What to do with these mothers?

May 3, 2013 1:12 PM

Our kombucha keeps growing! What do we do with the SCOBY? I hear it tastes like squid.

There are already plenty of people giving mothers away on Craigslist in my area. I imagine many pets would like to eat it, but I don't have any pets. I'm sure it would be great for the compost, but isn't it perfectly good food?

What can I do with it? Do you have any SCOBY recipes or ideas for using it as food? Other suggestions?

posted by aniola to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

I gave some away on freecycle. You could try that if it even exists anymore.
posted by oceanjesse at 1:14 PM on May 3, 2013

compost it. it's just a chunk of cellulose.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 1:28 PM on May 3, 2013

-cut it up like noodles or blend it into a smoothie
-cut it in strips and stir fry or blend with aloe and use on skin
-stick it on your face
-make into jerky

or my suggestion: throw it out.
posted by rmless at 2:17 PM on May 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

Sourdough mothers and the like can be dried, powdered, and sent to people who want to try yours out. I don't know the technique, I don't know if kombucha acetobacteria are cool with it the way saccharomyces are, and I don't know if you're okay sending a powdered substance through the mail, but it may be a possibility if you can find the demand.
posted by Sunburnt at 2:25 PM on May 3, 2013

I dried some in an attempt to make, I don't know, leather? It was very brittle, but pretty when the light shone through it, and it smelled sweet. Useless, though!

You can't dry or freeze or refrigerate SCOBYs without causing a die-off of enough of the good stuff to keep bad stuff in check, so I'd just compost it or throw it out. Like you said, there's plenty more.
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:55 PM on May 3, 2013

Response by poster: Marinated and stir fried them. Unsurprisingly vinegary in flavor but otherwise good; next time I won't use any of their own juices in the marinade.
posted by aniola at 10:57 AM on May 19, 2013