Fall time is finally here! Leaves are taking on beautiful colors, mornings have gotten very cool VERY fast, and stores are loaded with wonderful fall fruits! There are apples as far as the eye can see, and there are also my personal favorite: POMEGRANATES! Of course I had to come up with a new kombucha concoction to celebrate this; thus, I introduce… Pomegranate Apple Kombucha!
Pomegranate & Kombucha
Be on the lookout for more pomegranate recipes—I cannot stress my love for pomegranate kombucha flavors enough. I used to use pomegranate juice on its own regularly—even that simplicity is delicious! Pomegranate has a tangy tartness of its own, and I love the way it mixes with a sweet/tart kombucha.
Pomegranate also has great flavor and sweetness, meaning it is a pretty good option for carbonating your kombucha. Between the pomegranate and apple, your carbonation should be great. Pomegranate also offers your kombucha a beautiful color, and it just feels right for the fall!
Another wonderful thing about Pomegranate is the variety of options you have for adding its flavor to your brews. You can buy pure pomegranate juice—this is easiest and still delicious, but we prefer fresh when it is an option. We like to add fresh pomegranate, using a combination of the juice let out by the seeds and some mashed seeds themselves. Mashing the seeds a bit makes the juices more accessible for your kombucha to work its magic on!
Picking the Best Pomegranate
If you are new to pomegranates, picking a great one can be a bit daunting at first! If you follow these tips, you should feel like an expert in no time:
- Color – for a pomegranate with the most sweetness and strongest flavor, pick a BRIGHT, deeply colored fruit. If you can find one with a bright, almost ruby-like color, you’re off to a great start.
- Feel- your pomegranate should feel firm and heavy. It should NOT be soft or squishy, have wrinkly skin, or feel light. These qualities could indicate it is overripe or does not have many well-developed seeds
- Exterior – Finally, you will want to make sure the exterior looks healthy generally. Look out for large spots, bruises, or other strange marks. You don’t want a pomegranate that has taken a beating or been snacked on by critters! The smoother and more flawless, the better.
Removing seeds from your pomegranate
As a kid, I would honestly spend hours trying to pick seeds out of a pomegranate. This was usually followed up with chasing after my brother once he snuck in and ate all of the seeds I had labored over. Don’t do that!
There are contraptions that make it SUPER easy to deseed a pomegranate. I’m talking minutes. Check this one out on Amazon.
You basically cut the pomegranate in half, place a half on the contraption seed-side down, and hit the top side of the pomegranate with something like a large spoon until it flattens and your seeds have fallen into the catch bowl. Then repeat with the other half. So simple, yet so amazing!
Pomegranate Apple Kombucha
Finally onto our main event—pomegranate apple kombucha! This recipe makes a perfect fall flavor and fall color. I made it with gala apples, but I am excited to try others and think the sky is the limit on your apple pick. I am personally very excited to try this recipe with granny smith apples as I think it would be a delicious tart & sweet turnout! So, don’t feel limited to just gala apples—especially not this time of the year!
Pomegranate apple kombucha is deliciously sweet and tart. I prefer making it with fresh apples and pomegranates, but you could even do straight juice if you want! Just add 1/8 cup of pomegranate juice and 1/8 cup of apple juice to each bottle if you are looking for the simplest variation. If you opt to go with fresh fruit, you could have a lot of fun trying it with different types of apples. If you want a safe bet, just make the recipe as is below! It should turn out great 🙂
If you are familiar with the bottle sizes and equipment, go ahead and skip to the recipe below. If you are new to second fermentation, I’d recommend reading the notes below before moving onto the recipe. Enjoy!
Primary Fermentation + Airtight Glass Bottles
FYI, this is a second fermentation kombucha recipe. That means you need to have kombucha that has already completed the initial fermentation process on hand. Both are truly very simple—waiting for your primary fermentation kombucha to work its own magic is the toughest part! If you don’t know where to begin with brewing kombucha, no worries! We offer a Kombucha Starter Kit with everything you need to brew your first batch! It also comes with very straightforward instructions.
This recipe also requires airtight glass bottles. These are a staple for kombucha home brewers. I recommend getting 16 oz swing-top bottles; our recipes are written for them, they are a convenient size for drinking directly from the bottle, and they work well with kombucha overall!
Scale to Your Batch
This recipe is written out for a single 16 oz bottle. If you are brewing kombucha by the gallon, you should end up with enough to make 6-7 16 oz bottles of this recipe. We generally multiply the recipe by the number of bottles we plan on using, slice and/or puree all of the ingredients at once, and split the ingredients evenly between the bottles afterwards. Do whatever is easiest for you!
Pomegranate Apple Kombucha
Pomegranate Apple Kombucha makes a perfect fall flavor and fall color! This recipe offers a delicious balance of sweet and tart, and is a great way to incorporate fall fruit into your brew.
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Pomegranate seeds Can use 1/8-1/4 cup of pomegranate juice instead
- 1/4 medium Gala Apple (sliced) Do not need to use Gala
- 12-14 ounces Fermented kombucha Enough to top off the bottle, leaving approx. 1 inch of headspace
Instructions
-
Place funnel in bottle & add pomegranate seeds. Use a skewer, knife, or another sharp object to pierce pomegranate seeds and release juice.
-
Push mashed seeds down funnel into bottle.
-
Slice apple into small enough pieces to fit bottle easily. Drop in the bottle
-
Fill remainder of bottle with fermented kombucha, leaving approx. 1 inch of headspace at the top of the bottle.
-
Seal bottle and move gently to combine ingredients
-
Allow kombucha to ferment in a dark, warm space for 2-3 days*. Then, begin tasting daily.
-
Once kombucha meets your flavor preferences, refrigerate it and enjoy!**
Recipe Notes
*You may want to “burp” bottles (AKA lift lid slightly to release excess carbonation) on a daily basis. If there isn’t much pressure to be released after 24 hours, try every other day.
Start with 2 days if you want a sweet kombucha, and 3 days if you would prefer it on the tart side.
**You may strain fruit pieces out of kombucha prior to drinking if preferred. It is fine (and delicious/nutritious) to eat them as well!
Want more recipes? Check out our Subscription!
That’s it for Pomegranate Apple Kombucha! We hope you enjoy it. If you love our recipes but aren’t a fan of hunting down ingredients, be sure to check out our Second Fermentation Subscription!
Have any questions or comments? Did you try a different kind of apple? We would love to hear from you– feel free to comment below. Enjoy! 🙂
[…] already raved about my general love for pomegranates and their use in kombucha recipes in the Pomegranate Apple Kombucha recipe, but I will include some pomegranate notes in this Pomegranate Spice Kombucha recipe for those of […]
Hi there, I was given several scoby-jacks, and I m ready to start my own batch but I have some questions. My husband is sugar-free (by choice) and is concerned about drinking the kombucha and all the sugar. I was instructed to do two fermentations, once with plain tea, and once with flavorings. What can you tell me about the sugar content after two fermentation cycles? Also, I was instructed to use only plastic tools with the processing and fermentation (i.e. straining with plastic mesh, funneling with plastic, and bottling with glass bottles and plastic tops), so can you shed some light on that for me? Lastly, how do you seal the finished product? Just tighten the cap? Thanks!!
Hi there! It sounds like you could benefit from some browsing on our site. I would recommend starting with this article which walks through the first and second fermentation kombucha processes
The sugar content will vary based on each fermentation time, ingredients added during 2F, and other factors that affect fermentation speed such as temperature. As a general rule, longer fermentation time means less sugar– you can really control the sugar content quite well with home brewing to the extent that you are okay with a tart kombucha!
Glass is actually ideal for kombucha due largely to the acidity. We recommend flip-top glass bottles for second fermentation as it is not ideal to have kombucha stored with plastic. Over time, the acidity can cause the plastic to leach chemicals. These bottles hold carbonation better as well. Kombucha also reacts with metal, so we recommend using wood spoons if available. If not, a quick stir with a silicone or plastic spoon or spatula is unlikely to do any harm.