who rely on kombucha for its reputed
medicinal and health benefits no
longer had access to their beloved beverage.
A Little R and R
The question then became “Should
we regulate…or reformulate?” Eventually, the company opted for both.
To ensure that the beverage would
be compliant to FDA guidelines and
available to all, the company reformulated its original line to create a lighter ver-
sion—GT’s Enlightened Kombucha. While at first Dave was concerned that re-
formulating would sacrifice the natural integrity of the beverage or compromise
the company’s values, it was able to reformulate with only subtle changes. The
new line, introduced in the fall of 2010, has the same probiotics and nutrients as
the original kombucha line and is still unpasteurized or “raw.” One of the main
differences is that it has a shorter shelf life to ensure that the product stays
within the FDA-mandated . 5 percent alcohol limit. Much tighter controls are
now in place as well to prevent “temperature abuse.” Some strains of certain pro-
Kombucha’s
‘Cultured’
History
Although kombucha seems to have
been popularized mostly in the past
couple of decades, in reality this fermented beverage actually dates back
2,000 years. Its exact history is unknown,
but it is said that this ancient elixir dates
all the way back to 221 B.C. and the Tsin
Dynasty in China, where it was known as
the “Tea of Immortality.” It has also been
used in Eastern Europe, Russia and Japan
for hundreds of years. According to one
blog, “It’s from Japan in 415 AD that the
name kombucha is said to have come. A
Korean physician called Kombu treated
the Emperor Inyko with the tea and it
took his name, “Kombu,” and “cha,”
meaning tea. Russia also has a long tradition of using a healing drink called “Tea
Kvass” made from a “Japanese Mushroom” (Seeds of Health). What’s more,
the Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn wrote in his autobiography
that drinking this beverage actually
helped him survive the Siberian slave
camps of the former Soviet Union. In
Germany after World War II, it is said
that Dr. Rudolph Skelnar repopularized
kombucha by using it in his practice to
treat cancer patients, high blood pressure and diabetes, and metabolic disorders. All across the world, kombucha
may be known by different names, including Manchu fungus, Manchurian tea,
tea kvass, Mo-Gu fungus japonicus,
kwassan and others.
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