Due to its rising popularity many people may now know of kombucha; A fermented tea beverage thought to have originated long ago in the region that is now known as China. Through the same process that this familiar beverage is made, there is also the less familiar production of a polymeric bacterial cellulose pellicle that floats on the surface of the culture. This and other forms of bacterial cellulose are the subject of research for several different applications. Bacterial cellulose has potential for use in medicine, textiles, and as a food additive. The tensile strength of kombucha’s leather-like material grown in different sugar concentrations was measured and statistically analyzed. The groups grown in higher sugar concentrations were found to withstand significantly more force before tearing than those grown in low sugar concentrations. Photographs of the pellicles of each group were also taken and compared at 400x magnification
