Re: newbie about to experiment Molasses

[Guest guest]

Kombucha is supposed to have been around for thousands of years.

White refined sugar, with all the goodness removed, has not been

around for very long at all. So, many years ago what did they

sweeten KT with? Honey, Molasses, Treacle, Fruit Juice? I consider

white sugar to be like white flour, all the valuable nutrients

removed for consumption by the stupid masses. If the KT culture had

a nutrient rich sweetener like treacle or molasses wouldn't it grow

healthier?

> Before I reintroduce Drs. Jekyll or enstein to the world with

any

> experiments I may try as someone new to kombucha, anyone have any

advice?

> I am going to try a lot of things:

> roibos, the red tea, instead of black or green tea?

> blackstrap molasses instead of white sugar?

> egyptian licorice tea?

[Guest guest]

Has any one ever tried making KT with honey? I am also a beginner

beekeeper and would prefer using my own honey instead of sugar.

[Guest guest]

>If the KT culture had

> a nutrient rich sweetener like treacle or molasses wouldn't it grow

> healthier?

-

Short answer: NO.

-

> Kombucha is supposed to have been around for thousands of years.

> White refined sugar, with all the goodness removed, has not been

> around for very long at all. So, many years ago what did they

> sweeten KT with? ]

-

This question has been asked and answered dozens of time.

Check the FAQs.

Molasses is not much older than sugar so why not go to the beginning and

study the birch tree fungus from the Caucuses and begin with birch sap and

then find the right balance of Schizo saccharomycoses Pombe, Saccharomyces

Ludwigii, torula and apiculatis types, Pichia fermentans and Mycoderma.

yeasts and Bacterium xylinum, Bacterium gluconicum, Acetobacter ketogenum,

and Acetobacteria xylinium, Brown xylinioides and Acetobacteria

pasteurianum.bacteria that have been accumulated for centuries and then

separate the good stuff from all the contaminates or;

Just use the white sugar formula that has been tweaked for decades over

thousands of batches by dedicated brewers.

rusty

Re: newbie about to experiment Molasses

>

>

>

> Kombucha is supposed to have been around for thousands of years.

> White refined sugar, with all the goodness removed, has not been

> around for very long at all. So, many years ago what did they

> sweeten KT with? Honey, Molasses, Treacle, Fruit Juice? I consider

> white sugar to be like white flour, all the valuable nutrients

> removed for consumption by the stupid masses. If the KT culture had

> a nutrient rich sweetener like treacle or molasses wouldn't it grow

> healthier?

>

>

> > Before I reintroduce Drs. Jekyll or enstein to the world with

> any

> > experiments I may try as someone new to kombucha, anyone have any

> advice?

> > I am going to try a lot of things:

> > roibos, the red tea, instead of black or green tea?

> > blackstrap molasses instead of white sugar?

> > egyptian licorice tea?

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Rusty

i gotta pretty much agree w/ you here. Except after many years of experimenting

i have found that while refined white sugar makes great KT when used w/ either

oolong or red (black) teas's (fermented teas), i get not only much better flavor

but a healthier scoby when i use raw sugar (as opposed to more refined white

sugar) when i use pure green or white tea's. but then, really, highly refined

white sugar isn't that much different from the raw, except i think that the raw

might be providing xtra nutrients from the " impurities " other-wise filtered out.

But then, sap-flows aren't going to be highly purified either.

Some time back, we'd discussed what kind of sugar the ancients might have been

using in that part of the world, and it became appearent that traditional

oriental rice-sugar would have been a likely source. But i'll be that that

product is basically chemically identical to cane-sugar, so there wouldn't be

much difference there. Honey is another possibility, but, considering that it

can contain anti-biotic properties, perhaps that wouldn't be the best route to

take either.

I use raw organic sugar sold by the Florida Crystal's food Corp, made within a

few miles of where i live, and i highly recommend it.

also, molasses is made from sorghum, which is pretty different . i'd only try

that as an experiment. And i dunno what the treacle is, but as it's not called

sugar, i'd consider it suspect.

blessings

mark

Re: newbie about to experiment Molasses

>

>

>

> Kombucha is supposed to have been around for thousands of years.

> White refined sugar, with all the goodness removed, has not been

> around for very long at all. So, many years ago what did they

> sweeten KT with? Honey, Molasses, Treacle, Fruit Juice? I consider

> white sugar to be like white flour, all the valuable nutrients

> removed for consumption by the stupid masses. If the KT culture had

> a nutrient rich sweetener like treacle or molasses wouldn't it grow

> healthier?

>

>

> > Before I reintroduce Drs. Jekyll or enstein to the world with

> any

> > experiments I may try as someone new to kombucha, anyone have any

> advice?

> > I am going to try a lot of things:

> > roibos, the red tea, instead of black or green tea?

> > blackstrap molasses instead of white sugar?

> > egyptian licorice tea?

>

[Guest guest]

> really, highly refined white sugar isn't that much different from the

> raw, except i think that the raw might be providing xtra nutrients

> from the " impurities " other-wise filtered out. But then, sap-flows

> aren't going to be highly purified either.

how about maple syrup? it's condensed sweet sap from the maple tree

[Guest guest]

as long as it's the real thing, i think it'd be a great experiment. but

remembering that maple syrup has been long-boiled and greatly condensed, however

accounting for that, somehow figuring in the proper amount to create the

necessary sugar balance might be difficult. but do-able.

blessings

mark

Re: Re: newbie about to experiment Molasses

> really, highly refined white sugar isn't that much different from the

> raw, except i think that the raw might be providing xtra nutrients

> from the " impurities " other-wise filtered out. But then, sap-flows

> aren't going to be highly purified either.

how about maple syrup? it's condensed sweet sap from the maple tree

[Guest guest]

In message <1ac.2c9bc050.2edd3209@...> you wrote:

> Has any one ever tried making KT with honey?

Yes, Catesfeist, I have some time ago, but I wasn't impressed by the

taste. Somehow the fermentation didn't seem to be as straight forward

as normal and seemed to take a lot longer under the same conditions.

The brew retained a sickly sweet flavour. I like my KT quite tart.

From what I have read, honey has antibacterial properties in its raw

state. Kombucha is half yeast and have bacteria, so the antibaterialness

of the raw honey seems to negatively influence the effectiveness of

the Scoby to ferment the sweet tea properly into Kombucha Tonic and harm

the Scoby in the process.

The only way round it I can see is to boil the honey with the tea to

kill off the enzymes. Somehow that goes against my personal grain,

as I am a honey lover and like it with nowt taken out to obtain the best

benefit from it.

The sugar in KT is mainly there to feed the culture as it revamps it

into health giving acids. At the end of the brewing process we will no

longer ingest the white (nasty;-) sucrose of the beginning of the

brewing process, but the healthy acids the Kombucha (yeast and

bacteria) have produced from it.

Sorry, that was a bit long winding, but I hope you can understand what I

am saying.

> I am also a beginner

> beekeeper and would prefer using my own honey instead of sugar.

I can completely understand you there, all home produce and all

that, but I for one will not feed lovely honey to the scobys again

but to myself and the family directly ;-)

I wonder whether it is hard to be a beginner beekeeper. Great!! I'd

love to bee one.

Does one have to wear an L-plate, pleading with the bees to be

merciful and not to bring out their stingy weapons on one still

inexperienced?

Greetings from the sweet minstrelPegg

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