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Sometimes to make the diner’s experience more rounded; sometimes to transfer the restaurant’s philosophy of territorial cuisine to the table; sometimes, most of the time, for both reasons at the same time, the truth is that kombucha is already making its way onto the menus of haute cuisine restaurants in Spain. Although it is a ferment rooted in other cultures and is not exactly new in our country, the Spanish palate was not very accustomed to the acidic, sweet and astringent taste of this drink, which reminds some of vinegar and others of cider. Once the first sips are over, kombucha is a pleasant and refreshing drink, ideal for starting any meal or even accompanying the entire menu.
At the OBA Restaurant
At the OBA restaurant (Casas-Ibáñez, Albacete), run by Juan Sahuquillo and Javier Sanz, who are also ambassadors for Raíz Culinaria, not only have they found it interesting to include kombucha in their liquid menu, but they have also created “Natura”, a complete fermentation pairing, where they not only offer home-made kombuchas together with other drinks based on the fermentation technique. “It came about as a necessity”, says Nicolás Sabogal Zuluaga, head of ferments at OBA. “The OBA diner starts with a dish in the kitchen. At that moment we realised that he needed to satisfy his thirst, and why not cook that drink. It became a challenge because every week we make a different drink, they are fast fermentations, we use wild fermentations”.
“Oba is a tribute to La Manchuela,” continues Juan Sahuquillo, “when you look at what the region’s industry is made up of, you find the cheeses, the wines, the market garden, and fermentation is very important in this. In the past, what used to be done was to pick the product when it was green, instead of ripe, to pickle it and thus save it from possible adverse weather conditions and the whole harvest would be ruined: the aguasal, the vinegar… all of this is fermentation. Our region has a lot to do with the larder, ageing, preserving… so we wanted to ferment to pay homage and put our knowledge into practice. Because it’s also true that we have a lot of techniques in our heads and why should we only use them in solid cooking?
At OBA, it is also clear to them that kombucha is not just a drink, but a tool that opens up thousands of possibilities in the kitchen. “It is much more than a drink. It is very interesting to get more out of it. If you make a strawberry kombucha, take the mother and cure it in sugar, you have a jelly bean. Some people have made dishes where the mother resembles a scallop by cooking it in a seafood base. You can even make labels and clothes out of it, because at the end of the day it is cellulose. Sustainability is important, if you see kombucha as a drink, you are halfway there”, says the chef.
From Barro Restaurant to Santerra
Also thinking of the territorial cuisine that is put into practice at Barro Restaurante (Ávila), Carlos Casillas, its owner, and Jaime Mondéjar, head fermenter, thought of offering a homemade kombucha but using oak leaf instead of tea. “In the first passages we give an oak leaf kombucha to provide the tannin that the cellulose matrix needs. These are normally extracted from tea and for us, who do ambient cooking, it didn’t make sense to bring a tea from another continent. In the kombucha we have right now, we use the oak leaf in the first fermentation and in a second fermentation we add mushrooms”. And this is the kombucha that accompanies one of the solid dishes that has precisely the same ingredients: a mushroom pickle with oak leaf. “I was looking for harmony in terms of taste and smell, and also conceptually, to make it easy to explain in the dining room. We want to be very democratic and we want people to understand it”.
Miguel Carretero makes his kombucha with tea, but this time “local”, in his restaurant Santerra (Madrid). The chef from Castilla-La Mancha uses a local rock tea from Cuenca for the first fermentation. For a second fermentation, he chooses tagetes, pollen and chamomile. Or elderflower, fig leaves? “We change according to the season and the dishes”, says Carretero. “At Santerra, kombucha is a complement and I think of this drink as something I add to my cuisine, not as an independent element”. Although he has used it on occasion to make sour sauces or pickles, nowadays, it is only used in liquid form. “I use it whether or not the customer has chosen a pairing because I see it as part of that particular dish. A dish that, although it can be a snack or a dessert, in this case is a main course, more substantial and fatty. “I like kombucha to have a certain acidity and I use it to lighten heavier dishes”.
Also in Gaytan or Taller Arzuaga
Javier Aranda serves kombucha for less hearty dishes at his restaurant Gaytán (Madrid). “We moved the operational part of the snacks to our terrace and we wanted to offer our appetizers not only with the solid part, but also in the form of a drink, with our kombuchas”, says the chef, who offers six different kombuchas, depending on the season. “We don’t give it prominence as a pairing but as an accompaniment to the dish with the premise that it cleanses the palate. There are many kombuchas that are so round that there are customers who want the whole menu with kombucha or for us to make them a cocktail”. For the chef of the Madrid restaurant, this ferment, which he currently only uses as a drink, is another loudspeaker that pushes the dynamics and concept of his cuisine.
A premise that is also followed at Taller de Arzuaga (Quintanilla de Onésimo, Valladolid). “I look for drinks that bring local ingredients to the menu”, says Irene González, the sommelier. To do so, they have turned to the company Campanera, which produces a custom-made kombucha for them in a controlled and artisanal way. “We created a personalised recipe for our dish in which we worked with Campanera to make the kombucha with aromatic plants from our organic garden: lemon verbena, rosemary, fennel, etc. We choose the type of acidity and the flavour. We choose the type of acidity or the bubbles we want and the result is a kombucha that is different from what they usually make”.
The kombucha that Taller Arzuaga has designed is used for a pass of their menu called ‘Our organic garden’, four different dishes where they serve vegetables and greens from their own garden. And with this drink they reinforce the concept of the dish and the cuisine of chef Víctor Gutiérrez. “Although at Taller Arzuaga our spearhead is wine, we wanted to make a healthy, ecological drink without any alcohol (our kombucha is pasteurised), so we decided to choose aromatic plants from our farm and make kombucha for this dish”. A kombucha that completes the experience of the menu and that, although many customers are interested in buying it to drink at home, for the moment, it is not for sale.