Mother seeks a healthy alternative
Timaru mum Kylee Galbraith is so convinced with the health benefits of fermented foods that she has given up her day job and gone commercial with her own recipe.
Galbraith, a town planner, quit work in December and launched her range of Kombucha probiotic drinks to the market last month.
It’s been family who have inspired in her in part to follow her dream.
Kombucha is a fermented beverage with a green tea base in which a Scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) is used as part of the production process.
Galbraith and her husband, Morgan, discovered the brewing method when they were on a quest to find a natural way to deal with on going health problems with their infant son.
Austen Galbraith, now 5, had bad eczema and allergies.
‘‘Following the birth of Austen our quest intensified.
‘‘We were given advice in the form of fermentation and the art of traditional cooking and the principles of Weston Price.
‘‘We were given a Kombucha Scoby (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast), which we nervously started cultivating and have never looked back.’’
Price was a Cleveland dentist who travelled the world and documented the relationships between nutrition and physical health.
Through the use of Kombucha and other fermented foods, Austen’s allergies disappeared and his eczema was now very minor, Galbraith said.
It had helped heal him ‘‘from the inside out’’. Now he is only allergic to egg whites, she said.
The Galbraiths continued experimenting with teas from around the world and came up with three flavours - lemon mint, blueberry and original.
‘‘The Scoby is like a mushroom that grows on top of the beverage, the sugar is used to feed the Scoby and not to sweeten the drink.
‘‘The Scoby eats all the sugar up and at the end of fermentation only trace amounts are found.’’
The ingredients are brewed in wine barrels, and bottled in a shipping container at her parent’s place in Timaru.
‘‘I have been making it for years on a family scale and now I’m making it on a large scale,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s got amazing healing properties, everything is for maximum health.
‘‘I reckon it will become more mainstream.’’
Anzac Day services
9am Geraldine Library; 10.15am Woodbury War Memorial; 11.30am Peel Forest Hall; 2.15pm Rangitata Island Aerodrome.
6.20am Hakataramea Cenotaph; 7am Victoria Park Memorial Gates; 8am Southburn War Memorial; 8.45am St Andrews War Memorial; 10am Waimate Event Centre; 1.30pm Waihao Forks Hotel.
10am Mackenzie Community Centre. Twizel: 6am,Twizel RSA. Cave: 10.30am Cave Hall. Kurow: 8.15am Kurow Cemetery. Timaru: 6am War Memorial, Queen St; 7am Cemetery, Domain Ave; 9am Sir Basil Arthur Park, Pleasant Point Highway; 10am Soundshell, Caroline Bay.
8am Victor Wilson School Hall, Horton St.
6am Temuka Domain Cenotaph; 7.30am Arowhenua Cemetery; 9am Winchester School; 10.30am Cenotaph at Domain.
Proposed fee increases
Fees for community facilities in Tekapo and Fairlie could increase by 8 per cent to keep up with the Mackenzie District’s proposed rate rise. It’s being proposed that the fees and charges for the Lake Tekapo Community Hall, the Strathconan Swimming Pool, and Mackenzie Community Centre be increased, according to the respective meeting agendas for Tuesday and Thursday. The proposed fees have been reviewed by Mackenzie District Council group facilities manager Garth Nixon, the agendas suggest adding the increase will avoid the funding burden being placed on ratepayers.
Police notebook
Incidents reported to police include:
A 42-year-old Dunedin man was stopped in a stolen vehicle early Tuesday. Police stopped the man in Evans St at 2:50am, and it was found the car he was in had been reported stolen from Christchurch. Inquiries are continuing.
A burglary was reported at a property in Luxmore Rd on Monday. Police attended the incident at 2:50pm. About $5000 worth of goods was reportedly taken from the property.