
Too much SCOBY, what a great 'problem' to have! There are so many things you can do with a kombucha SCOBY. Previously I have eaten SCOBY, put it in my green smoothies, put it on cuts and burns and even on a stye on my eye.
I left the SCOBY in my continuous brew kombucha for over two months, and it was huge (see photo below). Also there was a huge jar of 'back up' SCOBY in my fridge that was taking up space.
For a while I have really wanted to make SCOBY Jerky. There is a wonderful recipe for Cinnamon SCOBY Snacks in Loula Natural's amazing Culture Your Life ebook (which I cannot recommend highly enough!!), and a recipe for SCOBY Jerky at the Holistic Squid website.
Based on those recipes, I did the following using only a couple ingredients and a very simple method. Honestly, I was skeptical that I would not get the flavor right or it wouldn't work, so I didn't put a lot of effort into it.
Amazingly, they came out great! Savory, slightly salty, super chewy and addictive!
The photo above is of a 'tray' of SCOBY jerky after I took it off the dehydrator shelf and before I separated it. It looks like modern art in that photo!
Ingredients
- Kombucha SCOBY (see photo below left for what I used)
- Tamari Sauce (can use soy sauce if you prefer)
- Wild raw honey (use a different sweetener if you are vegan)
- Garlic (smashed or powder)
- Onion (minced or powder)
- Cayenne pepper (just a tiny amount of powder)
- Other flavors as you like
- Take SCOBY and separate it into thinner 'pancakes'
- Rinse under filtered water 3-5 times until most of the kombucha is washed off
- Cut into strips, random sizes are fine
- Dip into a bowl with 1/2 cup tamari, 1/8-1/4 cup honey (more if you like sweeter), some fresh or powdered garlic, onion or other flavors you fancy, a dash of cayenne - all mixed up
- Make more or less of the dip depending upon how much SCOBY you have
Put in dehydrator at 105 degrees for 12-15 hours. At about 6 hours, check the trays, you may need to move some of them around so the thickest SCOBY cuts are at the top and back shelves.
Try it and flavor however you like!! I like savory more than sweet, but I will try some other variations next time. My daughter has requested vanilla next time!!