image link, which will also take you to a how-to on making kombucha

A couple of weeks ago, my sons and their SOs came over.  I warned them there were a few fruit flies flitting around and apologized.  They immediately said, “mom do you have any apple cider vinegar?”  I said yes and they instructed me to pour some in a wide mouth jar with a little water and that it was a perfect attractant for them and then they would fall in and problem over.  I was amazed how quickly it worked; then, the tweaker that I am, I laid a gnat strip on a stick that I had some of from a fungus gnat problem in my orchids.  Oh boy, that combination was curtains for the many more fruit flies than I thought I had.  Within 2-3 days every one was a goner.

OK, you might be asking what does this have to do with kombucha.  OK, I will tell you.  Last week, I emptied the now-gross jar of apple cider vinegar and tossed the gnat stick and replaced both with fresh, as there is no harm in using it as a preventive until the cold weather wipes them out.

The jar sits pretty far back on the cupboard, near my plastic coffee container that I use to put kitchen scraps in for the compost pile.  I hadn’t looked at it lately, but today I did.  Imagine my surprise when I saw a baby scoby growing on top of the cider vinegar!  For readers who don’t know what I’m talking about but are curious, this is what a baby scoby (acronym for symbiotic community of bacteria and yeast) looks like:

So….  if you ever lose all of your scobys — not likely for kombucha brewers — or if you are just starting out with cultivating kombucha, here is a way you can avoid buying a scoby or finding someone who has one to give you.

For anyone interested in kombucha and other fermented foods, which are EXCELLENT for maintaining some very beneficial bacteria in your gut, the holy book for fermented foods has got to be Sandor Katz’ book, Wild Fermentation

My copy has a bright green cover, but this is the 2nd edition.  Not only is this book full of excellent and practical, it is liberally sprinkled with Sandor’s holistic life philosophy (non preachy, promise!)