I have recently had several request for my kombucha recipe. Kombucha is a probiotic that has many health benefits. It became my healthy way to replace soda pop in my diet. I like fizz and I like it sweet. After going to the store several times a week and paying for the store bought kombucha, I knew that I needed to learn to make my own. I would like to say that I started making kombucha and all was well. However, that was not the case. I made several batches that just didn’t taste like what I was able to buy at the store. Mine lacked fizz and at times it simply tasted like spoiled fruit. Over the last couple of years and sporadic searches on the internet, I think I finally have a recipe and a method of making komucha that is pleasing and contains the fizz and sweetness that I like. 
To make your kombucha, you will need

1 gallon jar

cotton dish towel

rubber band to fit around the opening of the gallon jar

1 bottle of your favorite unflavored kombucha

several bottles for the second fermentation

your favorite organic juice.

6 tea bags (black or green tea do best)

1 cup sugar

To start you Scoby (sometimes the scoby is called the mother)

1. Purchase a bottle of your favorite kombucha. Make sure that it contains live culture and that it is unflavored.
2. Wash and dry your gallon jar
3. Pour the purchased Kombucha into the gallon jar
4. Lay a clean cotton dishtowel over the opening and secure in place with a rubber-band.
5. Place the jar in a dark place where it will not be disturbed. (I place mine in a lower cupboard that I don’t use often)
6. Wait 14 days.
7. The jar should now have a scoby ( a white film that may or may not be thick. Over time this will get very thick. )

Beginning your first fermentation:

1. Take your new scoby and the kombucha liquid from the gallon jar. (make sure that your hands and the container that you use is clean and dry)
2. Cover with a clean cotton dishtowel.
3. Wash and dry the gallon jar and place 1 cup sugar in the bottom of the jar.
4. In a medium sauce pan place 2 cups filtered water and 6 tea bags.
5. Heat the water and tea bags until it strikes a boil and remove from the heat.
6. Allow the tea bags to steep for 5 minutes
7. Remove the tea bags from the liquid and pour the tea into the gallon jar with the sugar.
8. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved.
9. Fill the jar with filtered water, leaving approximately 1.5 cup room at the top of the jar.
10. Cover with a cotton dishtowel for approximately 5 hours or until the liquid reaches room temperature.
11. When the tea has reached room temperature, add the scoby and the kombucha to the tea jar. (The scoby will float to the top. You can gently stir the tea to mix.)
12. Cover with a clean cotton dishtowel and secure in place with a rubber band.
13. Place in a dark place for 7 days. (It is important to not disturb the tea during fermentation)

Second Fermentation:

1. Remove the scoby ,that should have thickened, and 1 cup of the new kombucha. (The scoby may have some areas of yeast growth. (brown tendrils or globs on the scoby) This is okay and will not hurt you. However, if you see mold of any kind, throw out the entire batch and begin again. Sometimes the scoby can be saved by separating the layer that contains the mold and throwing that part away. There are several pictures of mold on scobies on the internet. If you have any questions, look at these. My personal rule of thumb is if it is fuzzy I throw it away. This has only happened to me on one occasion over the past two years.)
2. The scoby and the 1 cup of your new kombucha tea is your new starter. Place this to the side.
3. Prepare all of your bottles that you will use for your second fermentation by washing and rinsing well. (I use the dishwasher on a heat dry.) I also save and reuse kombucha bottles from purchased kombucha. I have a few of the bottles with stoppers pictured above.
4. Pour organic juice of your choice to approximately 1/4 of whatever bottles you use.
5. Fill the remainder of the bottles with your new kombucha tea. Leave about 1 inch head space and seal tightly
6. Place all of your bottles in a dark place for an additional 7 days.
7. Use your scoby and 1 cup of new kombucha tea to begin another batch for first fermentation.

Kombucha is Ready!

1. At the end of the 7 days, place all of the bottles into your refrigerator. This will stop the fermentation process.

Serving Kombucha

1. Key points to serving tasty kombucha is to strain the tea as you pour it over ice. These bottles will have started another small scoby. Some people do not mind this, but I tend to be a little squeamish about swallowing these.
2. It will be very fizzy so pour slowly.

Enjoy

Sussex Dumpling:

2 Cups All purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

4 Tbsp shortening

7/8 cup very warm water

1. In a large bowl mix flour, salt and shortening with fingertips until all the lumps disappear. Mixture should look like very fine cornmeal.

2. Make a well in the center and add warm water gradually while stirring to make a soft dough ball.

3. Flour a clean surface and divide the dough into 3 portions. Take a portion and knead on floured surface for about 20 times.

4. Roll into a very then rectangle. Cut into 3 inch squares and drop one by one into your boiling broth. Cook uncovered about 15 minutes. Be sure to stir occasionally so dumplings do not stick together.

5. Remove with a big slotted spoon to a deep serving bowl. I also add about 3/4 cup of broth to the dish as it keeps them hot. Use a smaller slotted spoon to serve them.

(I have also rolled them out and dried them for a few days to make a dry dumpling to have on hand. I simply placed them on wax paper and when they were thoroughly dried, I placed them in bags and put them in the freezer.

My family made a puffy dumpling. I don’t remember anyone teaching me how to make a dumpling and I have seen family members make a homemade dumpling and I have seen some open a can of biscuits and simply pinch off a bit of the dough and drop it into the pot. Somewhere I learned that no matter how the dumpling was made, when it floats it means that it is done.

I went through a period of time when I used Bisquick to make the dough and then one day I simply used my pie dough with a little more salt added to make my dumplings. I prefer the pie dough dumpling to any that I have made.

Puffy Dumpling

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 tsp salt

Flour (enough to make a firm dough)

1. Mix the water oil and salt until cloudy then slowly add the flour until a soft dough forms.

2. Pour the soft dough onto a floured surface and continue to knead in additional flour until the dough becomes firm. (a little tougher than play dough)

3. Pinch off dough about half the size of a ping-pong ball. Drop directly into the simmering liquid of your choice.

4. Do not stir. When all of the dough has come to the top of the pot, the dumplings are done.

(I have tried to use different oils and only the vegetable oil will produce the correct effect with this dough. I have used different flours and although the consistency is different they will hold up in the simmer process.)