As promised, here’s another wonderful fall pomegranate kombucha flavor! We are having fun with this pomegranate season, and we are so glad this recipe came of it! Pomegranate spice kombucha might just have you leaving pumpkin and apple spice behind!
I 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 you who might have missed it 🙂
Pomegranate Fan Club
I might as well name this paragraph honestly. If you don’t get pomegranates regularly during pomegranate season, you are missing out! These are wonderful fruits and contrary to their appearance, you can enjoy them after just a few minutes of work. More on that later.
I actually loved pomegranates as a kid too—they are a great, antioxidant-loaded option for all members of your family. In fact, as a kid, my parents would bribe me with pomegranates! For every goal I scored in my soccer games, I was rewarded with a pomegranate. I mean, I’m no Mia Hamm but I think it did give me a little edge on the field 🙂
If you’re unfamiliar with pomegranates, just know that you can buy pure pomegranate juice in stores and use that instead if you are more comfortable. However, I have some tips to make fresh pomegranates less intimidating if you are up for the challenge.
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: https://amzn.to/2pU5xid
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 Spice Kombucha
Finally we are onto the main event! This is a delicious, festive tasting recipe. The pomegranate flavor isn’t too strong—it adds more depth to the kombucha flavor and the focus is on the spices with this one. I love it, but if you are more of a sweets person you may want to add some extra pomegranate!
The spices are simple, but really add a lot to this recipe. It tastes kind of like a champagne of ciders to me! Hopefully you agree 🙂
Pomegranate Spice Kombucha is definitely a sit-in-front-of-the-fireplace type of recipe! Sipping it while reading a good book on a cool fall day would be pretty perfect! It has a very full flavor and warmth to it.
This recipe looks gorgeous with a cinnamon stick added to your glass! Of course, you can use cinnamon sticks instead of the ground cinnamon to begin with if you prefer. Pomegranate spice kombucha has a nice peach-pink color, again making it even more perfect to enjoy fall with!
That’s enough for now—go ahead and skip down to the recipe if you’re familiar with second fermentation. If not, read the notes below first. Either way, 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 Spice Kombucha
Pomegranate Spice Kombucha is a warm and full-flavored recipe. I like to think of it as a champagne of ciders! Try it out–this is a perfect fall recipe, but it can be enjoyed any time.
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Pomegranate seeds + juice can use full 1/4 cup of juice if preferred
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 12-14 ounces fermented kombucha Enough to top off the bottle, leaving approx. 1 inch of headspace
Instructions
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Place funnel in bottle & add cinnamon and nutmeg. Shake funnel to empty spices into the bottle
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Add pomegranate seeds to funnel. Use a skewer, knife, or another sharp object to pierce pomegranate seeds and release juice.
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Push mashed seeds down funnel into bottle.
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Fill remainder of bottle with fermented kombucha, leaving approx. 1 inch of headspace at the top of the bottle.
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Seal bottle and move gently to combine ingredients
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Allow kombucha to ferment in a dark, warm space for 2-3 days*. Then, begin tasting daily.
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Once kombucha meets your flavor preferences, refrigerate it and enjoy!** I like to garnish mine with a cinnamon stick
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 and spices out of kombucha prior to drinking if preferred. It is fine (and delicious/nutritious) to eat them as well!
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That’s it for Pomegranate Spice 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 spice combination? We would love to hear from you– feel free to comment below. Enjoy! 🙂
