Kombcha

Very cool, Japanese artistTakashi Okada's official site.

These are the 10 best movies of good old family cocmpter TV ads, No.10 is Takeshi no Chousenjou; Takeshi Kitano was so young.

It is interesting to read this article.(web translated) They said in the U.S, "Kombucha" tea is popular for health conscious people. Actually a chef of the Google company cafeteria makes his original Kombucha tea. Wiki said the first confirmed evidence of the existence of Kombucha is Russian origin and dates from the Early Modern Age, when tea first became affordable in Eastern Europe.

In Japan, Kombucha means Kelp tea, it's a little salty warm tea like this square type or powder type. And we refer to foreign Kombucha as "Kocha Kinoko (tea mushroom)". Japanese wiki said some confused mushroom teas with kelp tea, and so it was called Kombucha in some areas.

The tea mushroom was boom in the 1960s in Japan, when many people make thier own mushroom in jars. But it was very short food fad. I think it is very hard to find someone who makes it in this country now. After that we had a very similar food fad for "Smetana". Wow! I did knot know the yogurt has such cultural name like classical composer. It came to Japan in 1986, and it was called "Caspian Sea yogurt" in this country. The boom is over, but we can buy it at the store still now. But I must say "mushroom tea" and "Caspian Sea Yogurt" are a little bit embarrassing key words in Japan as a kind of cults buzz. Is that same in your country?

We have always such health foods fads always. After that, we had Tokoroten boom and Natoo boom. Even though we had such stupid news, I predict I will write about some new foods fads in this year. I can predict.

Comments

[Garrett Albright]

" I have never drank it before. Yummy? :-)"

I don't know. I've never had it myself, since I'm not a hippy. :) It doesn't sound as good as just normal tea, though.

[Marshdrifter]

Maybe now that the natto boom is over, I'll be able to find it at the store again.

How is kombucha (the one with kombu) different from kombu dashi? Does the dashi have to have other stuff (e.g. katsuo)?

[Mari]

Hi there

Ah, yes Nukamiso is a traditional bacteria food in Japan. Thanks snowfox, i will write about it in the future.

and Garrett, hmm it's popular for hippies. I have never drank it before. Yummy? :-)

[snowfox]

Using Bacteria, fungi to improve food is an age old science, falls under the general category of Probiotic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probiotic

In some culture, people make Beer, or other gain alcohol from selected Yeast. Others, use milk and turn it to yogurt (If the environment allows, it's a rewarding session).

There is a Japanese cuisine called Nukamiso
http://joi.ito.com/archives/2005/06/20/nukamiso_redux.html

Can I be enlighten on this, as I read Joi Ito posting, he is talking about seeding Nukamiso with two 50 years batch and a 25 years old batch. I believe that there is some microbial action involved. Thanx.

[Garrett Albright]

Actually, a local magazine in my area recently had an article on Kombucha. It's apparently pretty popular with all the "hippies" in the area.
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/081006/cover0810.html

I personally think it sounds pretty dangerous. Growing and drinking your own bacteria and yeast is not something inexperienced people should do…