover from. Time to slow down and enjoy a slow flow vinyasa!

Hello from muggy, overcast, and yet still totally hip, Brooklyn!

Our drive up yesterday was smooth sailing and we arrived at my cousin’s gorgeous apartment right on schedule. I am looking forward to a day of walking and sight-seeing and a night full of family celebrating my grandmother.

Last week a reader asked me if I have a Kombucha recipe posted and I realized I don’t. I’ve talked about making Kombucha many times but I haven’t written a step-by-step recipe.

Kombucha, in theory, is very easy to make. In practice I find that every batch varies because the yeast and bacteria is very sensitive to temperature fluctuations, this is to say that every batch is different but most are great.

Here’s how you do it.

You’ll need:

a large glass jar, at least 2 quarts
2 bags or equivalent of loose black tea per quart of finished tea
1/4 cup sugar per quart of finished tea
8-10 ounces of store-bought Kombucha (like GT‘s, yum!)

STEP ONE

Fill your jar with cold water, leaving about 2 cups worth of head space for the commercial tea you’ll add later, pour water into a large stainless steel pot, boil, turn off, add tea and sugar to pot. Stir to dissolve sugar and leave to steep for 15-20 minutes. Remove tea bags, place a clean kitchen cloth over pot to keep out bugs, and let cool to room temperature (a few hours).

STEP TWO

Once tea is cool, pour into your jar.

STEP THREE

Add the Kombucha to the cooled tea.

NOTE: Kombucha is made from a culture of bacteria and yeast. This culture is very sensitive to metal. Never stir with or make contact with Kombucha and metal, from this point forth use wood spoons to stir and taste.

STEP FOUR

Cover jar with a clean napkin and rubber band and label your jar with the current date.

STEP FIVE

Set jar in a dark, clean, out-of-the-way spot where it can sit undisturbed for 1-2 weeks. I use a section of our dish hutch as my Kombucha closet.

STEP SIX

After one week check on your tea. Peek under the napkin and see what’s developed. You are looking for the formation of a SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) on top of the tea. The SCOBY should be off-white and covering the entire top of the jar.

Pour a little tea into a cup and taste it. It should no longer be sugary sweet, there should be a nice tang reminiscent of apple cider vinegar, and maybe a little effervescence. If it still tastes like sweet tea, recover and let sit for another 3-7 days. Retaste every few days until your desired tang is reached.

STEP SEVEN

At this point place the SCOBY into another clean glass jar with enough of your new Kombucha to cover it and set it aside*. Bottle your tea into clean GT bottles or other empty, clean glass or plastic bottles, adding a splash of juice if you like and leaving a good inch or two head room.

STEP EIGHT

Place bottles into fridge or back into room temperature storage. The Kombucha will continue to ferment and if stored at room temp will get more effervescent. Watch out for too much bubbly build up-check the bottles every 2-3 days and when a nice amount of bubbles and good flavor is reached move to fridge to slow the fermentation.

Drink up!

I drink 8-12 ounces before or after lunch about 5 days a week.

*To make your second batch follow the same procedure EXCEPT for step three use your homemade Kombucha instead of store bought and add the SCOBY to the jar as well.

It may seem a little complicated or time consuming but now that I am familiar with the process it takes me a total of about 10 working minutes to make a batch of Kombucha. I DO NOT, however, recommend attempting to make this if you are not already a Kombucha convert. I admit it, Kombucha is weird stuff and if you aren’t already a big fan who is looking for an alternative to spending $4 a bottle than making it from scratch probably isn’t for you.

Please comment with any questions you still have about Kombucha!

Category Archives: Fermented Food

Eat in the Heat

Kombucha in the House

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