Tea mushroom - pleasure and great benefit

Many of us remember how in the childhood the grandmother poured an acidic liquid in the summer from a three-liter jar, in which something like a jellyfish floated. We added sugar to the drink, and it perfectly quenched thirst. This drink was previously made using a tea mushroom, and today I would like to remind you what it is and how it is prepared.

The Internet is often asked about where to get a tea mushroom, to which the inhabitants of the former USSR say - you can grow it yourself. To do this, in a sufficiently large amount of strong tea leaves, add a little sugar and put in a warm place for a month and a half. During this period, the inflorescence film is first formed on the tea leaves, which then grows into a full-blown multilayer tea mushroom.

To make a drink, take a small plate of mushroom, put in a 3-liter jar and pour cold sweetened weak tea (5-6 spoons of tea per liter). In the first three days the bank may not have any reaction, but after a week the mushroom will float up, and the tea will turn into tea kvass. To improve the characteristics of the drink in the tea, you can add honey, aromatic herbs.

In order for the tea mushroom to develop well and not be ill (it is still a living organism) one must observe certain conditions:

• Do not keep the jar with tea in the light or at the window, tk. The mushroom does not like the sun's rays and drafts;
• Do not cover the jar with a lid - it's better to tie a cloth;
• The optimum temperature for the reproduction of the drink is about 25 C (not lower than 17 C!);
• It is impossible to add sugar to the mushroom, it should be added only before dissolved in tea;
• The fungus needs to be washed, better in spring water, in the summer - every two weeks (weekly, if the temperature regime is not optimal), in winter - every three to four weeks.

Many centuries ago, the warriors of ancient Japan discovered what the tea mushroom is useful for. It was used as a disinfectant for wounds and suppuration, helped with disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. And after getting into Europe and Russia (during the Russo-Japanese War), its other properties were discovered. Drink from the tea fungus helped with angina, stomatitis, lowered cholesterol level, promoted the increase of lactic acid bacteria, gave positive results for neurasthenia, poisonings, angina pectoris, poisonings and well supported the person with cancer. Medications are made from it - medusins and bacteriocins.

A chemical analysis of the infusion of the tea fungus revealed the presence of six kinds of acids, enzymes, caffeine, B vitamins, a large amount of vitamin C and a group of PP.

However, the tea mushroom, like many medicinal infusions, has contraindications to the use. It is not recommended to take insulin-dependent diabetics, people suffering from fungal diseases (due to the content of sugars in the infusion). You can not drink it and with an open stomach ulcer, gastritis. With a drink made on the basis of green tea, you need to be hypotonic. Also it is impossible to drink overdue on time tinctures and infusions made on the basis of old, sick mushroom.

Otherwise, the use of the tea fungus is extensive - with it you can make relaxing baths (for a bath of 0.25 liters of tea kvass of monthly aging), lotions (a mixture of mineral water and tea kvass of monthly aging), deodorants (wipe in sweating zones), hair rinses, Cream for peeling skin (with olive oil). It is good for treating colds, as well as for bee stings. Such an "assistant" will be indispensable in the household, especially since it will not be difficult to grow.