Pour La Vie

Pour La Vie
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Basic Recipe



BASIC RECIPE

1 quart jar with lid

1 SCOBY symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast

Fill up the jar with left-over fruit: apple cores, grapes, pears, blueberries, pineapple, anything reasonably solid. (citrus rinds are bitter)

Any spice you like: ginger, cinnamon, star anise, juniper berries, cardom pods, coriander, nutmeg, for kick, add a hot pepper. Whole spice is preferred

Optional: tea bags (pull off the tag and string)

Pure, filtered Water, all the way to the top

Sweetners: Coconut Palm Sugar or stevia (liquid stevia comes in flavors like Root beer, dark chocolate and vanilla and is available online)

Equipment you'll need

jar or bottle with lid to collect the pour off
strainer
bowl to catch run-over
measuring cup
tasting glass
jar opener

It takes 24 hours in a warm place for the brew to happen. Cap the jar and put it in a bowl to catch seeping and also for when you open it too fast and find your PLV celebrating like champagne all over the counter.

VERY IMPORTANT FOR YOUR SAFETY!!

IF YOU DON'T POUR OFF EVERYDAY, LOOSEN THE LID AND LET SOME OF THE FIZZ OFF, SO NOT TOO MUCH PRESSURE BUILDS UP. SAFETY FIRST!!


If it didn't fizz, then it was too cold for it, you didn't fill it all the way up, or your ingredients are ready to be changed.

After you open it slowly, pour the liquid through the strainer into the measuring cup if you are going to bottle it or into a another jar. You can do some tasting at this point (this is the fun part) and add some coconut palm sugar or stevia if you want it sweet.

If it doesn't have much taste you can make a root beer flavor by using the liquid stevia or add more ginger to the bottle for gingerale. Or you can put it back in for a second round and add more spice.

You can continue to use the contents until it doesn't fizz anymore. At that time, dump it into a bowl, pick out the spices and toss them and chop the fruit into little pieces and dry it in a dehydrator or in your oven and use it in seed cakes. (recipe below) to add pro-biotics, omega 3 and fiber to your diet

Keep the SCOBY and use it again.
















SCOBY: Symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast

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Why is Pour la Vie good for you?

Pour la Vie is the beautiful step-sister of Kombucha.
It came into being when I was regularly brewing kombucha. I have candida, and always have to wait until my SCOBY ate up all the sugar, leaving my brew with a slight vinegar taste, that I just didn't care for. I got the idea of substituting fruit instead of the sugar and voila ~"Pour la Vie" was born.
The differences are:
  • I don't brew the tea first, I just put in a tea bag,
  • I use fruit, spices like star anise and
  • cap it tightly rather than leave it open.
  • It brews much faster, overnight rather than several days and
  • is soooooo much fun to experiment with, adding different kinds fruits, spices and teas.
  • You can use flavored teas like Constant Comment or Chai.
But it still has all the good-for-you properties of kombucha since it starts with a SCOBY.
What is Kombucha?
Kombucha is a living health drink made by fermenting tea and sugar with the kombucha culture. The result can taste like something between sparkling apple cider and champagne, depending on what kind of tea you use. It's not what you'd imagine fermented tea to taste like.
 
The Kombucha Culture or SCOBY
The Kombucha culture looks like a beige or white rubbery pancake. It's often called a 'scoby' which stands for ' symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts. The culture is placed in sweetened black or green tea and turns a jar full of sweet tea into a bowl full of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and health-giving organic acids.
As the Kombucha culture digests the sugar it produces a range of organic acids like glucuronic acid, gluconic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, butyric acid, malic acid and usnic acid; vitamins, particularly B vitamins and vitamin C; as well as amino acids, enzymes. And of course there are all the benefits of the probiotic microorganisms themselves. The Kombucha culture is a biochemical powerhouse in your kitchen.
You might wonder if fermenting tea with yeasts would produce an alcoholic beverage. It's a good question. The yeasts do produce alcohol but the bacteria in the culture turn the alcohol to organic acids. Only minute quantities of alcohol, typically 1% by volume remains in the kombucha brew.
 
Kombucha and Health
Many health claims are made for kombucha but there is less research on the benefits of kombucha than there is on fermented milk products. It has certainly been shown to have similar antibiotic, antiviral and anti fungal properties in lab tests. In rats it’s been shown to protect against stress and improve liver function. There is a lot of experiential evidence from people who have been using kombucha over many years. Many of the benefits
reported include improvements in energy levels, metabolic disorders, allergies, cancer, digestive problems, candidiasis, hypertension, HIV, chronic fatigue and arthritis. It ‘s also used externally for skin problems and as a hair wash among other things.
 
The Organic Acids
  • Glucuronic acid The body's most important detoxifier. When toxins enter the liver this acid binds them to it and flushes them out through the kidneys. Once bound by glucuronic acid toxins cannot escape. A product of the oxidation process of glucose, glucuronic acid is one of the more significant constituents of Kombucha. As a detoxifying agent it's one of the few agents that can cope with pollution from the products of the petroleum industry, including all the plastics, herbicides, pesticides and resins. It kidnaps the phenols in the liver, which are then eliminated easily by the kidneys. Kombucha can be very helpful for allergy sufferers. Another by-product of glucuronic acid are the glucosamines, the structures associated with cartilage, collagen and the fluids which lubricate the joints. It is this function that makes Kombucha so effective against arthritis.
  • Lactic Acid Essential for the digestive system. Assist blood circulation, helps prevent bowel decay and constipation. Aids in balancing acids and alkaline in the body and believed to help in the prevention of cancer by helping to regulate blood pH levels.
  • Acetic Acid A powerful preservative and it inhibits harmful bacteria.
  • Usnic Acid A natural antibiotic that can be effective against many viruses.
  • Oxalic Acid An effective preservative and encourages the intercellular production of energy.
  • Malic acid Helps detoxify the liver.
  • Gluconic Acid Produced by the bacteria, it can break down to caprylic acid is of great benefit to sufferers of candidiasis and other yeast infections such as thrush.
  • Butyric acid Produced by the yeast, protects human cellular membranes and combined with Gluconic acid strengthens the walls of the gut to combat yeast infections like candida. 
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