Fiber Fool

I grew a kombucha scoby from a bottle of raw kombucha at the end of 2012. Since then I’ve made several batches. How many I don’t recall. But I had used 4 different types of teas at various points. Three different black teas and a green tea. One day I caught myself telling DH that I wished I could do a fair taste comparison to understand the nuances of the tea choices.

In order to compare apples to apples I needed to brew the batches at the same time for the same length of time in the same environment so they would all be the same age. Eventually I had plenty of scobys at my disposal to do that. Over the past 2 weeks, roughly, I brewed concurrently each of the four different teas - Keemun, Assam, Darjeeling, and Lucky Dragon Hyson. Since I had another scoby left I decided to try coffee kombucha as well which I won’t get into in this post.

I bottled them on Sunday morning when they were at 13 days of fermentation at roughly 67-69 degrees F. I poured off small tasters of each one for DH and I to try right then, without bottle conditioning or chilling. Overall they all came across as pretty sweet. In fact, it might not have been bad to have left them another few days. Although since I like bottle conditioning for 3-5 days to produce good carbonation I tend to bottle a tad on the sweeter side as fermentation continues in the bottle. We’ll see what the next tasting in a few days yields.

Now, since this was the first batch with all four types going at once they were all inoculated with darjeeling kombucha so they aren’t quite 100% their tea. The next batch will be closer to 100%. But I have some preliminary results.

From our favorite to our least favorite (though none were bad or undrinkable):
Assam - This was the most well rounded of the four types I brewed. It was smooth and the tanic astringency of the tea was full-mouthed, rather than concentrated on the tip of the tongue. There was a very slight undertone of smokiness.
Keemun - Like the Assam, this one was fairly well rounded and had a full-mouth astringency. The smokiness of it was very pronounced. This was the first batch of Keemun from this particular tea order and I noticed a strong smoky smell that I hadn’t with our previous order of the tea. I’m not sure if it was a mix and we didn’t get the tea the bag indicates or what as I don’t expect a Keemun to have that strong of a smoky note nor is is considered a good idea to brew with a smoked tea. I’m doing one more batch with it, but that will likely be the last I use this particular order of Keemun for kombucha.
Darjeeling - This kombucha was relatively sweet. At first taste it was very mild, though the astringency builds in the aftertaste, but is concentrated on the tip of the tongue. It was almost drying to the tip of our tongues.
Lucky Dragon Hyson - This too was well rounded and quite smooth. It was also very mild and had an almost syrupy aftertaste. It was our least favorite of the four at this stage.

On a related, but side note I just calculated my costs for a 1/2 gallon batch of kombucha. It comes out to only $0.15 - $0.25 per 8 ounces! Generally you buy 12-16 ounce bottles for $4 and upwards! That’s a savings of 85-92% depending upon what tea I use and what, if any flavoring agents I use in the bottle conditioning. It doesn’t take long to make back the cost of the flip-top grolsch-style bottles or the wide mouth canning jars I brew in with savings like that. I knew it was much more economical (and environmental) but I hadn’t realized it was that drastically so!

Have you brewed kombucha? What are your favorite teas to use?

Well, it was a hibernation weekend as predicted, which is totally fine by me these days. Snow did start falling about mid-day on Friday and continued through early afternoon on Saturday or so if memory serves. This time of the season it is pretty difficult to get an accurate snowfall measurement as the ground is warm enough for the snow to start melting from below so I don’t have a clue how much we got. It was relatively significant though which is good.

My food/cooking mojo was mostly back too. We enjoyed the baked oatmeal from Super Natural Everyday and it does reheat pretty well at 300 degrees F for about 20 minutes. A splash of milk on top is a nice touch. I do want to play around with the recipe a bit to improve the protein content though. I’m contemplating adding an additional egg and/or some greek yogurt to the milk for a faux buttermilk effect.

We also enjoyed the “farro” soup from the same cookbook, though I subbed regular barley (not pearled) because the food co-op only had quick cooking farrow. The flavor was good, though I really need to research the different curry powders we got from my mom and dad as the insert included with them are very meat-centric so I didn’t really a clue which to use for this soup. The lentils I chose did give us some fits. Maybe 5% or so of them didn’t soften at all when the others were a really great texture. I even soaked the lentils and barley for a bit over 8 hours before cooking them. I’m hoping the fridge time of the leftovers will remedy the hard lentils a bit. The yogurt with preserved lemon definitely made the dish. That brightness was a great contrast to the earthy spiciness of the soup.

The first round of the kombucha taste test took place as well. We tried the kombucha coffee too. I also passed along a scoby all ready to brew for a bit to Kathryn. If you are in the area and interested in brewing kombucha and are in need of a scoby, just let me know. I currently have 3 in my “incubator.” I also worked on doing a thorough write up of brewing kombucha. I’ll be presenting more info on our taste test either this week or next. So far we only tasted straight from the brewing vessel at room temp and are curious to see if bottle conditioning and chilling changes the results at all and that will take a few days yet.

I didn’t get around to any sewing, though I totally thought about it and let stash fabric options roll around in my head. But I did finish both fiction books I had in progress and started on that Anne recommended. We also got through the Warehouse 13 marathon and started watching Twin Peaks which allowed me to knit about 3/4 of a coordinating project to go with the recently completed DIP.

How was your weekend? Did you hunker down and do homey things like I did or did you have a wild and crazy busy weekend?

We stopped at the food co-op yesterday afternoon for some staples to get us through another snowy (I hope they got it right this time) weekend and happened upon blood oranges. Yum! I hadn’t ever had one straight up before. Too bad they are *so* expensive *sigh*.

As I mentioned yesterday, there will be some watching of Warehouse 13 this weekend. Although I’m sorry to admit we watched 6 episodes last night! That’s kind of sad except when you figure in being under the weather and getting some knitting done while watching. There will likely also be some reading. More knitting.

Maybe I’ll do some sewing? I have a few pieces that just need hemming, plus a few patterns singing their siren song to me. Though I have fabric stash for only a couple. I think I have two fabrics that I could turn into the new Coletterie Laurel dress (and maybe one or two for the blouse version) but I’m uncertain if a shift like that is really suited to my current body shape? Although in a breathable fabric it seems like a wonderfully comfortable cut for unbearably hot days and there is a sleeveless version. What do you think? Would it suit? I should decide as the pattern is on sale through today if I want to get it. They are also having a contest for FOs.

I trolled Ravelry this week for some FOs of my patterns and found some stunning ones!

• ameymccabe’s Spring Frills in a very autumnal colorway that I love
• KnittingJoy’s Spring Frills
• TurtleGirl76’s Cirrus
• momholbrook’s Cirrus
• Outi77’s Hits the Spot II (yes, she’s knit it twice)
• YarnMadness’ Ciabatta
• -dimoni-’s Barton Cottage Shrug

With the colder, damp weather I think I’ll be diving into my new cookbook from DH and we’ll be enjoying Heidi’s Farro Soup. Although I couldn’t find farro in bulk yesterday, so I think I’ll sub in brown basmati rice which should have a similar cooking profile. We’ll also use preserved lemons in the yogurt rather than adding fresh lemon and salt individually.

We may also have her baked oatmeal for brunch with frozen blueberries.

I might finally get around to photographing my lentil tacos that several of you have requested as well. That is if we don’t have our fill of lentils in the soup.

With the bug I got mid-week my kombucha bottling was delayed a bit, but that will be happening tonight or early tomorrow morning. The tea has to cool completely so it’ll depend upon how long that takes. I can’t wait to try the coffee as well as do a side-by-side taste comparison of the 4 different types of tea! We had to buy bottles now as this batch exceeded our capacity. Ooops! It’s good to support the local brew shop though I suppose.

For more linkity check out Stumbling Over Chaos and A Cup of Jo.

What is on your docket for the weekend? Has spring sprung where you are yet? While I’m happy for precipitation in any form I’m not horribly excited about it being frozen, but I’ll take it.

Well, perhaps I was done with food earlier in the week because I had a bug. Well, I think it is still lingering a bit. I’m starting to feel a tad more human again though plan to stay pretty low key through the weekend I think. I’m looking forward to tonight’s Warehouse 13 marathon on the SyFy channel so we can get caught up on Season 4 before the rest of the season starts airing at the end of April. That should keep me occupied without expending too much energy.

That brings me to my question I guess :-) I’m a tad picky about my science fiction. I don’t care for dystopian things so I don’t think series like The Hunger Games are for me. On TV I’ve really enjoyed Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Lost Girl. Warehouse 13 is probably at the top of that list. Oh, and more steampunk than sci-fi I’ve loved The Murdoch Mysteries out of Canada as well. What books would you recommend along those sorts of lines?

Being under the weather meant I got to do a fair bit of reading this week. Although much of it has been scattered over several books so I don’t have many books to actually review. Just the ones that weren’t quite done last Thursday - Death without Company by Craig Johnson, Cardwell Ranch Trespasser by B.J. Daniels which just released on Tuesday, and True Food by Andrew Weil.

Trespasser on Cardwell Ranch by B.J. Daniels - 3 stars. This is the third Cardwell Ranch book I’ve read, having read the first two books of the series. I did not find jumping ahead to be terribly detrimental, though I do suspect this title might have been a tad richer if I hadn’t skipped a couple books.

As I’ve come to expect from Daniels, there is a good bit of danger and suspense taking place. Though I found the situation here to anger me. I think I sympathized with Hilde too much and wanted to slap Dana and Hud upside the head for being so dense most of the time. While my frustration with Dana and Hud spurred me to keep reading because I wanted to see them wake up and see Dee Anna for what she really was, it also took something away from my enjoyment of reading the story. The romance element was not quite strong enough to draw my attention away from the stupidity being displayed.

All in all I’m not sad to have read the book. It was a fine read. I’ve just read better books and definitely better ones by Daniels.

I received an electronic ARC of this book from NetGalley.

Death without Company (Walt Longmire #2) by Craig Johnson - 4 stars. An older woman dies in an assisted living facility. An equally old, retired sheriff insists it is murder despite little to no evidence of foul play. Turns out it may be and it may be tied to a 50+ year old murder that had been undiscovered until now. Complicate that with a reduced workforce, a Wyoming winter, two different and distinct ethnicities, and you get a really interesting procedural mystery plot. Add in well drawn characters who are unique with distinctive voices and you have a fabulous read.

This second book takes place only weeks after the first book which kind of surprised me. While it may be a tad crazy to think of yet another murder in such a short time span in rural America, I kind of enjoyed the proximity to the previous book (Johnson did kind of poke fun at such a thing in the dialogue as well). It allowed some of the unresolved issues brought up to be carried into this one which lent a bit more depth to the series I think.

This is only my second Walt Longmire book that I’ve read. I’m a bit of stickler for reading series in order. I was in some ways quite surprised to be as drawn into this book as I was the first. I’m not a die hard procedural fan so it takes a really well done one to keep me reading. Keep me reading it did. I’m definitely looking forward to jumping into the next title before too long.

True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure by Andrew Weil et. al. - 3 stars. This cookbook was not what I was expecting. Firstly, I had thought recipes would be organized by season given the subtitle. While non-traditional, I enjoy cookbooks that are focused on real food and sustainable eating to be organized that way. It makes it easier to meal plan for in-season cooking. I was also surprised by the large number of the recipes that called for really specialized ingredients. Some may be available in specialty grocery stores in middle America, but I’m pretty certain many of them I would have to mail order. To me, mail ordered ingredients are not a sustainable ingredient. There were also many more meat dishes than I had expected. Since we are a mixed household I tend to prefer mostly vegetarian cookbooks and then just add meat as a side for additional protein.

I tried only one recipe that I could easily get the ingredients for, the raw kale salad. It was okay, but not something I would crave. I also kicked it up a bit with some nutritional yeast which did help. I did find that it was indeed better the next day.

That said, I did not see this cookbook as one we need in our collection.

I’m about three quarters of the way through Sara Andrews’ Flesh and Bones and can’t wait to finish that. Then on the Kindle I’m a nearly 2/3 through Cricket McRae’s Wined and Died. I also got an early birthday present from DH this week. He snuck a cookbook into a textbook order, Super Natural Every Day by 101cookbooks.com’s Heidi Swanson. I had checked it out from the library shortly after it was released and it has been on my wish list ever since. I spent the morning flipping through it once again and it may bring back my food mojo once my digestive system is straightened out. I love her first cookbook, even if much of it is more involved than I can handle on a normal day. I think that is what appeals to me about this second book - it really is much more “every day” friendly.

Okay, your turn! What are you reading these days?

This is not going to be a fun one. I’m in a mood and randomly diving into my thoughts will not be pretty. But it is real. Sorry, turn back now!

1. I’m tired of wind. I’ve only managed about 3 hours sleep each of the past 5 nights. I’m tired!
2. I’m really frustrated with people who do not respect the power of fire and the dryness of their surroundings. Playing with fire puts many people’s lives at risk, especially those who fight the fires. It puts family’s homes in danger. It puts the respiratory health of an entire city at risk.
3. I’m thankful for the wildland fire crews and all of our firefighters as well as all of the emergency crews who respond to such situations as wildfires. Especially for the crew on the Galena fire who have gotten it nearly contained very quickly despite lack of usual resources and uncooperative weather.
4. I’ve gotten bored with food. Sounds crazy I know. I just don’t want to deal with it anymore. I don’t want to think about what to make, make it, or clean up after making it. That might mean there is no food post tomorrow. We’ll have to wait and see.



5. I’d like favorable weather for working out outside. No smoke inhalation warnings. No 30 mph winds. No snow and ice in the bike lanes (my preferred location to run when in the neighborhood). Coldish is okay, I can deal with that.
6. I love my coffee press (see #1) and am so glad a friend many years ago taught me the right way to brew a satisfying pot. I almost gave the press away. I shudder to think about that now.
7. I finished my DIP Ver 1.0. It prompted quite the discussion at knitting last night, but a few other spin-off ideas are now a bit more solidified and I’m reinvigorated in terms of knitting. I’m looking forward to getting it soaked and blocked today.
8. I updated a few older patterns to my current layout which removes the watermark that causes problems viewing in non-Adobe viewers. I also re-released a few patterns that had become no longer available from their original sources. I’ll continue to plug away at both. See the Woodland Trails cowl, the Spring Frills cuffs, the Fit to Be Tied neckerchief, and the Cirrus shrug. I’m totally thinking about whipping up a Cirrus in my new size, but can’t quite decide on a color to go with my spring/summer wardrobe.



9. Have you heard about Dreaming of Shetland yet? I’m very excited to be a part of it and to help support Deb’s very valuable research!
10. I’m looking forward to some quality time with my sketchbook to capture some of the ideas running through my head.
11. Because I can - I’m excited to dive into the results of last week’s kombucha brewing. If you don’t follow me on social media you probably haven’t heard, but I started an experiment and have 4 different types of tea brewing as well as coffee. I’ve made kombucha with all four types of tea before but was never able to do a side-by-side comparison before. I think I’ll be bottling tomorrow or Thursday. If you are local and are interested in a scoby to brew your own kombucha, just let me know.

Okay, somehow, it seems getting some of that stuff out of my head allowed me to get a bit more positive toward the end. Guess there is a take away lesson in that, huh? Who would have guessed that writing a 10 on Tuesday post would teach me something?!?

Thanks once again to Carole for her continued organization of 10 on Tuesdays.