Kombucha

I first encountered kombucha in a great book by the creator of MAKE magazine, Mark Frauenfelder, called Made by Hand. It's an exploration into DIY-culture, and he does everything from raising chickens and bees in his LA backyard to learning how to whittle and build his own cigar box guitars. It's a great read, and not just because of the wealth of neat projects he and his family take on. Mark's honesty about the triumphs and difficulties of living DIY creates a compelling picture of a modern life  integrating old-fashioned methods.

via

In Made by Hand, Mark tries making kombucha, a fermented, naturally carbonated tea that develops in tandem with something called a SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast), a thick mushroom-like film created from the active cultures and sugar. Its use dates back to 19th century Russia, and perhaps far earlier by Chinese and Korean texts. The purported health benefits are unproven, but include liver detoxification, treatment of cancer, improved energy, aiding in digestion and a few other benefits.

I can't remember how it tasted going down for Mark and while the concept of growing a kombucha is pretty cool, the idea of drinking a tea that's been sitting with a giant mushroom in it is a big turnoff for me. But I just saw something that helps change my perception of the bacteria-brewed beverage.

 

Suzanne Lee's TED talk on growing her own own fabric using kombucha is a really interesting look at the future of textile production. She creates giant sheets of SCOBY to use as the textiles of her clothing designs. She can create paper thin sheets of cellulose or thick pieces of vegetable leather from the dried culture. It has its drawbacks, but she hopes that we can engineer workarounds for some of the material's flaws.

While it's not ready for commercial use anytime soon, it's an inspiring vision of how scientific advancements and design can work hand in hand, literally brewing up a product with unique characteristics ideal for production. Sure, I may not want to drink it, but it's easy to see the benefits of such a unique and easy form of textile production, especially in a world where cotton prices keep rising and textile production is usually not an eco-friendly endeavor.

So I'm taking this as a reminder: To look at raw materials in different ways, to continue collecting random information and filing it away in my memory, and to always be trying new things. Who knows where the next Big Thoughts will come from, but it could be as humble as a home-brewed jar of tea.