So you’re Kombucha tastes like vinegar? Yup, it happens , often when you also have lots of SCOBY’s growing one on top of the other in your fermenting glass. Here are 10 ways to use your over-fermented Kombucha and SCOBY’s.

1- Dressings and Marinades. Bottle the liquid and use in the way you would use vinegar.  It will last forever in a glass bottle in a dark place. I would strain it first to reduce the chance of another SCOBY forming.

2 – Strain the ‘Kombucha Vinegar’ and put it in a sprayer dilute 1:10 with water for cleaning surfaces/windows. Probiotic cleaner – research has suggested that covering your surface with ‘good bacteria’ stops the pathogenic bacteria from accumulating. Using Kombucha Vinegar in place of Vinegar in your homemade cleaners will supercharge your cleaning power with probiotics – more Kombucha cleaning recipes here.

3 – Plant food – water down the Kombucha Vinegar and use it to water your plants. The water is acidic so it is great for Tomato Plants and Strawberries. Mix 200ml with 1 litre of water so it’s not too strong. Chopping up the SCOBY and adding it your compost is also a great way of adding more nutrients into your soil.

4 – Face Mask – don’t be scared but you can place a whole SCOBY over your face as a mask. The PH has a mild and all-natural acid peel effect leaving your skin soft and smooth.

5 – Face Toner – use a little Kombucha Vinegar to tone your face after washing. The PH has the same effect as using the SCOBY as a face mask. Sloughing off dead skin cells and leaving your skin bright.

6 – Topical use – it looks like skin and you can place a piece of SCOBY over a burn, wound or other skin ailment. The vinegar can sting momentarily but it works as a natural biofilm and manufactured biofilms are created from a bacteria in the Kombucha culture.

7 – Animals – Dogs love Kombucha, you can give them small bits of SCOBY in their food, dry the SCOBY’s and give them as treats. Chickens love to peck at the SCOBY’s, even Horses will munch them with their chaff.

8 – Eat the SCOBY ourselves. Yes, the simplest way is to add a piece to a smoothie, not too much or it will taste too sour. The SCOBY is made up from Celluslose that the bacteria and yeasts form – this cellulose is great for our skin, hair and nails.

9 – Fruit and Vegetable Wash. Fill your sink with water add a cup full of Kombucha Vinegar and soak your veggies for 10 minutes, rinse and your vegetables are clean.

10 – Natural Pesticide. Use pure Kombucha Vinegar in a spray bottle and use it as a natural pesticide. I spray ants, and flies that I don’t want travelling into the house!

 

“Ugh, what is that….?!!”, when people see the jars in my kitchen, their face says it all, even if they are trying to be polite.

Sigh. If they only knew how they would feel if they regularly ate these foods? Trying to persuade people only makes it worse, they have to want to try. I can offer to share what I know, but I don’t try to force the issue; if they ask and are interested I can share.

So would you like to eat these foods, but you’re not sure how? Well, it can be like Olives, at first you may not like them but over time they are delicious, you even crave them. Fermented vegetables may be difficult to enjoy at first, but its certainly worth persevering. Here are 5 ways to get you started.

 

5 easy tips to get you started on eating that jar of Fermented Veggies you have made….you’ll be craving them in no time.

1 – Mayonnaise – Mix with mayonnaise, to make a coleslaw. (Mix with shop bought coleslaw is also easy peasy).

Any mayonnaise, it’s the beginning of a journey, just eating fermented food with your usual diet is enough at first to start you on your way. Eat just like normal coleslaw, in a sandwich, on a jacket potato, as a side to cheese and meats.

2 – Pickle – pickles used to be lacto-fermented. Now they are mainly sterile, pasteurised and use white vinegar. Mix some of your veggies in with your pickle. If you like a cheese and pickle sandwich, chutney on your crackers, ensure to add a little fermented vegetables to supercharge your food.

3 – Salad dressing.  Mix your salad dressing with a few tablespoons of the fermented vegetable liquid. The liquid itself is a fantastic source of probiotics. It is salty, sour and tangy so perfect for substituting the vinegar and salt in a salad dressing.

4 – Pasta and Rice Salads – Cold rice and pasta salads are perfect for adding your fermented vegetables too. They can be mixed with sour cream, coleslaw, oil, they will add the salty vinegary taste to the salad and make it extra tasty. Summer barbecue?   Make sure those sides are full of probiotics.

5 – Stir-fry – Heating kills the probiotics but a stir-fry is okay, just add the fermented vegetables in last just to warm through, don’t fry them for ages with the rest of the meal. I do cook with my fermented vegetables, to get the benefit of the taste and texture but I already have an abundance of fermented probiotics in my gut and cooking with Fermented Vegetables is the next stage of using large quantities and enjoying the flavour.

 

I cannot emphasize enough just have a go, use these ideas and let your imagination run riot. Fermenting is not new, we have just lost some of the art and with it the health benefits to our gut flora.

How to make Lacto Fermented Vegetables here.