Kombucha Culture

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Food, History, Arts

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2016

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you haven’t tasted kombucha yet, you probably will soon. The sour-sweet, fizzy, fermented tea is becoming ubiquitous in trendy cafes, workplaces, and health food stores across America. Where did it come from, and how did it get so popular? And what in the world is the slimy, beige blob that produces it? From German POWs to Lindsey Lohan to a kombucha zoo at Tufts University, this episode explores the history and science of summer’s hottest drink. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What is the blob?
0:02.5	So I tell people it is one of the most disgusting fermented foods.
0:06.8	I mean I've seen a lot of gross things in my travels and it is absolutely disgusting.
0:12.2	It's amazing.
0:13.2	The microbiology is really cool but it's really gross.
0:16.3	Gross and yet the blob produces one of the most popular drinks around these days.
0:21.1	That's right we're talking about kombucha.
0:22.9	The vinegary, fizzy fermented tea that as of 2016 practically has its own aisle at
0:29.3	Whole Foods.
0:30.3	I'm Nicola Twilly.
0:31.4	And I'm Cynthia Graber and you're listening to Gastropod, the podcast that looks at food
0:35.0	through the lens of science and history.
0:36.9	Today we'll be staring that disgusting blob straight in the face.
0:40.2	In fact it's a co-host blob smack down.
0:43.1	Cynthia's blob and my blob go head to head and not to get all reality TV on you here but
0:49.6	our egos are on the line.
0:51.6	My blob is totally going to end.
0:52.8	Yeah no.
0:53.8	But keep dreaming Cynthia.
0:55.7	More to the point we'll explore kombucha's mysterious origins and try to figure out how
1:00.2	on earth a drink made by a rubbery slimy blob of bacteria and fungi got to be so popular
1:06.8	in mainstream America.
	...

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