The history of kvass dates back more than a thousand years; it appeared long before the baptism of Russia, where barley, wheat, rye, and oats were always grown, on the basis of which the best kvass was prepared. The preparation of the drink in those distant days required a lot of effort from the hostess, since the procedure for creating it was very laborious: it took about 70 days to soak the grain and germinate it before making the wort. Thanks to this drink, Rusich experienced severe winters without diseases, since kvass has bactericidal properties.
Today, many methods of making kvass have been lost: pear, apple, mint, peasant and other types are forgotten.
Modern industry has remade the recipe of kvass beyond recognition. Sweet surrogates sold in stores with the taste of a real drink have very little in common, so we suggest you cook this kvass yourself.
Kvass recipe today takes as a basis kvass concentrate, and to make a drink you just need to stock up on this ingredient. And the cooking process is completely uncomplicated. By the way, the concentrate can be successfully replaced with toasted breadcrumbs.
Bread Kvass
The recipe recommends a kilogram of black bread cut into cubes, dried in the oven. Then pour crackers with 6 liters of boiling water for 10-12 hours, then strain. Take 25 g of yeast and the same amount of wheat flour, stir them in parts of the infusion of crackers, put in a warm place, let go.
Brew 10 g of peppermint in a piece of cracked infusion, boil everything and add 300 g of sugar. When the yeast comes up, you need to pour them into a solution of crackers, add mint and sugar here, mix, cover with a napkin, place in a warm place and keep there until a thick foam appears. It should be removed, strain the liquid and pour into bottles without top-up. Cover tightly and place in the cold. Wait 12 hours. Kvass is completely ready.
There is, of course, more than one kvass recipe; more than 150 of them are known. You can prepare a drink in the following ways.
Kvass beer on kefir
Cut rye bread into small pieces together with crusts, dry in the oven to get a glass of small crackers. Mix half a glass of beer and kefir, add half the crackers and leave for 6 hours to begin the fermentation process. Grate one raw peeled carrot and beetroot, then pass them through a meat grinder, put a tablespoon of dried raspberry leaves, a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of honey and mix. Dilute the resulting mixture with three liters of warm water (about 35-45 degrees), put for further fermentation for a couple of days in a warm place.
Raspberry Kvass Recipe
A glass of berries must be slightly crushed and pour three liters of boiling water, let it brew for a day, then strain. Add 60 g of sugar, 10 grams of yeast and citric acid (on the tip of the knife). Mix everything and leave to roam for another day.
Kvass rowan-apple
Rinse a glass of dried apples, pour boiled water (50 degrees) for about an hour and a half, then scroll in a meat grinder along with 1 carrot and 0.5 cups of mountain ash. Pour the cooked mass with warm water and 2 cups of leavened ground, leave for several days for fermentation. Readiness is determined by the taste of the drink. Kvass must be filtered, the thickener can be left to prepare the next portion (it must be stored in the refrigerator).
In this recipe, it is allowed to mix dried apples with pears, and to replace mountain ash - aronia.
Kvass on yeast should not be given to children to drink, it is better not to use it even for adults, if you have to drive. For such cases, there is kvass without yeast.
Berry yeast-free kvass
Berries (strawberries, blueberries, strawberries or any other) must be peeled and washed, then knead in an enameled bowl. Cook sugar syrup (liter of water, 100 g of sugar), cool it to 40 degrees and pour the berries at the rate of 6: 1. Insist the mixture during the day, without putting it in the refrigerator, strain through gauze. Such kvass can be stored only for a few days, and if necessary longer, the drink is bottled, without adding 5-7 centimeters to the top, corked with corks and tied. Keep kvass in the refrigerator.