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14 hours in Kigali
Often a gateway to discover the
country’s gorillas, the Rwandan
capital is well worth exploringUSA
A neighbourhood guide to
San Diego
Discovering the Californian
city’s diverse ’hoodsEUROPE
Celebrating 20 of Europe’s
greatest cafes
Tuck in to some of the greatest
coffee houses on the continentKOMBUCHA: HOW TO MAKE THE
POPULAR FERMENTED BREWNo one really knows what a scoby is or where
it comes from — that’s what I’ve gleaned from
the first 15 minutes of this course.
“Yes, it does look like something from
Stranger Things,” says Alice MacKinnon, who’s
heading today’s Ferments & Pickles Course
for our group of nine.
And you can’t make kombucha without
the scoby: kombucha is made from black tea
and a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast
— hence the name ‘scoby’ — which is key to
the fermentation process. Scobys, which can
be bought online, “loves sugary, black tea
— like an English person!” Alice jokes.
“The scoby is known as the ‘mother’, or
‘mushroom’, which gives you an idea of its
appearance,” she adds. “It’s usually dense,
round, rubbery and opaque with a mild,
vinegar-like smell.” Alice likens kombucha
to other fermented foods and drinks, suchThat slightly fermented tea from the east, kombucha, remains firmly on-trend
thanks to claims that it’s great for gut health. What’s more, it’s not too difficult
to make, as a trip to London’s Cookery School proves. Words: Maria PieriBEYOND THE
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as kefir or sourdough, which require similar
symbiotic cultures. “Kombucha is gnarly.
When you make it in your environment, it’ll
be made from bacteria in your area.”
The first recorded use of kombucha was in
221 BC in China, although it didn’t acquire its
name until AD 415 — in Japan.
Kombucha is simple enough to make. We
brew up some black tea, add sugar, then allow
it to cool in a sterilised glass jar. The scoby
is added (Alice has one she made earlier and
gives a bit of it to each of us). It’s then left at
room temperature to ferment for one to four
weeks, covered with a cloth gauze.
Alice recommends drinking around half
a cup a day, to avoid becoming “gassy”, and
suggests a range of flavour combinations,
including ginger-turmeric, lime-cola,
pineapple-chili and beetroot-carrot.
READ THE FULL STORY ONLINE NOWHomemade fermented Kombucha tea
LEFT: Competitors at the start of the
1908 Cresta Run, St MoritzMay/Jun 2020 37ONLINE