How to Make a Scoby
Learn what a scoby is and how to use it to brew your own kombucha.
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By Dana Beninati for Food Network Kitchen
Dana is a host, chef and sommelier.
Bottled kombuchas are surging at grocery stores, and many farmers' markets offer locally produced varieties. If you're interested in making kombucha at home, you need a scoby. Read on to learn what a scoby is and how to make your own.
What is a Scoby?
An acronym for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, a scoby is a layer of cellulose that contains the yeast and bacteria that turn sweetened tea into fermented kombucha.
Sometimes written as S.C.O.B.Y., it resembles a small, round raft and floats on kombucha's surface, and is essential in the world of fermentation. A scoby can go by many names, including the mother, the kombucha mushroom, the pellicle or even the pancake. No matter what you call it, a healthy scoby will kickstart fermentation once you mix it with sweetened tea. Just like when making vinegar or wine, the bacteria and yeast in the scoby eat the sugar and create two byproducts: carbon dioxide and a smidge of alcohol. This process transforms tea into a tangy, fizzy beverage.
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How to Make a Scoby
To make a scoby, you will need three ingredients: black tea, granulated sugar and raw (unflavored) kombucha.
Step one: Make sweetened tea. Brew black tea. While it's hot, add sugar and stir until until dissolved.
Step two: Add raw kombucha. Pour the sweetened tea into a clean jar and stir in some raw kombucha. Place some cloth or coffee filters over the top of the jar and secure with a rubber band.
Step three: Ferment. Put the jar in a dark corner of your pantry to allow the scoby to grow. This can take up to 4 weeks, depending on the ambient temperature of the room. The scoby will start as a collection of bubbles and then grow into a film on the surface of the tea. This film will thicken and become opaque. Once it is 1/4-inch thick, your scoby is ready to use.
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Kombucha Scoby
Once the scoby is alive, you can use it to home brew your own kombucha.
Step one: Prepare tea. Start by brewing sweet tea and allowing it cool. Pour into a large jar and add a splash of distilled white vinegar (or some tea from a previous batch).
Step two: Add scoby. Place the scoby into the jar and cover like you secured the scoby jar. Place in a dark place and allow to ferment for up to 1 month. The longer the fermentation goes, the more sour the kombucha will be. (That's because sugars are eaten during fermentation.)
Step three: Pour off kombucha. Once your kombucha has fermented to your liking, pour it off the top into another vessel, and keep the scoby to safely in the jar.
The beauty of a scoby is its regenerative nature. Every time a batch of kombucha is brewed, a new scoby will form on the surface. Think of a scoby like a sourdough starter: If you're attentive to feeding it by brewing more kombucha, you'll be able to keep using it indefinitely.
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Kombucha Recipe
There are several ways to use kombucha. Flavor it by stirring in fruit juices or marinating fresh fruit in the liquid. Follow our recipe for Kombucha-Marinated Fruit Salad-Stuffed Watermelon for this refreshing treat. You can also incorporate some homemade kombucha into this Kombucha-cha-cha or raise a glass of Kombucha Bourbon Sour.
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