Kombucha with olive leaves and lemon: Laura Colagreco’s recipe

Ingredients for 1 liter

• 20 g olive leaves (dried or fresh)
• 20 g of fresh Menton lemon leaves (or other)
• 60g of sugar
• 90 cl of filtered or dechlorinated water
• 10 cl of kombucha already prepared or 5 cl of apple vinegar
• 1 mother of kombucha

Utensils :

• 1 colander
• 1 jar of 1 liter or more
• 1 piece of fabric to cover the jar
• 1 rubber band
• 1 or 2 swing top bottles (optional)

Step 1: the infusions

Pour the water into a saucepan and bring to a temperature of 80°C. Remove from the heat and add the olive leaves. Leave to infuse for 24 hours. Filter using the strainer, add the lemon leaves. Leave to infuse cold for another 24 hours.

Step 2: bottling and fermentation

Filter, add the sugar dissolved in a little hot water. Stir and add the kombucha already prepared or the vinegar if it is a first production. Stir and pour the mixture into the jar. Place the mother of kombucha on the surface and put the fabric on the jar, held by the elastic, so that the preparation can breathe. Place the jar in a temperate place away from direct light and leave to ferment for 7 to 10 days.

Step 3: controlling the fermentation

Taste the preparation every day with a spoon, to follow the evolution of the taste and observe the transformation of the sugars by the action of the yeasts, the development of more complex flavors and a typical acidity which gives a feeling of balance and of freshness.

Step 4: conservation

Once the process is finished, gently recover the mother, reserve 10 cl of kombucha and keep everything in a jar for the next preparation.

Kombucha can be stored in the fridge and consumed still. To obtain a kombucha with bubbles, it must be bottled in a pressure-resistant bottle, and left for 5 to 7 days at room temperature, then placed in the fridge.