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Scoby is healthy and hip but it may not be everyone's cup of tea

Symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, or Scoby - Moment Open
Symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, or Scoby - Moment Open

It's a gooey blob more like something seen in a science laboratory than a kitchen.

But this alien-looking Scoby could soon be making an appearance in your home after going on sale in the High Street for the first time.

Like a creeping jellyfish it is the starter mixture to make the latest healthy drink - though whether you wish to fork out £14.99 to have what looks like a medical specimen gracing your home is debatable.

The Scoby - an acronym for a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast - is the crucial ingredient for a sour-tasting tea drink, kombucha, one of the fermented food and drinks taking Britain by storm.

Popular in California for years it was first embraced by hipsters in London's fashionable East End and is now so popular with the young it is on sale at most bars including Wetherspoon pubs.

Scoby with Kombucha tea popular fermented healthy drink natural high probiotics - Credit: Kidsada Manchinda/ Moment RF
Scoby with Kombucha tea popular fermented healthy drink natural high probiotics Credit: Kidsada Manchinda/ Moment RF

Commercial brands are  on sale in supermarkets with Waitrose reporting a 40 per cent increase in sales in a year while Morrisons only started selling it in April and it already accounts for almost 10 per cent of chilled drinks sold in the Food to Go sections.

The craze for fermented products has already hit the storyline for BBC Radio 4's The Archers.

Tom Archer's  belief that his kefir yoghurt and other fermented products are foods for the future chime with the latest Inkwood Research which forecasts the kombucha market alone in Europe is set to grow in value from £140 million in 2016 to £1.1billion by 2025.

With a low alcohol content, about 0.5 per cent, and potential health benefits especially for the gut, the health-conscious are also driving sales and are starting to make their own.

A national chain of shops has now responded to this demand for D-I-Y boocha as it is also called.

Kombucha - Credit: esemelwe/ E+
Kombucha Credit: esemelwe/ E+

On sale at Lakeland shops for just three weeks demand for Scoby, considered the Mother of the kombucha, has gone up 56 per cent. Preciously it was only available from online fermented food specialists.

The drink originated in the Far East in 200 BC when it became known as the Tea of Immortality while today it is seen as a healthy pro-biotic.

Prof Tim Spector, genetic epidemiologist and author The Diet Myth(Orion), is so convinced of the health benefits already makes his own with kombucha flavoured ginger.

"I believe kombucha is good for you but I can't scientifically prove it. Lots of research has been done on the effects of the microbes on mice but not on humans.

Like a probiotic it seems to be beneficial for stomach conditions , improves immune systems and has been associated with weight loss and lifting depression. Unless someone has a rare immune deficiency it's likely it's beneficial."

The drink is made by mixing tea with sugar adding the Scoby in  a sealed jar and allowing it to ferment in a warm environment.

The bacteria and yeast of the Scoby convert the sugar into ethanol and acetic acid, which keeps out harmful bugs and gives the kombucha  its distinctive sour taste.

Rory McCoy, director of Little Duck The Picklery, Dalston, East London,  said: "Kombucha is growing in popularity. Our best selling flavours are tea with with peach, raspberry, rhubarb and we have a herbal one with sage.

"I think making kombucha is a very creative thing to do.  It takes about seven to 14 days to brew a batch but you have got to be careful.

"You are fermenting bacteria  and there is bad  bacteria in everything.  The key to a good kombucha is that it must look appealing. you should not drink it if it's too dark and brown or the Scoby is  mouldy and spotty."

His firm does not sell Scobys to consumers but he sells them to the catering trade.

He was not surprised that Lakeland had to source it's Scoby from a company in Auckland, " Kombucha is the big thing in Australia and New Zealand, they are years ahead of us. We in the UK are not yet so health conscious about what we eat and drink,"he said.