Basic Kombucha Recipe

Makes 1 gallon (scale recipe up or down depending on the size of your vessel)
Ingredients:
– Kombucha SCOBY
– Starter liquid (brewed kombucha reserved from a previously brewed batch)
– Glass or lead-free ceramic container
– Organic Black or Green loose-leaf tea or tea bags. Use unflavored tea, as essential oils and flavorings can adversely affect the culture. Favorites for black tea varieties include English Breakfast, Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling, and Ancient Forest. Excellent green options include Green Sencha, White Peony, Silver Needles, and Oolong.
– Organic cane sugar, if possible. In a pinch, regular sugar will work
– Distilled, spring, or well water. Chlorinated or treated water can harm the kombucha culture.
– A clean piece of cloth, towel, or a handkerchief, (fine weave best) and a rubber band to cover the container. I also double protect mine with a coffee filter.
Directions:
1. Bring ¾ of a gallon of water to a boil, then turn off the heat and immediately add 4 TBSP of loose-leaf tea (or 4 tea bags) and 1 cup of organic sugar. Cover pot with a lid, and cool to room temperature.
2. Strain out the tea leaves, and pour the liquid into your glass or ceramic container.
3. Add your scoby and 1-2 cups of kombucha starter liquid. Wipe down outside of container.
4. Cover the container with a clean cloth, kitchen towel, or handkerchief, coffee filter and a rubber band. Place it in a dark area out of direct sunlight, where it won’t be disturbed or moved. Make sure that the cloth or towel is breathable, yet that the weave is tight enough to keep fruit flies, gnats, and other undesirables and contaminants out.
5. Your scoby may sink or float on the top, both are okay. In 2-3 days, you may see a translucent jelly-like mass floating on the top of your tea. This is a new scoby beginning to form. Leave it undisturbed so that the baby can grow properly.
6. Taste your kombucha periodically by dipping a straw into the liquid, pass the scoby, depending on the temperature of your home and how sweet or sour you’d like it to be. Most batches will be ready in 7-14 days. Ideally, the kombucha should have a slightly sharp and acidic bite.
7. When your kombucha is ready, carefully remove the scoby, then pour the liquid through a filter and into bottles. Remember to reserve 1-2 cups for the starter liquid for your next batch.
8. Separate the new baby scoby from your original one (now a mother), and keep whichever one looks healthier. You can give the new baby to a friend or start a “kombucha hotel” in a separate glass jar. Simply include some kombucha starter liquid to cover the scobies. Each time that you brew a batch of kombucha, a new baby will grow to join your kombucha family.
9. Place the scoby and 1-2 cups of starter tea back into your container, brew a new batch of tea, and start all over again!
10. You may leave the kombucha unflavored or include any number of tasty additions or do a second ferment. Experiment with fresh or dried fruit, berries, herbs, and spices for whatever flavor suits your mood. For a second ferment, use a new container and place just the liquid on top of your favorite berry or flavor, then ferment for two-5 days. Filter the liquid and bottle as normal. Reserve the fermented fruit or flavor to use later in smoothies or another recipe.
11. Kombucha will naturally have a slight fizziness. To increase the carbonation and level of tartness, leave the bottled kombucha on a countertop for several days after bottling. Keep bottles stored in a refrigerator once finished fermenting.
Important notes:
– Always clean your hands, utensils, and anything that might touch your kombucha with hot water and distilled vinegar. Do not use soap, (especially antibacterial soap) as it may harm or kill the kombucha culture. Your kombucha is alive! Make sure to handle it with care.
– Only use lead-free glass and ceramic for fermenting. Kombucha will absorb toxins out of the container that it’s brewed in (much like how it pulls toxins out of our bodies).
– Kombucha scobies have an unusual appearance, scent, and feel, but don’t let this discourage you! You’ll quickly grow accustomed to their odd appearance and will get used to handling them.
– Store your kombucha away from your stove and other cooking appliances. The aroma, smoke, and flavor can all impart into your culture. Bacon kombucha? No thanks!
– The easiest place to get a scoby is from a friend or co-worker with extra babies. Most kombucha brewers have several scobies waiting for a new home. If you can’t find a scoby locally, you can purchase one online or grow a scoby from a bottle of store-bought kombucha.
– If the kombucha scoby grows mold, throw the liquid and scoby into the compost and begin with fresh materials. Mold on a scoby will usually be white and fuzzy. Scobys have other white spots sometime or get bubbles, but this is normal.
– Have fun and experiment! Kombucha is an acquired taste, and everyone likes it a little different. There are hundreds of recipes available, each one with its own ingredients and techniques.

Incredible Ways Himalayan Salt Will Change Your Life

The Himalayas – the tallest mountains in the world – span 2400 kilometers across Asia at the joining of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. Where these proud peaks now stand, 250 million years ago was a primordial sea. Within that ancient body of water existed a perfect, pristine ecosystem. As the plates of the earth moved and over the ages pushed the Himalayas toward the heavens, the sea evaporated and all of its life-sustaining minerals crystallized under the heat of the sun to form what we now know as Himalayan pink salt.

Because of the conditions by which it was formed, this purest of sea salts one of the best sources of natural minerals on the planet and exponentially healthier than the bleached and processed table salt that most people use daily. In this post, we take a look at some of the incredible benefits of Himalayan pink salt (HPS) and how you can use it boost your health.
1. Mineral Soak
Salt and mineral baths are a great way to relax at the end of the day while simultaneously infusing the skin and body with minerals and hydration. Through the process of dermal absorption, skin soaks up minerals from the water – often better than if the same minerals were consumed internally. Because it contains so many of the different minerals our bodies need to stay healthy, when it comes to the best things to put in your bath water, Himalayan pink salt is at the top of the list.

Read More: 10 Compelling Reasons To Have A Himalayan Salt Bath Today

2. Soothe Away Soreness
A warm bath infused with Himalayan pink salt is also great for relaxing cramped muscles. The magnesium and some other trace minerals found in HPS absorb through the skin to help heal damaged muscle and other soft tissues. Minerals in HPS also work to fortify bones, skin, and connective tissues that may contribute to body soreness in other ways.

3. Detoxification
When HPS is added to a bath of warm (preferably about the same as body temperature) water, it not only provides much-needed nutrients to your body. Himalayan pink salt also works as a powerful detoxifier. When dissolved in water, HPS becomes an ionic solution that helps to draw the toxins out of the skin and adipose tissues. This process combined with the healing mineral infusion offered by a good Himalayan pink salt soak will leave you feeling refreshed and energized.

4. Purify Air
Not only does Himalayan pink salt detoxify the body, you can also use it to clean the air you breathe.

You may have seen one before and not known what you were looking at – a big chunky pink crystal lamp sitting on a table or desk. This decorative bit of lighting is actually made of HPS, which acts as a natural air purifier by pulling moisture from the surrounding environment into the salt. Heat from the bulb quickly evaporates the water back into the air, but any toxins that were previously carried in the cycled moisture are left behind, trapped by the salt ions.

Want to learn more about why you should invest in a Himalayan pink salt lamp? Read about the incredible benefits here.

5. Sinus Irrigation
If you’ve ever used a Neti pot then you know how well salt water can work to clear up your sinuses. Try using HPS saline in your pot for an even healthier cleanse. Himalayan pink salt kills bacteria and bonds to many contaminants that may be stuck in your nasal cavities due to breathing polluted air. Alternately, if you don’t like the idea of running water through your nasal cavities, you can also use this Himalayan crystal salt inhaler to cleanse your respiratory system.

6. Regulate Hydration
When consumed as a sole (pronounced ‘solay’) – a brine solution of water that has been fully saturated with natural, unrefined salt – HPS provides the body with electrolytes which regulate hydration, among other things.

Read the label on a sports drink bottle and you will see some of the major electrolytes listed in the ingredients – sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), and chloride (Cl−) – in one or more of their forms. This is because the body absorbs electrolytes faster than water by itself. When these two occur side-by-side, your body takes up the water and electrolytes together, resulting in faster hydration. Sadly, most commercial sports drinks are also full of sugar and chemical preservatives that we don’t want in our bodies.

The good news is that HPS is about 85% sodium chloride with the other 15% featuring notable amounts of potassium, calcium, and magnesium, as well as bicarbonate. These six minerals are all electrolytes that are necessary for proper functioning of the human body, or more specifically for bodily fluid regulation.

Essentially, creating sole made with Himalayan pink salt is like mixing your own perfect sports drink.