Kombucha is fairly controversial. There isn’t a ton of analysis on its well being advantages, individuals appear to both love or detest its distinct style, and it may…probably blow up in your face?

Yep, that’s an actual chance in line with a viral TikTok video posted Saturday. Within the clip, a person named Morgan Bailey detailed how a bottle of kombucha, which she left in her fridge for round three months, abruptly exploded and minimize her hand. “This can be a pleasant reminder that when you’ve got kombucha in your fridge and it’s been sort of a very long time, don’t contact it,” she stated within the video. “Get some oven mitts and possibly some protecting eye goggles. It should blow up.”

The clip blew up, too (with greater than 450,000 likes and counting), prompting Bailey to clarify precisely what occurred in a follow-up video. All she did, apparently, was contact the sealed, store-bought bottle, and growth: “I assume simply the stress of my hand transferring it a bit bit made it flip right into a literal bomb,” she stated. “Like there was glass in every single place—throughout my kitchen, the partitions, the ceiling.” This freaky incident left her with a deep minimize between her fingers that required stitches, in line with Bailey.

The feedback part was full of horror and concern, elevating questions like: Must you name in a bomb squad to throw out your leftover kombucha? And the way frequent is that this, actually? We had been curious, too, so we reached out to a meals science knowledgeable to clear issues up.

When you didn’t already know from its effervescence and bitter style, kombucha tea is fermented—that means it undergoes a course of wherein microorganisms (on this case, micro organism and yeast) convert sugar into small quantities of alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide, Katherine Thompson-Witrick, PhD, an assistant professor of meals science on the College of Florida specializing in fermentation, tells SELF.

But when there’s nonetheless a variety of leftover sugar after the primary fermentation, over time, that course of can proceed to occur (what’s known as “refermentation”). Principally, meaning there might be an overflow of carbon dioxide fuel, and all that stress build up may trigger a bottle to rupture, Dr. Thompson-Witrick says. That’s one motive why you need to ideally toss your kombucha after a number of months of buy (if it doesn’t have an expiration date, analysis reveals that 4 months is normally an excellent rule of thumb).

Now, how doubtless is it that your funky, fizzy drink will spontaneously combust in your fridge (or face)? A kombucha “bomb,” as Bailey put it, is “extraordinarily uncommon,” Dr. Thompson-Witrick says, including that it’s extra more likely to occur if the beverage is selfmade (because it’s much less more likely to be fermented correctly). Or, maybe what may clarify Bailey’s explosion is “a weak spot within the package deal itself,” like a defective seal or weak bottle construction, Dr. Thompson-Witrick says.

Nonetheless, we don’t blame you if that viral TikTok—and seeing Bailey’s bandaged hand—freaked you out. When you’d fairly be protected than sorry, together with heeding expiration dates, Dr. Thompson-Witrick additionally suggests “burping” your kombucha by opening the bottle each different day (just a bit—not all the way in which) to launch some stress. “In terms of opening any carbonated product, it’s additionally finest to level the bottle away out of your face,” she says, for apparent causes.

The underside line: No, you most likely don’t have to fret about your store-bought kombucha making a harmful mess in your kitchen—or sending you to the emergency room—so long as it’s correctly packaged and refrigerated (since “fermentation slows down considerably at and beneath refrigeration temperatures,” Dr. Thompson-Witrick explains). But it surely doesn’t harm to unscrew the cap each few days. , simply in case.

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Kombucha is fairly controversial. There isn’t a ton of analysis on its well being advantages, individuals appear to both love or detest its distinct style, and it may…probably blow up in your face?

Yep, that’s an actual chance in line with a viral TikTok video posted Saturday. Within the clip, a person named Morgan Bailey detailed how a bottle of kombucha, which she left in her fridge for round three months, abruptly exploded and minimize her hand. “This can be a pleasant reminder that when you’ve got kombucha in your fridge and it’s been sort of a very long time, don’t contact it,” she stated within the video. “Get some oven mitts and possibly some protecting eye goggles. It should blow up.”

The clip blew up, too (with greater than 450,000 likes and counting), prompting Bailey to clarify precisely what occurred in a follow-up video. All she did, apparently, was contact the sealed, store-bought bottle, and growth: “I assume simply the stress of my hand transferring it a bit bit made it flip right into a literal bomb,” she stated. “Like there was glass in every single place—throughout my kitchen, the partitions, the ceiling.” This freaky incident left her with a deep minimize between her fingers that required stitches, in line with Bailey.

The feedback part was full of horror and concern, elevating questions like: Must you name in a bomb squad to throw out your leftover kombucha? And the way frequent is that this, actually? We had been curious, too, so we reached out to a meals science knowledgeable to clear issues up.

When you didn’t already know from its effervescence and bitter style, kombucha tea is fermented—that means it undergoes a course of wherein microorganisms (on this case, micro organism and yeast) convert sugar into small quantities of alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide, Katherine Thompson-Witrick, PhD, an assistant professor of meals science on the College of Florida specializing in fermentation, tells SELF.

But when there’s nonetheless a variety of leftover sugar after the primary fermentation, over time, that course of can proceed to occur (what’s known as “refermentation”). Principally, meaning there might be an overflow of carbon dioxide fuel, and all that stress build up may trigger a bottle to rupture, Dr. Thompson-Witrick says. That’s one motive why you need to ideally toss your kombucha after a number of months of buy (if it doesn’t have an expiration date, analysis reveals that 4 months is normally an excellent rule of thumb).

Now, how doubtless is it that your funky, fizzy drink will spontaneously combust in your fridge (or face)? A kombucha “bomb,” as Bailey put it, is “extraordinarily uncommon,” Dr. Thompson-Witrick says, including that it’s extra more likely to occur if the beverage is selfmade (because it’s much less more likely to be fermented correctly). Or, maybe what may clarify Bailey’s explosion is “a weak spot within the package deal itself,” like a defective seal or weak bottle construction, Dr. Thompson-Witrick says.

Nonetheless, we don’t blame you if that viral TikTok—and seeing Bailey’s bandaged hand—freaked you out. When you’d fairly be protected than sorry, together with heeding expiration dates, Dr. Thompson-Witrick additionally suggests “burping” your kombucha by opening the bottle each different day (just a bit—not all the way in which) to launch some stress. “In terms of opening any carbonated product, it’s additionally finest to level the bottle away out of your face,” she says, for apparent causes.

The underside line: No, you most likely don’t have to fret about your store-bought kombucha making a harmful mess in your kitchen—or sending you to the emergency room—so long as it’s correctly packaged and refrigerated (since “fermentation slows down considerably at and beneath refrigeration temperatures,” Dr. Thompson-Witrick explains). But it surely doesn’t harm to unscrew the cap each few days. , simply in case.

Associated: