Kombucha doesn't work for me, but kimchi juice does

[capmikee]

I had been hearing all these wonderful things about kombucha and wanted to really give it a try. Finally this summer I got a kombucha mother from a neighbor and started brewing. Now I have 4 or 5 gallons of the stuff.

The bad news is: it wipes me out just like alcohol! I get gas, diarrhea, and the meanest bad temper ever. I kept hoping it was something else, but I finally gave it up after a month or two and I'm doing better again.

Since I gave up vinegar last year, I've really lost the taste for acetic acid. I just don't like it the way I used to. I still use wine, vinegar and kombucha in cooking as long as they boil very well, but I won't be having them raw anymore.

The good news is that I've started drinking kimchi juice and it's perfect! I feel like it's just the drink I was looking for - I like the taste, and it seems to work with my body. Many people don't recognize the taste of lactic acid, but once I started fermenting my own food I got to love it. It's so much better than vinegar! I never want to go back to vinegar pickles or vinegar salad dressing. Lemon juice, kimchi juice and beet kvass are the sour foods for me.

The cool thing I discovered recently is that you can get extra kimchi juice by adding lots of water when you make kimchi. I'd heard of it, but I always thought it would make the flavor weak. It doesn't at all - the probiotics keep on making lactic acid until all the liquid is the right strength. The only difference in flavor is that it's less salty.

[lillyforce]

kambucha has alcohal in it plus its made from mushrooms !!! thats why lol its not good for candida suffers altho kraut and kimchee are great!! :) i got sick from kambuchas too its not a super drink like everyone thinks! :) it has mycotoxins in it !!!

[y0u]

Kombucha has absolutely nothing to do with mushrooms. The "mother" often called a "mushroom" is a gelatenous yeast culture. It has less than 1% alcohol in it. As do most common bottled fruit juices.

[Nancy LC]

No one ever believes me because Kambucha has only a teeny weeny bit of alcohol in it, but I did get a little buzz off it once. I was low carbing (of course) and had an empty stomach, drank some and felt like... "Whee!"

[y0u]

Nancy, with any fermented drink the alcohol can vary quite a bit. So you may have gotten a kombucha that did indeed have a higher alcohol content.

[capmikee]

Yes, it's not actually a mushroom, although yeast is a fungus. Someone once told me that saccharomyces and candida are mortal enemies, so why eating S. yeast would make candida worse is a mystery to me. But I do know I can't have it.

[lillyforce]

me either oops thought it was i was mis informed , i cant have it either tho i tried it once and got sick
!!!!

[lillyforce]

Yes, it's not actually a mushroom, although yeast is a fungus. Someone once told me that saccharomyces and candida are mortal enemies, so why eating S. yeast would make candida worse is a mystery to me. But I do know I can't have it.
i love weston a price sight i follow it , but im on low carb so no grain no starch , just meat lots of saturated fat and kraut , and kale :)

[amandawood]

No one ever believes me because Kambucha has only a teeny weeny bit of alcohol in it, but I did get a little buzz off it once. I was low carbing (of course) and had an empty stomach, drank some and felt like... "Whee!"

Same happened to me. I really had high hopes of Kombucha being a healthy alternative to "standard" forms of alcohol, but I found it also gave me a bigger alcohol buzz than I expected, considering it is only supposed to have like less than 3% alcohol. Also, it had a caffeine-like effect, too, and kept me awake at the same time! Which was a really weird feeling...

And, most of the stuff I tried didn't even taste that nice... The first bottle had a sort of cider-y taste, and was OK, but the second bottle obviously hadn't fermented long enough and was kind of sickly sweet.

I had been seriously considering making my own, but I've gone off the idea now...

Never mind, at least I was open-minded enough to try it...

amanda

[lillyforce]

smart not a good idea yeast thrives on alcohals and other sugars. its best to just take probiotics or raw kraut :)

[Nancy LC]

There's yeast in many probiotics and I'd bet sauerkraut too. Fermentation almost always includes yeasties. The spores are basically in the air so it is hard to avoid, when they find a suitable medium then they get busy and convert what they like to eat into something we generally like to eat.

Not all yeasts are pathogenic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerkraut

Wow! Sauerkraut has Klebsiella? That's a bacteria associated with the autoimmune disease I have. Maybe it's killed later in the fermenting.

[capmikee]

Microbes are basically impossible to avoid. My opinion is that a lot of our health problems come from our obsession with totally sterilizing everything we can. I heard once that the polio epidemic was triggered by improvements in water sanitation.

Yeasts also are present, and may yield soft sauerkraut of poor flavor when the fermentation temperature is too high.
I can attest to this. When our sauerkraut gets too warm, it gets mushy, acquires a nasty taste, and becomes slightly alcoholic. I am very bad at identifying the taste of alcohol, but Wifey always lets me know. :p I've concluded that sauerkraut is a winter food for good reason.

Most of the time, however, our sauerkraut has none of these problems. All these microbes compete with each other, and when the environment is right for the lactobacillus, they control the populations of other beasties.

In the first phase, anaerobic bacteria such as Klebsiella and Enterobacter lead the fermentation
I've also heard that E. coli is active in the first phase. There are many harmless strains of E. coli, and the only one you really need to worry about is O157. It's common in feedlot cattle who are suffering from acidosis from eating too much corn and soy, but the levels are much lower in grass-fed cattle.

[lillyforce]

raw butter , and raw kraut are superfoods with good bacteria , so your yeast and bacteria infetions go away :) they have live active cultures in them , mmmm im eating raw butter and raw kraut right now! with liver mmmm :)

[lillyforce]

if u ferment ur cabbage wrong it will be bad! ive made good batches and bad batches , it should taste either pickled or sour , i get rejenative foods dill lemon its really good or i make my own kimchee with ginger and garlic :)

[capmikee]

Since I've started making kimchi I've noticed it's a bit more forgiving than sauerkraut (and faster too). The spices in kimchi inhibit a lot of "bad" microbes. My plan now is to make kimchi in summer, sauerkraut in winter.

[lillyforce]

There's yeast in many probiotics and I'd bet sauerkraut too. Fermentation almost always includes yeasties. The spores are basically in the air so it is hard to avoid, when they find a suitable medium then they get busy and convert what they like to eat into something we generally like to eat.

Not all yeasts are pathogenic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerkraut

Wow! Sauerkraut has Klebsiella? That's a bacteria associated with the autoimmune disease I have. Maybe it's killed later in the fermenting.


so where do u get your good bacteria from than .???? :)

[clauria]

Do you make your own kimchi? If I remember correctly, my mom used to pour in something white that I always thought was flour in water. Unless you are talking about the white kimchi, which does add sugar but not flour. And yes, very refreshing juice! I love it! :P

[lillyforce]

i use to , but i buy rejuvanitive foods brand :) its really good and the texture of apple sauce :)