Felicity Evans - Kombucha & Co: Tips and recipes to make your own kombucha, kefir, jun, ginger beer, honey mead and more by Felicity Evans

Transform your health with fermented probiotic drinks

Kombucha and other fermented drinks are great for gut health, but theyre expensive to buy and you cant always be sure of the quality. But its easy to make your own kombucha when you know how.

Fermentation guru Felicity Evans has you covered with step-by-step instructions to make a range of 50 delicious flavours of gut-friendly probiotic drinks, including troubleshooting tips and inspiration for alcohol-free happy hour at home. From kombucha to kefir, ginger beer to honey mead, learn to confidently make your own fermented drinks and transform your health from within.

FELICITY EVANS taught herself over many years to make gut-healing, probiotic drinks. She is the founder of Imbibe Living, a Byron Bay-based company with a range of wellness products designed to add more goodness and beauty to your every day.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

Probiotic drinks have ancient roots but they are a relative newcomer to the healthy drinks menu. They provide an amazing source of energy, can aid in detoxification and boost overall health, and their true benefits are only just coming to light. The brilliant news is that you can create these elixirs in your kitchen.

My journey with fermentation and probiotic drinks has had an incredible impact on both my health and my family life. When I first started making probiotic drinks at home, I did so purely out of necessity. Having travelled the world with my husband on many amazing adventures, I battled with a string of diseases, including glandular fever, chronic fatigue and malaria. These left me bedridden and lethargic, and I was propped up by antibiotics.

After the birth of my second daughter, I suffered long-term chronic mastitis, requiring many rounds of antibiotics, and my overall health went well and truly downhill. I started to ask questions: What grinch stole my mojo? Why I am so unwell when I eat so well? Will I ever feel normal again? And, most crucially, what can I do to get my energy back?

I recalled an encounter with Guatemalan locals six years earlier where I tasted a sacred probiotic beverage water kefir known for its life-giving properties. It was fresh, slightly sparkling and not too sweet. And it made me feel amazing.

So, with a young bub strapped to my chest and a toddler at my heels, I began my kitchen fermentation trials, hoping to re-create that magical probiotic elixir I had been blessed to receive all those years ago. These early trials gave me an interesting taste of the highs and lows of fermentation, but overall the highs outweighed the lows. After a slow and steady start, my energy soon returned and I saw the positive effects on my health.

It was incredible to see my health being transformed from day to day. I fell in love with the fermentation process the delight in hearing the bubbling and hissing, tasting the beautiful elixirs, the fizz on the tongue and the acidic zing transforming the spices, herbs and berries into life-giving probiotic drinks through sheer alchemy. It was an exciting gateway into a new world.

Affectionately dubbed Queen Alchemist, I realised I had a knack for the fermentation process, particularly with water kefir. I was invited to stock my water kefirs in a local health food store and from there Imbibe Living, my company, was born.

Fermentation is so special to me. Its like finding diamond treasures in your own home that you never knew existed. Through patience, trial and error, and the utmost of respect for ancient cultures, Ive taught myself fermentation techniques and created these recipes that Im delighted to share with you. By mixing some water, sugar and fresh ginger together you can create a refreshing, probiotic-rich, old- fashioned ginger beer. By stirring some honey and water together you can make your very own alcoholic honey mead.

Through fermentation, you create a happy home for your gut microbes, the foundation of good health and wellness. And theres a meditative rhythm to fermentation that I find satisfying to the soul. Like the seasons, you can lean in, embrace and connect to it.

So carve out the time, start simple, connect to your senses and watch a whole new world open up. A pinch of patience, a spoonful of curiosity and a willingness to learn are all you need to be on your way.

Fermentation has given me more than kitchen skills. It has given me a community, a way of life and a family tradition that I am proud to hand down to my children. Im so excited to have the opportunity to inspire you to start your own home fermentation journey. Join me in transforming your health, one delicious drink at a time.

Felicity Evans

imbibeliving.com

INTRODUCTION

The topic of probiotics and gut health is a vast and complex subject. Here is a small insight into this fascinating universe.

WHAT ARE PROBIOTICS?

Probiotic means for life (pro means for and biotic means relating to life). Probiotics are the good bacteria that are one of the keys to overall wellness. They add good bacteria to your gut to outweigh the bad bacteria. All the recipes in this book are aimed at giving you living probiotics to enhance your gut health, which enhances your overall wellness.

Probiotics have a varied role in the digestive system. They:

* assist with the manufacture of B vitamins

* protect against external toxins

* improve the efficiency of the gastrointestinal tract

* boost the immune system

* improve bowel function

* help to digest and absorb the nutrients from food.

probiotics

Good bacteria that help digest and absorb the nutrients from your food

WHAT ARE PREBIOTICS?

Prebiotics are indigestible fibre that serves as food for the probiotics in the gut, allowing them to thrive. Examples of prebiotics are:

* artichoke

* dandelion

* garlic

* onion

* leek

* corn

* cabbage.

prebiotics

Indigestible fibre that feeds the probiotics in your gut

HOW GUT HEALTH BECOMES UNBALANCED