Tag: probiotics

Posted on by

Fermentation Movement Grows Out of Kombucha

When we started this website two years ago, our intent was to share our love of kombucha and let others know where to find this probiotic beverage in their communities. In the time since, our interest has expanded to other fermented beverages and food.  This trend is reflected around the world now as people are discovering or rediscovering fermented foods. As gut health is found to be connected to various diseases, gut health products are gaining more attention.

My husband and I have Eastern European heritages, hailing from Poland and Russia. A Nordic/Baltic cruise recently allowed us to explore these roots. Kombucha was available in the Nordic countries of Sweden and Denmark, but we didn’t find it in the former Eastern bloc countries.

In Riga, Latvia, our highlight was drinking kvass out of a cup from a kvass wagon. It was so refreshing in the heat. The wagon was at the entrance to the City Market where there are seven buildings of offerings. Most stands in the main halls had multiple vats of pickles in various degrees of doneness. They had sauerkraut, fermented carrots, beets, mushrooms, and string beans, to name a few. We did find one vat of pickles in a smaller market in Klaipeda, Lithuania. My hairdresser grew up in rural Lithuania and her grandmother regularly brewed batches of fermented tea and kefir. We didn’t find any fermented goodies in Estonia or St. Petersburg.

Berlin is another story. Previously we went to visit with master fermenter of all things, Ted  Zagrabinski at Cafe Barbucha. When we were there, he had kombucha as well as experimental/specialty kombucha made of different teas and some fermented fruits and vegetables. For good measure. Now, it’s pretty much anything goes for him!

A recent story in The Telegraph stated that kombucha has unleashed a beverage trend in Britain and beyond that inspires creativity. Gut health is driving the beverage development.

As Cassandra Daily reminds us, millennials want to have their own bespoke beverages. This means determining the amount of sugar, nutritional values, and strength. At some point, this will impact the fermented beverages market as these peeps are the main consumers of kombucha daily.

Kombucha was a logical extension from the founders of a local craft brewery and sake company here in Austin. Local fermentation entrepreneurs expanded into beverages and continue to add products to their product line. Austin Chronicle’s “The Drinks Issue” will fill you in and make you go in search of a can of sparkling Texas Sake.

Posted on by

Happy Earth Day Kombucha Lovers

Today, we celebrate Earth Day and honor all our planet and all its creatures. Of course, spring is in full bloom, with flowers and gardens on everyone’s mind. It is also a good time to remind ourselves about the importance of taking care of the flora and fauna in our bodies — notably the gut or gastrointestinal tract. You can find spring reflected in kombucha flavors, of rose, lavender and hibiscus, to name a few flowers.

Austin Fit magazine recently published a great story about the connection between probiotics and their impact on performance. Kombucha was obviously one source of gut-healthy microbes. There were also several other suggestions as well as an excellent wrap up of the topic of probiotics.

Now, a different take on the importance of gut health. This story demonstrates, with scientific data, the connection between gut health and brain function, reviewing the recent studies regarding fecal transplants for autism treatment. A long term study reveals that autism symptoms are reduced with good gut health and probiotics. Kombucha is one approachable way to keep that gut health in balance.

The probiotics conversation continues to grow into new topics and products to help balance our bodies.

Fermenting Fairy creates a range of fermented and probiotic products that turn the refrigerator into the new medicine cabinet. Their unusual products offerings truly exemplify the phrase: you are what you eat


Posted on by

Orlando City Kombucha

Orlando City Kombucha has been expanding throughout the Orlando area, crafting small batch brews of kombucha with locally sourced organic products. The lightly fizzy, creative flavors are available at three farmers markets as well as an increasing number of taps in stores and restaurants.

Joshua Archer, co-founder and head brewer started brewing four years ago, making it for friends and family. The company started selling to the public in 2015. There are several regular flavors but the creative side emerges when you look at the seasonal brews. The flavors reflect the local Florida culture (mojito, mimosa, fyah) as well as the tropical nature of the state (mango and elderberry, watermelon and mint).

The current seasonal, Apple Spice is a perfect taste of the spices in an apple pie or cider. Calmbucha is a mildly flavored brew that would be THE perfect palette cleanser at a holiday (or year round) meal.

Posted on by

Kombucha at Cafe Barbucha, Berlin

Well, it took more than a year for this video to go from taping to putting it up online.

The reason? We just completed a terrific one-day course on beginning editing (at Austin’s Precision Camera) which allowed us to cut seven minutes of footage into its best two-plus minutes.

The video was shot at Berlin’s Café Barbucha and features its owner/master brewer/wizard of all thing fermented, Ted Zagrabinski. Ted has some interesting things to say about his journey to becoming one of Germany’s (if not all of Europe’s) leading kombucha brewers.

With some basic editing skills in hand, future videos will not take a year to put up.

 

Posted on by

News Roundup for May 6, 2018

We’re a day late, but not a drink short, as we find a great recipe for making margaritas for Cinco de Mayo using kombucha. (Heck, they sound good for any day).

This combo from the music pub Paste Magazine adds a nice touch by adding a probiotic chia seed. Not sure what it does to enhance the result, but it makes the adult beverage a bit healthier.
There are other recipes that all sound like a fun tribute to the Mexican holiday that commemorates our neighbors to the south, holding off the French who were trying to support the South during the Civil War. Look it up.


There’s nothing like an endorsement from the Mayo Clinic to get people to pay attention.
In the Rochester (MN) City Newspaper, there’s a piece about Katboocha, a kombucha produced by Kat Schwarz which is available at Fifth Frame Brewery and other locations in the area that Mayo calls home. In the article, there’s a comment from the renown medical center that says:

“…there is evidence to suggest that drinking kombucha may produce similar effects to taking probiotic supplements, including improved digestion and immune function.” Broadly applied, the comment can refer to kombucha but also to other probiotic beverages (Jun, for example) and foods such as pickles and sauerkraut.

Schwarz pointed to kombucha being favored by millennials because of its appeal as an alternative to heavy alcoholic beverages. “Young people are thinking more about what they’re putting in their bodies,” Schwarz said in the article. “They want it to be something special.”


Speaking of recipes and uses for kombucha, here’s 61-year-old Abha Appasamy, an Indian woman who uses kombucha to make a special hummus. She sells her fermented version of the popular dish by adding liquid from her fermented sauerkraut to the chickpeas for an up-to-date version of this creamy delight.
Appasamy sells her line of kombucha and other one-offs after feedback and interest from fans of her products on Facebook.

“I just wanted to see what sauerkraut juice (fermented for six weeks) added to the hummus might taste like. But then everybody who tried it seemed to love it,” she said in an interview with Indian Express.


Via Twitter, here’s a video post from the BBC about how to make kombucha as well as the reaction from a few folks about whether they fancied this probiotic beverage.

Posted on by

Kombucha For the Garden

As we again struggle with our veggie garden, it’s good to know there are myriad ways to enhance your chances of a bumper crop.

But who would have thought adding kombucha to your garden would be one way of turning your thumb (and garden) green.

Read this piece in the local Seattle Greenlaker about a local woman and her tips on using our favorite probiotic beverage in her garden and its results. Dr. Sarah Pellkofer has even started her own company, Micra Culture to share her discovery with others.

Kombucha For Your Plants Created By Local Mom

Posted on by

News Roundup for April 6, 2018

Kombucha as a job perk? You heard that right.

Seems that Goldman Sachs has a new office in San Francisco, and to appear hip is offering all sorts of cool perks to perspective engineering employees. The buttoned-up look so familiar on Wall Street? Forget about it; jeans and t-shirts are cool (I think footwear is required). And, you got it, kombucha on tap in the break room.

A piece in Bloomberg, attempting to make Goldman Sachs seems relevant, profiles new manager Jeff Winner as a man who cares more about what’s inside a candidate than his or her appearance. The bank still has a “significant amount of stuffiness, but they’re getting rid of it,” Winner said in a phone interview with Bloomberg.

Seems like a healthy approach to hiring.


Anyone who lives in the Los Angeles area or lands on one of those $49 Southwest Airlines fares should mark May 28th on the calendar. That’s the day of Eat Drink Vegan 2018 at the Rose Bowl in sunny Pasadena.
Dubbed the “Vegan Coachella,” the event is a plant-based lollapalooza with more than 250 beverage vendors on display. Think kombucha will be flowing? (That’s a rhetorical question).


That’s a lovely kombucha scarf you are wearing. No, that’s not a joke.
Arizona State University students are going fashion forward, and as part of that exercise, there are experiments will all sorts of new materials being used. Kombucha is one of them.
“For waste pollution, we wanted to find a different type of material to use,” Cindy Tran, a design student told The State Press. “We used kombucha … It can be an alternative material that can be used in textile. It’s also very sustainable by taking the waste product of the kombucha drinks and turning it into something that people can wear.”


Need some probiotics in your life and are turned off by the price (not to mention the taste) of probiotics liquids and tablets, Mens Health has eight foods that will give you all the probiotic coverage you need.
The eight include kimchi, yogurt (please, the non-dairy kind), sauerkraut, pickles (make your own), tempeh, miso (try the chickpea version if you want to avoid soy) and kombucha.
Not only does kombucha give you probiotics, the magazine reports, it also has a healthy helping of B-vitamins.

Posted on by

News Roundup for March 27, 2018

As kombucha hits mainstream in its acceptance, this probiotic wonder is beginning to show up in some unusual places. Maybe not so unusual when you consider other ingredients (such as consumable, farm-raised insects) that make their way into our lives.

Enter skincare. A story from the website Body & Soul, in a bit of shameless promotion, talks about a line of products from Andalou Naturals., a noted producer of healthy products for the face and other parts of our precious bodies that need hydration. I am especially taken with this bit of poetry about the products:

Andalou Naturals is known for their Fruit Stem Cell Science, contained in every product, which is a super antioxidant defense system in a patented liposomal technology that allows targeted delivery of the active ingredient formulations.

This means that no matter what crazy ingredient you find in their products, be it Kombucha, pumpkin, apricot or purple carrot (yes, you read those right), their powerful benefits will be doubled, if not tripled.

I also came across an interesting website, InfoSurHoy.com which focused on news and information related to Latin America and the Caribbean. While there is nothing all that remarkable about the piece on various probiotic foods and beverages, it’s nice to see it all in one place. There are simple instructions that are geared for anyone who wants to venture into this healthy eating space.

My personal favorite is the one for kvass. We recently sampled some amazing beet kvass at a shop in West Palm Beach called Got Sprouts. Anyone of Eastern European heritage is no doubt familiar with this tangy fermented beverage.

Continuing the topic in yesterday’s roundup, BevNet reports that kombucha brewer Health-Ade is targeted in a class action lawsuit with the claim the products contains twice the amount of alcohol allowed for a non-alcoholic beverage.  The complaint also cites that the California-based kombucha brewer’s products contain more sugar than stated on its label. According to the story, independent testing was done by a third party to verify these issues.

Brew Dr. Kombucha is also under fire by a plaintiff in Illinois who claims the probiotic beverage contains fewer probiotic colonies than stated on the label. The suit states that third-party tested showed that Brew Dr. Kombucha have as little as 50,000 CFUs, the measure of the viable bacterial cells in a sample. That does not match the labeling on the bottles, which claim each has billions of probiotic bacteria.

If any issue stands in the way to greater acceptance of kombucha—not to mention a willingness for retailers to carry larger varieties of the beverage—is the lack of standards in labeling. Yes, that’s true for many new food and beverage markets, but in today’s omni connected world, bad press and social media-fueled consumer issues can sink a brand faster than high prices.