Recipe: house kombucha with apple and lemon verbena

Kombucha is fermented, lightly sparkling tea with a fresh acidity that pairs well with fish, vegetables and cheese. Making it yourself is simple and cheap; it mostly takes patience and a clean workspace.

Ingredients

10 litres water, 80 g green or white tea, 800 g sugar, 1 scoby with 1 litre starter kombucha, 2 kg tart apples and a generous bunch of lemon verbena.

First fermentation

Steep the tea for ten minutes in 2 litres of hot water, dissolve the sugar and top up with cold water. Once at room temperature, add the scoby and starter, cover with a cloth and leave for seven to ten days at 22–24 °C. Taste from day seven: it's ready when fresh and tart with a hint of sweetness left.

Flavour and fizz

Press the apples, divide the juice and verbena between swing-top bottles, top up with kombucha and seal. After three days at room temperature, chill the bottles to stop fermentation. Keep a litre back as starter for the next batch.✦