Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Jamie Oliver seems to be taking on a combination of the two biggest issues in the U.S. today:  the education system and food.  He actually has a show on ABC (or has for the last two years) where he actually goes into different cities in the U.S. and tries to make a difference with school lunches.  The first season was dealing with Huntington, Virginia, and the second season - LA.  He yells.  He cries.  He fist-pumps.  I attribute some of his emotional scenes to being English, but you do know that his passionate is true.  Him being so passionate about changing the bad habits of a country he doesn't even live in definitely says something about the guy!  Yeah - it's money.  But it seems like he could be doing fine if he just stayed in England.

I read somewhere that he was actually a "normal" cook in a restaurant's kitchen back in the day (which wasn't that long ago.)  Someone from a local news station showed up with a camera to feature the restaurant or something and liked Jamie's charisma.  And that's how he got his big break!  He got a cooking show on the local television station.  I love that story.  So random and awesome.  And for those of you that know me, I put him in the same category as Cesar Millan.

I actually didn't realize what he was really about until this summer.  I read an interview with him in the WholeLiving magazine.  And his best advice to the readers was, "How you spend your dollars at the supermarket is the most important way to create changes in the food industry."  This makes me think that we may be hearing more from this guy after he defeats school lunches.  I think this guy is working in phases.

Kombucha Instructions

Fran was wanting to get her own kombucha going.  I supplied her with a scoby earlier this summer, and finally got to writing down the instructions for her.  I thought I would document it in my blog!

Utensils you will need:

• Large one gallon or larger stainless steel pot (Second choice glass)
• 3 1/2 quarts of distilled or filtered water
• black or green tea (six tea bags or six tbsp)
• 1 cup raw organic cane sugar
• Large jar (at least a gallon-size)
• distilled vinegar
• 1/2 cup of starter kombucha tea (what your scoby is in)
• Light clean cloth that will fit over the opening
• rubber band

Preparing the Tea

1. Using the stainless steel pot, bring water to a rapid boil. Be sure this water is filtered or distilled.
2. Add sugar and boil 5 minutes longer.
3. Turn off heat and add tea and steep for 15 minutes to overnight. This is a preference, but I usually steep until cool.
4. Cover as needed to prevent anything from getting in the tea. 
5. Allow to cool to room temperature.  This would also be a good time to make sure your scoby is at room temperature as well. If you've had it in the fridge, take it out and let it "warm up". It's not proven, but I feel adding a cold scoby to the tea could add days to your brew time.
6. Place cooled tea in the large jar.  Two things that are important here: Make sure the jar is clean and make sure the tea is cool. The scoby is very sensitive to both! I always make sure the jar is good by rinsing it with distilled vinegar and letting it dry before adding everything to it. With the tea, I always let it completely cool (sometimes let it sit overnight) in order to ensure it won't harm the scoby.
7. Add your starter kombucha tea and the scoby.  The scoby may float or sink to the bottom anything is acceptable.  
8. Place the fine cloth on top of the jar and secure with a rubber band.  
9. Place the jar in a warm area away from direct sunlight and do not disturb for 7 days.  At the end of the week you should see a whitish formation about 1/8 of an inch thick attached to the original scoby.  This is the "mother-baby" combination.

Testing Your Brew

1. Stick a straw in. Place your finger over one end and pull out. Place the other end in your mouth and and then release your finger. The tea will then come out. Or Simply gently press against the scoby with a spoon and taste the brew.  This is usually day 6-8. This depends on your taste and how you like your kombucha
2. When your brew is ready, you should notice an apple-cider aroma. The pH when you began with all that sugar was about 4.0. The sugar is converted as it ferments, so day 6-8 the pH is around 2.7. Store bought Vinegar is about 2.0  Some folks like a sour tea others a sweet tea. The consensus is that a kombucha that's fermented for 6-8 days at a constant 78 degrees F. will produce the best balance of beneficial nutrients as well as a semi-sweet taste.

Bottling

1. Carefully remove the culture and place it in a clean glass bowl.  (Once again, I clean with vinegar and let dry.) Cover with some of the finished tea.  Now you are ready to make a new batch.  Follow same directions.
2. Pour the filtered kombucha tea into a clean bottle and fill to the brim and cap. 
3. Allow the bottles to sit at room temperature for 1-5 days for a secondary anaerobic (without oxygen) fermentation. The  activity of the bacterium is stopped because the bottling excludes the air,  while the yeast continues to work the  gas produced by the yeast's activities, is unable to escape. Thus an  effervescent drink is produced. 
4. HINT  Some folks add one or two raisins, or a sliver of ginger, Stevia, or 1/4 tsp fructose per quart, before bottling to sweeten and for a second fermentation. This fermentation will continue until the remaining sugars are used and then refrigerate to stop the process and the ferment go dormant. 
5. Refrigeration is not needed for long term storage but KT should be maintained in a cool dry place similar to storing fine wine.