For today’s Real Food Quote Monday (RFQM), I’m sharing from the Winter 2009 issue of Wise Traditions, the quarterly publication of the Weston A. Price Foundation. This is a hilarious letter to the editor about a Kombucha scoby (the mother culture) gone wild…
A KOMBUCHA STORY
While picking up my weekly milk order from my farmer I mentioned that I wanted to return a quart jar to her for more cream but that all of mine were full since I had made so much kombucha recently. She asked whether I had any extra “mushrooms” since she wanted to start making it again. That led to a discussion about the mushrooms themselves. She uses hers three times then throws the oldest one away and cuts her others into smaller pieces and then uses those three times, etc. That way she’s always using fresh mushrooms. When she first started making kombucha, someone told her that they were good for septic systems so she was flushing her old mushrooms down the toilet.
A couple years later the septic tank guy came to empty out her tank, and he opened it up to stick the hose in to start draining it, but he couldn’t. He was totally baffled and had to get out his knife and hack away at the large, tannish, leathery thing that was floating at the top of the tank! She was quite sure what it was and she was quite sure she was not about to tell him! Can you imagine? A kombucha mushroom the size of a septic tank! If only someone in the sci-fi industry knew about SCOBYs!
Lee Burdett
Alemonte Springs, Florida
Pretty funny! My whole family was rolling with laughter when I read this aloud. And what’s the lesson here? Your scobys are good for your garden, your goats, your other animals, but not your septic system! I sure hope those little bits of scoby (recommended source) that inevitably go down my drain are not taking over our tank.
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Too funny!
I always think about the sprouting seeds that end up going down the sink drain. I have visions of my entire drain system plugged with hairy little sprouts.
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That story is so funny! I’m going to be thinking about it for a long time, Wardee. Thanks
That is very funny! And a good tip. Thanks!
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I don’t even want to think about what they had to do to clean out that septic system!! Oh, my – a nightmare!
I’ve thought the same about my sprout seeds and my uncooked beans that fall prey to the kitchen drain. Nice post
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I’m always freaking out about our septic tank and possible problems! I wonder if milk kefir/yogurt washed down the drain will either hurt or hinder the tank?
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Ahaha, that must have been quite a surprise! Your post got be confused at first because in Japanese, konbucha is tea made from konbu, a type of seaweed!
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Hahahahah……that is hilarious!
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Wow! Do you think that really is bad though? What do you suppose it was doing to everythimg down there? We are always adding our stuff down there to help it break down, right? That is wild:)
Tonya – It is wild, isn’t it? Ordinarily, I think a scoby is a great thing – it is doing what mushrooms and worms do – breaking down stuff. But I suppose no one would want a scoby blocking their septic system – that would be counter-productive. 😉
Hi! How are scoby’s good for your goat? I have two girls. Do they eat them?
I have the same question as Paula – I’ve always wondered if any kefir grains that go down the drain are helping or hindering my septic system. Anybody know?
Wardee………I started the kombucha from the scoby you sent me, and it’s been three days, and it tastes good, smells good, but no fizzy yet…..any advice???
Connie – is it still very sweet? Give it more time. Because it is winter and could be more cool, don’t judge by fizz – judge by taste. It should be getting less sweet.
We brew it 10 or eleven days. put ginger powder in the bottles. after taking starter for next time we add tart cherry to the kombucha and put it into grolsch bottles. after 3 to 5 days it is fizzy and ready to refrigerate.
That’s gross.
Just tasted my kombucha and YEAH….IT’S GETTING LESS SWEET!!!!!! Now, will it get fizzy?
Connie – it will be more fizzy in warmer temperatures, or if you bottle it securely when it is done. Use Grolsch bottles – regular jars will explode with the built up pressure.
Eh, people flush down scoby and kefir grains? What’s the problem with eating them? Seriously, I think kefir grains are delicious. My kids keep bugging me about me making more of them so they can eat them. They’re like gummy bear sours.
As far as scoby, I used to eat that too, it’s got the consistency of konjac/agar-agar. Just eat them folks! They’re better for your plumbing then your house plumbing! 🙂
Alex, you’re so right! We don’t toss ours ever, our spares feed the ducks or goats. I’m not sure if I could eat a scoby. Good for your kids on loving the kefir grains! I know I don’t mind when I find a dairy kefir grain in my glass.
But you know I wonder about those little bits that rinse down the drain from rinsing out the occasional jar or the bottom of a glass — are they growing in the septic tank?
I read once about people stir-frying their extra scoby’s in strips and eating them that way (or on salads). I marinated mine and fried them up; not bad — not great, but not bad. 😉 I bet if you found seasoning that worked for you, you could add it to lots of dishes.
Oh my goodness!!! I was having a not so ‘fun’ morning, but this just LIVENed up my day!!! Thank you for sharing! So funny!
Oopsie, I have put extra old scoby down the disposal into the septic. I hope the grinding it up first helps it not take over. I rent so…not my problem I guess.
I wonder what kind of new bacteria that scoby was breeding inside the septic tank? Kind of a scary thought.
A septic tank is an anaerobic invironment. Too much fat going the the drain will create a layer as described. Fat floats on the liquids. Dish washers create a solid layer on the bottom of the tank because of the highly alkaline soaps.
Yeah, had a girlfriend who had to get their septic cleaned very regularly because of the type of soap they used == the septic guy said it was too fatty. ? Really?
Anyway, I would think that if this was a soap layer in the above story, that the septic tank guy would not be baffled by it as they encounter this problem too often. Was it a scoby? I don’t know, but it sure does make one think (and laugh)! Also,I hope putting them down the disposal doesn’t hack them into thousands of babies to grow like some even more amazing SF story! lol
Just for the record, my septic system is over 30 years old and it’s never needed to be pumped. Fats, be it animal or dairy don’t go down the drain nor do I use a dishwasher. The septic gets all the bacteria it needs from us, when we flush. I also refrain from using fabric softeners in the wash. I know of many people who don’t look after the septic by refraining from putting in what they shouldn’t and who have to pay several hundred dollars annually to have it pumped. The outlet pipe is up high and the fats wind up plugging it. Scoby won’t hurt it but it won’t add anything. Better to give it to the chickens or add it to the compost.
I am NOT calling this woman who said she grew a scoby in her septic tank a liar, but… if they are so danged delicate that you can’t touch them with anything but stainless steel, or a plastic strainer, how in the world could a scoby grow in such a dark and dirty place?
We are all told to be so careful of touching them with our fingers, not allow them to touch anything but stainless steel or plastic strainers, be sure you KT jar is very, very clean.
Or our Scoby will die, so why didn’t the scoby that was flushed down the sink die?
Sharon, I have no idea about the validity of any of this post, but I can speak to your questions. Metal can react with acid (KB is acidic), and introduce a “flat” flavor into your KB, which would ruin the batch. If you ruin a batch in F1, everything is ruined (as far as making KB), nothing can be saved. So from a KB perspective the scoby is “dead” (no longer suitable for food use). That doesn’t mean all of the trillions of little dudes living in that mushroom are “dead”, if only a few million survive to the tank, a scoby could theoretically begin to form. The cleanliness stuff has much more to do with handling a raw food product than killing the scoby. I could talk for an hour about this, but nobody would read it.
Sorry, one more thing I think might be helpful. The physical mushroom/jellyfish thing we can see and touch, is just cellulose, it’s just the protective cover that is built by the living bacteria and yeast. A scoby is like a tiny death star, filled with living things good and bad, but if you looked at it and held it in your hand all you would observe is the inert (“dead”) structure. Hmm, possibly we should stop flushing tiny death stars as well?
I wonder if pulverizing a scoby in the food processor and adding a bunch of sugar and salt and EOs to make a scrub would be enough to hinder any growth? I made one today and wondered if I should wipe it off with a rag before showering? Any thoughts on that?
Hi Kari,
General consensus on pulverizing scoby is that we simply can’t comprehend how many and how small the good bacteria and yeast are. The part we see an touch is just the protective shield they created, take it away, they will rebuild it. Even if the blade was able to strike near enough to kill say, 50% (which I think is extremely unlikely)
However, it is my understanding that oils, including EOs that actually contain oil (citrus, peppermint, etc.) prevent scoby growth, and do actually kill the poor little guys. So they were very likely dead before you even applied the scrub; (I am aware that the collagen structures they create are amazing for skin, but I am speaking in context of the question you asked); and most certainly wouldn’t survive a shower that included soap.
IMHO, I think if something like this were to happen, it would have to be precisely the situation illustrated above, one person:
Who doesn’t use much soap or cleaning supplies (laundry, dishes, etc) on a daily basis
Has a small or aging septic system
Introduced enough scoby under conditions that allowed them to survive from drain to sewer.
I have no idea what the temperature of the average septic tank would be, but I imagine there are some areas that get too hot or too cold for septic scoby production to even be possible.