Kombucha and Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

My first batch of kombucha turned out beautifully -- a nicely fermented, not too crazy pickly, sort of sweet lavender bergamot kombucha, with a second batch already mothering away. It'll be at least three weeks before the second batch is ready to bottle, so I have some time to think about what to use for flavoring, and time to savor the two big bottles I have made. I love kombucha, especially the perfumery flavored types, like lavender, and jasmine, or rose. Rose is rare, so that will probably be the next batch. No one else here drinks the stuff, so I can flavor them in any crazy combination I choose.

I've also been making my own organic apple cider vinegar for skincare purposes, and now I'm going to share these delightful creations -- well, not right now now, but as soon as this batch is finished doing her thing. In early June she'll be ready to filter, then the botanicals will be added, and then another month will go by before that part of the potion has done its thing, so she'll be done and ready to bottle for sale in early July. But she's made beginning to end right here in my little studio. No bottles of Dr. Bragg are hidden away in the HP closet, the botanicals are the best quality around, and my hope is that the ultimate skincare juice is peerless.

These pictures are from almost two weeks into the fermentation process, and it's looking perfect. Well, it's relative as to how perfect it looks -- to you it might look like hot garbage, to me it looks like heaven. And it's beginning to take on the acetic acid smell (vinegar) with a lot of sweet apple nuances.