Ginger Kombucha!

I did a little experimenting with my kombucha. Back in October I got some ginger root at one of the Ithaca Crop Mob events. I'm not terribly familiar with ginger and couldn't figure out how to put it to use. That is until I got a craving for ginger ale. The problem... I don't know how to make ginger ale. I do, however, know how to make kombucha.

For those of you who already know how to make kombucha, this isn't a huge change from the original recipe.

As you can see, some of the ginger pieces
have floated to the top.

Ginger Kombucha

Ingredients:
1 gallon of water
7 bags of green tea
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of kombucha
OR 1/4 cup white vinegar
fresh ginger root
1 kombucha SCOBY
apple juice for bottling

Start by cutting your ginger root into pieces. I used 8 1-inch pieces for my first batch.

Heat water in a large stock pot. Add your tea bags and pieces of ginger root. Bring to a simmer and turn off the heat. Let the tea steep for 20 minutes to an hour.

Remove tea bags and strain out ginger pieces. Set these aside and refrigerate. Pour tea into a large pickle jar. Add kombucha or vinegar, and sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves and let the mixture cool to room temperature. I let mine sit overnight.

Add your SCOBY, cover with a piece of cloth and secure with a rubber band. Let kombucha brew for 1-3 weeks, depending on temperature and your desired bitterness.

To bottle, add 1 ounce of apple juice per bottle and fill bottle with brewed kombucha. Add pieces of reserved ginger. Cap and let this ferment for 1 to 3 days more. Refrigerate until use.

The more ginger you use, the spicier the kombucha will be. Alternately, you can use apple cider during the bottling process for a little more zing.

This is a fantastic winter beverage. The ginger is perfect for warming you up and helping your body fight off winter bugs. I think this is my favorite flavor of kombucha so far, and I will certainly be making more. Much, much more.