Making a kombucha scoby

It seems like most people start with a bottle of store bought kombucha…… I don’t want to do that.

How do I start a scoby from scratch?  A couple articles I found referenced using fermented fruit to creat one, but lacked any details.

I have been fermenting some waste from persimmons that I used to make a soda, and was wondering if I could somehow turn these fermented persimmons into a scoby?

Should I just add it to some sweet tea and see what happens?

It’s worth a shot. Did you end up trying it?

I grew mine from a starter bottle, so no experience of growing one from scratch. But fruits do have both natural yeasts and sugars which can be converted to vinegar by acetobacter, which I think are present in kombucha, so I guess in theory it could work? I would love to hear how you got on if you did attempt it.

Heather Gardener wrote:It’s worth a shot. Did you end up trying it?

I grew mine from a starter bottle, so no experience of growing one from scratch. But fruits do have both natural yeasts and sugars which can be converted to vinegar by acetobacter, which I think are present in kombucha, so I guess in theory it could work? I would love to hear how you got on if you did attempt it.

I did and it worked great.

I vacuumed sealed the fruit in a bag and when the bag was completely full of air and ready to pop, I put it in a jar covered with a cloth.

I kept adding bits of sweet tea to the fermented fruit.

For awhile it just tasted like alcoholic sweet tea wine.

I kept in in the back of my cupboard. After awhile it turned pretty vinegar tasting. Maybe a month or two. Eventually it really didn’t taste like vinegar anymore.

I made a small batch of kombucha with it and it was excellent.

I made a store bought scoby for a comparison and honestly, I think my homemade scoby tastes better.

I made several batches, but kind of got burnt out on the kombucha thing for a minute so the scoby has been sitting in my cupboard waiting till I’m ready to brew again.  I’ll attach a picture.

Awesome, well done! 🙌 I’m currently regrowing a new scoby because I got burnt out on kombucha too and all my other Scobys started moulding 🤢. I gotta try your way now to compare. Got some frozen blueberries, I wonder if they would work…if not can always get some fresh fruit next time I shop. 🙂