Garden Tenders: A Russian Stomach Culture

I was first introduced to Kombucha in the early 1990's by a family friend and Pastor. He offered my mother a glass of an odd looking juice and the way the story was told and evolved over the years is that when she was skeptical, he showed her the scoby in a new batch of brewing healthy goodness. My mom, aghast and almost grossed out, asked the friend what it was and was informed, with a perfectly straight face, "Its a Russian Stomach Culture" and it tastes yummy (OK that last part is likely just lore... but he really did claim it was a Russian Stomach Culture). Later we would be informed that historically it was used in Russia to combat hangovers and alcoholism, but I don't think he was able to explain his joke or the history that day. My mom may have even called my father to come get her because the friend was harvesting stomach cultures. *Laugh* So, ever since in our family Kombucha has laughingly been referred to as the 'Russian Stomach Culture" (I remember one time, when we were on vacation in the spring on year in Southern California, my mom believed my dad when he said that the oranges were stamped with "Sunkist" while on the trees in the orchards still--she is just a tad on the gullible side--LOL).

From: Beginners Guide

Well after years of having nothing to do with Kombucha (my mother did finally get a scoby and it was brewed and drank at home--though not by her. She could never get over the stomach culture business) a friend gave us a scoby and we are on our second brew. The first batch brewed too long and I am going to try 10 days this time and see how we like it.

So what are some of the benefits of Mrs. Kombucha? It is suppose to support better digestive health. Mrs. Kombucha is full of active enzymes and has a pH level that matches that of your stomach in a good way. It supports the immune system, mostly I believe, from helping one have a healthy digestive tract. It also is believed to help in liver detoxification. It also fights an overload of candida albicans, which is a naturally occurring yeast in the digestive tract. It's fine at the controlled levels but when it goes overboard you get frequent yeast infections, depression, chronic fatigue, etc. So if you drink a lot of soda pop, have a stressful life or a stressor event, or have been on antibiotics the candida may just go haywire.

So just with these few things, we decided Kombucha was a drink for us. Our second brew will be done any day now. Its exciting!