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Author Topic: Easy Peach-Ginger "Kombucha" from Rinsed Crush & Strain comb  (Read 2240 times)

Offline FloridaGardener

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Contains small amounts of alcohol.  Technically the fermentation isn't from tea, hence the quotation marks.

         Recipe yields 2 quart batch
Ingredients:
         Rinse water from crushed comb
         4" of fresh ginger root
         3 cups sliced peaches (another soft fruit like plum could work too)
         2 oz amber rum

In a quart jar with lid, add water and rinse a couple pints of crushed comb.  Shake generously to get all the juicy goodness out of the comb and into the rinsewater.  Pour that water through a fine sieve into a 2-quart jar. 

Fill the comb-jar with water again. While it's soaking, peel ginger and shave into fragments.  Peel and slice the peaches. If they're not easy to peel, you can blanch them in boiling water, which helps the skins peel away. 

Energetically shake the comb-jar, and pour out though a fine sieve into the 2-quart jar.  It'll be about 2/3 full now.  Add the peaches, ginger, and rum. 

Close the lid tightly, leaving an inch of air on top to allow fermentation but not much oxidation.  I left it on the kitchen counter and popped the top every few days to let it out-gas.  Then I re-sealed and shook it.

      A week later:
Scoop 1/3 cup into a tall glass with ice.  If you want peach tea, add a cup of strong-brewed black tea that has cooled, then top with water.  If you want all peachy-honey-gingeriness, just top with water.  Stir and enjoy the sparkle!

   *   *   *   *  *

I'm hoping it's a self-sustaining culture (I'll update this post in 6 months).  That means, like kombucha, yogurt, sourdough, and the syrupy "friendship fruit" passed around in the 1970's -  it can be tapped and replenished with comb rinsewater and fruit for...years? We shall see. So far, it's working great for us.

We keep the lid & bottle neck outside of the fermented solution very clean, to avoid growth of aerobic bacteria.

DISCLAIMER: No purported health benefits, and we have no responsibility for end product.