This Christmas, when I heard my nephew and niece were gonna join us for dinner I decided to get crazy with the kombucha and make a lovely punch. I have been using coconut water to make kefir lately and decided to try it with kombucha. This recipe isn’t exact. Be sure to use your taste buds to decide how sour or sweet you want it as different brews will have different strengths.

Pomegranate juice is a must this time of year especially with the connection that they have to rebirth and solstice rituals. Mint makes any punch festive and the coconut water gives an exotic reminder that we are all connected. Not just though our guts to the microbes but also to each other all the way around the world.

• 1 batch kombucha (1 gallon)
• 5 medium pomegranates, juiced
• 1 lt coconut water
• 1 bunch of mint

Method:
After your kombucha has fermented, remove the SCOBY and divide between 2 ltr (1/2 gallon) jars (preferably glass). Divide the pomegranate juice, coconut water and mint evenly between all three jars, leaving room at the top for any gasses that build up in the fermentation process.

Allow the second ferment to stand in a warm place for 24 hours, check the flavor. If it is still very sweet allow it to stand another 12 – 24 hours.

Delicious, everyone loved it. I recommend drinking it with coconut water, pomegranate and mint ice-cubes for extra bling (although unfermented coconut water isn’t GAPS / SCD friendly).

I have just finished making a raspberry-vanilla-honey syrup to use in my second ferment of coconut water kefir. Since we are on the GAPS / SCD diets we have been finding every way possible to get more probiotics into our bodies. Coconut water kefir is a very delicious way to get extra probiotics as it creates a fizzy, champagne-like coconut water soda.

Personally I prefer using dairy kefir grains, which work quite well a few times, but since they prefer dairy to grow in they will get depleted and you will have to replace them. You can also use water kefir grains which just love a mineral-rich, sweet medium to grow in and coconut water is just perfect. If you are looking for cultures you can get dairy or water kefir grains here. The same method works for either dairy or water kefir grains.

Coconut water kefir is very rich in probiotics and it is best to only drink about 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time especially when you first start drinking it.

Well I’ve been feeling a bit bad about not posting many recipes lately, so I just wanted to share this one. Recently we’ve started adding juices to our kefir–yum! Very easy fresh and full of friendly enzymes, probiotics and vitamins.

• 3 apples
• 3 medium carrots
• 1-2 inch piece of ginger
• 1 c of freshly made kefir

This is a very simple technique that makes an extra tasty batch of kombucha. By adding fruit juice after the ten day fermentation period you get a fizzier drink, which means there is more alcohol. This drink is very much like a grape soda, but good for you!

I have been making kombucha lately with honey, and I have found that over time the mushroom looses it’s potency. I have a batch of regular black tea kombucha getting started this morning because I have a flurry of people requesting kombucha babies (SCOBY) via the www.kombu.de website. Since I have been making it with honey, I need to make up a potent batch before I can spread that good kombucha love.

Raewyn from down in Los Angeles sends in her favorite healthy drink:

Very easy to make if you have the right equipment and more tasty than you think!

Carrot Juice
1 ripe avocado

A special request from Jane Smile to post this recipe! I have started making kombucha with honey because we are currently on the GAPS/SCD diet, which doesn’t use refined sugar at all. Basic black tea kombucha recipe here.

Makes about 3 quarts (litres)

• 3 litres (quarts) non-chlorinated water
• 4 bags organic green tea (about 3T loose green tea)
• 3/4 c raw honey
• kombucha mushroom (SCOBY)
• 1/2 c kombucha tea from a previous batch of sugar and black tea kombucha

With the rise of environmental toxins, many women are having increased problems during their period. I have been drinking this tea, with slight variations for a few years now and it really helps to balance and even out a wide variety of menstrual symptoms. There are a lot of other herbs that can be used and are especially useful for women, so please get to know which herbs work best for you by experimenting a little.

I use a large, plain white Chinese tea pot that holds about 6 cups of water. I have a tendency to use a lot of the various herbs and it varies depending on how much of the herb I have and how I am feeling that day. These amounts are therefore not set in stone.

• 2 T nettles
• 1 T sage
• 1 t fennel seeds, crushed
• 1 t camomile
• 1 pinch yarrow blossoms
• 6 c water, boiled

As I started writing up this article on sima I realized my timing couldn’t be be better. Vappu is only a week away. Just enough time to brew up my first batch of the year. It brings back a flood of memories of my time in Finland.

Sima is a Finnish homemade mead, and is the traditional drink for their Vappu holiday, which falls on May 1st. The holiday itself is quite a mix match of different traditions. Originally there was a pagan celebration at this time, involving the lighting of bonfires and the welcoming of spring. With the coming of Christianity the same holiday was used instead to honour a Saint Walpurga, while still keeping some of the old traditions. Later on it became a day associated with political, religious, and student activism, including marches, demonstrations and speeches. Today it is a mix of all these things, and the holiday typically involves music and picnic feasts in the park by day, and bonfires, partying and drinking by night. And so with that bit of background here is my recipe.

My home brewed root beer turned out delicious. I highly recommend it if you can come by the ingredients. It does have a taste reminiscent of root beer soda, but you wouldn’t confuse the two. Earthier, stronger tasting but less sweet, and the fermentation adds its own flavor in there.

All the ingredients I found at various health food stores, except the birch bark, which I just gathered myself. A fine substitute for birch bark would be wintergreen leaves, which give the same flavor.

I finally realized that even though I spend a lot of time raving on about the wonders of kombucha I haven’t posted a basic description for how to make it. Every ten days I follow this routine which provides me and my man with tasty kombucha tea while the next batch ferments on the countertop. Halve the recipe if you are the only one drinking the kombucha tea.

• 6 liters (quarts) water
• 8 bags strong black tea
• 2 c sugar
• kombucha mushroom (SCOBY)
• 3/4 – 1 c kombucha tea

Method
Bring the water to a boil, add the sugar and dissolve. I often like to use unrefined palm sugar or raw cane sugar instead of refined sugar, but this gives the kombucha a different sort of flavor, the refined sugar is meant to be the best to use for kombucha and gives it a light and crisp flavor. I just don’t like using Rogers sugar as I heard they were using GM sugar beets. Add the tea bags and cover the pot (I use a stainless steel stock pot). Let this steep well and cool to at least room temperature.