HEX Kombucha is here!

HEX Kombucha is hand crafted in Baltimore. We start with a powerful strain of kombucha culture, organic  teas and organic cane sugar. After the first ferment we add small amounts of organic fruit juices, herbs and spices to our second ferment for our signature flavors. Our ingredients are carefully sourced from local community gardens, small companies that support fair trade and organic growing practices. 

HEX believes in the magical world of microbes and the body strengthening support that live cultures provides us. Each small batch of kombucha is carefully tended to from first ferment to your glass. We employ the Continuous Brew method, meaning that each batch is linked and carries with it the continuation of built-up taste and nutrients.

We are currently working hard on getting our product directly to you. HEX can be consumed currently at WC Harlan's in their delicious cocktails du jour or by the glass. Ask at the bar for contact information if you are interested in being added to our mailing list for HEX updates. 

HEX sign meaning on the current bottle- Love and Friendship: The two distelfink's embrace to show their love and friendship. One heart, symbolic of their love; the branches surround them confirming their everlasting friendship and the ring of raindrops showers them with life's bounty.

Current HEX Flavors:
Ginger
Thyme Ginger Orange
Oaxacan Hibiscus

Kombucha Porn

I just can't help myself...

Yerba Mate Kombucha: Look at that lovely healthy scoby and yeast formation!

I seek out unique bottle varieties for my 'buch...

Flavors of the week: Organic Grapes, Hibiscus-Rose, Ginger, Spirulina. Not pictured: Lemon-Chia

Garden Porn: Biggest EVER

Wow. I'm sure Google will bring many confused internet surfers to this post with that title...they may be a bit disappointed. This weekend was prime-time for the Community Garden and putting some food by. We had our biggest harvest yet to date this past Saturday; eggplants, butternut squash, green and red peppers, jalapenos, watermelons, beets, tomatoes, herbs, romaine and butter-crunch lettuce, Swiss chard and leeks. I also harvested the rest of my beets from the front yard garden to make room for my fall cabbages and kale. With all the delicious food-stuffs piling up in the kitchen there was much to can and ferment this weekend. Saturday after the garden three garden members came over to learn the basics of hot water bath canning. Each brought over about 8-12 pounds of garden tomatoes, already skinned. All together we canned 7 quarts and 9 pints of garden fresh tomatoes in their own juice. It was a lot of fun showing others how to can; its a relatively easy thing to-do, but its helpful to see the steps and how it works before venturing out on your own. I will post the How To and basic recipe later on...






















This weekend was also spent with a good new friend drinking Cherry Kombucha outside and making plans to take over the world (which is always easier to do with a buddy). We sipped our hot-red elixir from some fun little vintage Playboy Bunny glasses outside. It was such a perfect weekend for indulging in fortunate bounties of food and friends. I hope yours was just as wonderful....XOMC

The Color Red: New Kombucha Flavor & Lots of Tomaters

We had a busy weekend around the house...lots of sanding, painting, installing new bathroom and closet doors and finishing up the bedroom. All the little things are adding up and its starting to look really nice! Now with the ducks happily in their garden home we can relax a bit and get the rest of our home projects completed.
I wanted to share with you some of the flavors that appeared in our kitchen over the weekend; red was the default color of choice!
One of which is a new kombucha flavor that I am wild about. Cherry Chia with Yerba Mate (as opposed to black tea). The Yerba Mate gives the kombucha a less over the top tea flavor and instead allows the fermented flavors to sing. We are enjoying this batch of 'buch quite a bit; in fact I think it may be my best in a very long time. To make Cherry chia; add 1-2 teaspoons chia seeds to your bottle, remove the cherry stones from about 6 ripe washed cherries, cut into quarters, add the cherries to the chia and fill with brewed kombucha, swirl a bit of kombucha around to get the chia seeds wet, then fill to the bottom of the neck of your bottle. Cap and date...the cherries and chia become active really quickly (like minutes); burp your bottle the first couple of days and refrigerate for a couple days before you open; it's powerful!!!

The next flavor this weekend was tomatoes...lots and lots of juicy red-ripe tomatoes from the Eric Waller Community Garden and our front yard garden. I am letting them ripen just a tad more today before I can them whole tonight. We will have lots of delicious and local/organic tomatoes for winter stews! Yum!

XOMC

Making Kombucha--A mild obsession

Kombucha is all the rage. Hipsters are drinkin' it, makin' it and trading scoby's like pogs. Well this is one of those moments where I can say..."I've been drinking and making kombucha way before it was cool or even known to my fellow health-foodies here in the states."
There. I said it. I am a original kombucha drinker. And have no shame in tooting my hipster-horn.

My first encounter was in Ireland, a lovely musician we stayed with in Galway had a funny looking science experiment on his counter. He noticed me starring at it, one blurry eyed Irish morning and offered me some. I didn't want to seem uncool so I tried a sip...hmmm...fizzy...tart but a tinge sweet...gulp...gulp...party in my mouth. He gave me a bottle to take back to the Burren. Shortly there after on my way home the hangover lifted and I felt way better. Maybe it was the trillions! of pro-biotics that brought me back to life but one thing was for sure; I was hooked on the 'buch. Upon arriving back in the states I scoured the message boards at my local co-op for a SCOBY aka Mother and finally found one from a sweet woman who lived just across town, she told me how to make it and I did for years until my ex-boyfriend killed my Mother.

So what is Kombucha? It's a magic "mushroom" of symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (aka SCOBY and/or Mother). Kombucha has its origins in Japan and Russia. Ah forget it. Just click this link: kombucha.
Basically its an amazing fermented carbonated beverage that is chock full of helpful yeasts, probiotics and magical goodness that gives you super powers. So here is how to make it:

Get a SCOBY or find another hipster friend to give you an offspring (like me!)
Or grow your own!

Growing your own:
Get a bottle of Raw Organic Kombucha (unflavored)
Pour it into a glass jar along with one cup of sweet tea (one cup black tea plus 1 tablespoon sugar...cool the tea to room temp)
Cover with a cloth secured with a rubber band and let sit at room temperature until it forms a thick 1/3 inch SCOBY!
Takes bout a week and a half to two weeks.

The Basic Kombucha Recipe:
You will need...
SCOBY (duh)
Large glass container with a spigot (like a sun tea container, see image above)
Cloth and rubber band (like a kitchen towel)
Tea (for your first attempt use black tea, loose leaf or tea bags)
Sugar (Organic is best but not required)
Water (filtered is best)
Large pot to boil water
Containers to store your Kombucha (like flip tops, liquor bottles)
Time
Love

Bring 3 liters of water to boil (12.7 cups, 12  or 13 would be fine)
Add 5 tea bags
Turn off the heat
Add one cup of sugar
Stir
Let it come to room temp (between 70 and 80 degrees is perfect, I place the pot it in the fridge after its cooled for a couple hours, if you add it when its too hot you'll kill your Mother, too cool is fine it will equalize eventually.
You can brew your tea as long as you'd like, I remove the bags after an hour.
Next...
Add your sweet tea to your clean and dry glass container
Add your SCOBY
Cover with the cloth and secure it with a rubber band
Date the outside with a marker and place in a quiet spot out of direct sunlight. Don't place your kombucha in a cupboard.

After 2-3 days you should start to see a film form on the surface. This is your SCOBY's baby SCOBY! Taste your elixir buy drawing a small bit from the spigot or use a straw and draw out the liquid that way. It should still taste a bit sweet with some carbonation. Taste a little bit everyday until you get the flavor you like, the whole process takes about one week. Then bottle your 'buch, date it and in two days enjoy! To make a continuous brew save about 2 inches of finished tea called your starter (see above image #4), leave the SCOBY's in the container and simply add your new batch of cooled sweet tea and repeat! (you can have up to five SCOBY's in a container, it will ferment faster however so keep an eye on it)

Finished Kombucha flavoring ideas:

In the image above I added about an inch of fresh local blueberries and topped them with kombucha.
Please note that when you add fruit the bottled kombucha will take on that flavor and sweetness (Yum!) and it will ferment faster and be super bubbly, so leave some head room for carbonation.
Some other flavor combos that I have tried and love are: Ginger and hot pepper, ginger and blueberry, blueberry, foraged wine berries, spirulina. Next brew i'm going to add Nasturtium flowers, chia seeds and lemon.

*Update- The Nasturtiums are divine and add a lovely flare to a mock/cocktail, The kombucha did not take on the flavor of Nasturtiums probably because I added blueberries too. I also did ginger grated with hot peppers and lime also delicious ( I enjoy this "tonic" in the morning).

XOMC

Congratulations! & Eliminations...

Its really true. Life is full of moments of congratulations and eliminations. Rejections, affirmations, down and up days and times where the cloud hangs so heavily above you for too long that you start to think its permanent. You have to constantly remind yourself that you are not manic or crazy and that if you keep trying you will get a break. Recently I had one of those days, a day so bad that I thought I must have made some really bad decisions at some point in my life. My sister talked me down off my cloudy ledge and gave me some great advice. She said "Do you know what you need? A Win." And she is so right. There are many "Wins" that we need in life to feel validated; career, love/relationships, goals, acknowledgement and then the small wins like accomplishing a project, establishing a work-out routine, being more disciplined, making a networking win, saying hello to strangers. So the day after my cloudy day I got a win. An "Art Win"! I was accepted into a show in DC curated by Sarah Newman, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. My first ever DC show. Before I found out I came across this lovely object on my way home. A "found Win"...how prophetic.

And now for the eliminating portion. For about a week and a half now S and I have been on a "Elimination Diet" designed by my food and health guru Rebecca Wood. No, its not a diet where we crap all the time; its about eliminating potential foods that may cause reactions in your body's digestion, skin, vital organs and overall well being. All of the common grains and flours are eliminated (no wheat products, spelt, corn, rice), no nuts, no dairy, eggs, shellfish, definitely no packaged or processed foods, no white sugar, no alcohol (we have made a few exceptions) and no coffee.

We have done pretty well, save for a few instances and in general we don't even feel like we are "dieting" at all. The foods we are eating; ancient grains like quinoa, amaranth, millet and buckwheat are incredibly satisfying and delicious. All meats are allowed including some cold cuts (all additive free of course) and fish, as many vegetables as we can handle (emphasis on brassica's and dark leafy greens) fruit for snacks, olive oil and coconut oil, all herbs and raw vinegar's, home brewed kombucha, very very small amount of honey and maple syrup. Its a very satisfying and complete diet; foods we usually eat anyway but without the added allergen potential. Overall I haven't noticed much difference in the way I feel; yet. However I have been sleeping better and have noticed that my gut feels better without the wheat and dairy. So time will tell, we plan to stay on this until Sunday. Then we will start to slowly reintroduce foods to see if our bodies have a reaction. I know, very mom n' pop down-home-allergy-testing. Yet I know its working because last night at dinner S announced that he has not had ANY indigestion! So the next step will be reintroducing eliminated foods. Sunday is the day to begin re-introduction and I plan to reintroduce.....drum roll please....eggs. Rebecca Woods very well laid out plan includes delicious meal plans and recipes. I have also developed a few of my own that I will share soon.

XOMC