Kombucha - shock value or health value?

The funny thing about having our own garden is that when my family makes our weekly visit to the farmer's market, we skip most of the vegetables and seek out the same things: peach lemonade, lemon drop cookies, and the fresh-from-the-grill sausages one of the Amish families cooks up (dressed how the matron enjoys it - with her own homemade ketchup, a generous helping of horseradish, on her daughter's delicious fresh baked rolls).

I shopped solo on this day and quite honestly, what compelled me to buy the kombucha mushroom was the loooooooong 10 minute wait for my sausages. After taking repeated peeks at the little jars in the cooler, I saw a thing that almost made me laugh out loud at the reaction I suspected I would receive from my family. I had to bring it home.

Definitely for the shock value.

Here's the Amish family recipe for Kombucha:

• Boil a gallon of water, then add 4 regular sized black tea bags to steep for 30 minutes.
• Add a cup of sugar, then allow to cool completely to room temperature.
• Pour the sweetened tea in a glass jar and float the kombucha mushroom on top.
• Fill about 10% of the jar with a starter tea or 1/4 cup vinegar - this helps with the prevention of contaminants (actually, this step was not indicated on the recipe sheet, but I added it based on what I read on the Internet).
• Cover the jar with a tea towel and rubber band towel in place.
• Place in a dark spot for 7-14 days.
• Enjoy over ice!

When I read about Kombucha described with the acronym SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast), I remembered that Julie posted about it fairly recently. The culture (there's something about the word culture...) floating in the jar in the first photo is actually a folded up pancake shaped kombucha mushroom - also known as a mother and scientifically classified as a zoogleal mat. But that's not all...after creating the fermented tea that you enjoy over ice, the mother makes daughters that you can separate to make more tea or give to your friends! The Amish woman told me that once she took out the mushroom and set it on the counter because she didn't want her tea too strong and later, she found that it had created a baby. Awesome!

But despite the shock value, turns out there are quite a number of health values (of course, no claims have been scientifically proven). Kombucha tea:

• detoxifies the liver and energeizes the mind
• aids cancer recovery
• increases energy
• sharpens eyesight
• improves skin's elasticity
• aids joint recovery
• aids digestion

Well, who knows what the true health values are. Some studies show nothing, some studies show benefits. In about 10 days, we'll see if the Kombucha tea is the panecea that many think it is. All I can confirm for now is that it's a fun project that is sure worth the shock value at least!

Our neighborhood farmer's market

Though we generally get a lot of fruits and veggies to eat between my garden and my parents' garden, we love going to the farmer's market for things we can't do in our own gardens. Lucky for us, our wonderful neighborhood farmer's market is just a few blocks away.

This is our favorite baker from Praline Bakery in Bethesda, MD. Her baby just sleeps or hangs out while she sells the most delicious selection of yummies. I always try to get her breakfast croissants or the beautiful apple tart, but if you don't get there early, there are slim pickings. Today we were late because I went for a run and watered the garden first, so that dictated what we were able to have for breakfast. I undid the 300 calories I'd burned the moment I saw (and asked for, drooling...) the moist and spongy chocolate pound cake. My husband picked up a few of his favorite, the lemon drop cookies - sort of lemon Madelaine-like, lightly iced cookies. Older daughter particularly loves this booth, but it is her loss today as she's at a sleepover.

Here, my younger daughter at her favorite booth. There are two booths run by Amish families. They travel about 2.5 hours or so to get here faithfully every weekend. Lyric loves the peach lemonade and trying samples of homemade cheese. One of the families used to sell an amazing herb cheese, but they stopped making it. They do now sell homemade yogurt, which is a treat we'll need to try next time.

In the past couple of years, this family began selling freshly grilled (Can you imagine what an amazing sight and smell?) hamburgers and sausages. There's quite a line forming.

Today we tried a grilled sausage and when we couldn't decide upon how to top it, we asked how the vendor enjoyed it - freshly grated horseradish and ketchup (both homemade, of course). It was quite a delicious combination. Please DO try this at home.

I do have other new favorites. There is a new artisan sausage vendor who makes amazing spicy tasso, and I LOVE their prosciutto biscuits. I usually buy a bag and make a Southern gravy to eat them with. The prosciutto I used in last week's GTTC sandwiches were also from this booth.

After snapping some of these photos and sharing about what I have just a 10 minute walk away, I suppose we're really lucky to live where we do. It's a pretty cool spring-to-fall Saturday morning routine. Do you have a farmer's market near you? What's it like?