Kvas is the most favorite along being refreshing of all Russian beverages. Since antiquity the Slavs have made and known about Kvas since long before the foundation of the Kievian Rus.

Kvas or kvass, is the most favorite, along being refreshing, of all Russian beverages. Since antiquity the Slavs have made & known about Kvas long before the foundation of the Kievian Rus.

The word Kvas is Russian and derived form old Ukrainian by origin, literally means "sour drink." It was so popular that in the Encyclopedia of Food it was written: "After water, the most widespread beverage was Kvas … It is thought that people drink it more often than water…" A love to kvas overstepped the limits of classes: poor people drank it with a pleasure as did the nobility whu actually kvas to foreign wines. Kvas was very inexpensive and easy to make. These facts partly, explains its popularity. Kvas serves as the base for many dishes: okroshka, turya, balanda, etc.

It is the superb gustatory qualities of kvas that has surprised foreign visitors to the Rus for centuries. They could not believe that this delicious fermented beverage was as tasty and useful as well as being much better than the sherbets was given to servants as well.

Together with sauerkraut (kapusta), kvas was the only medicine that saved people from scurvy during a long winter without green, as real Russian kvas was made from malt that is notable for rich content of Vitamin B & Vitamin C. In folk medicine kvas was used for curing cold, dropsy, fever, digestive tract diseases and many others.. In Rus hospitals kvas is a necessary daily beverage for every patient. To increase nutritious value of kvas, it was made from two kinds of malt sans sugar. At times people add honey to "ennoble" kvas. Freshly made kvas is preferred and is what most folk drink. Some lazy women, historically and habitually, managed to make kvas once a year and as required they poured in new water. In the end this kvas had no real resemblence to real kvas and was more like vinegar.

There are literally hundreds of thoiusands of recipes of kvas. Actually they have the same ingredientsbut are presnted with different proportions: malt, rye or wheat flour, & boiling water. This dense mass was blended until it had a sweet taste. Then this mass was put in a well-heated oven for a day and a night, 24hours. After that the mass was dissolved in water then left in at room temperature for 2-3 hours. It is then bottled. This is the basics of making kvas. Kvases differ depending upon the different kinds of flour, cold or hot water; additives such as sugar, raisins, honey, mint, berry juices or molasses.

Kvas making demands a lot of experience, many skills and special equipment in the form of large, false-bottomed, wooden tubs.

Kvas is safer to drink than water. Tolstoy describes how Russian soldiers took a ladle of kvass before venturing from their barracks onto the Moscow streets during a cholera epidemic. Kvas is so well known and used in Rus literature it demands and gets the respect that is owed to it from people who have tried it and now love it.. Because kvass protects against infectious disease, there is no worry about sharing the glass.

Today kvas is amde & bottled to be sold as a ",i>soft-drink." It comes in sugar-free for diabeteics, non-alcoholic & the "real" slightly alcoholic versions. In the USA it is sold in Russian, Ukrianian, Polish & other ethnic Slavic groceries & delis. It is only sold in its non-alcoholic form.

I have included three kvas recipes. Remember that there are literally hundrrds of thousands of recipes for kvas so you should feel free to make small changes as you try these recipes.

Kvas Recipes

Rus Table Kvas

Ingredients:
3/12 lb Rye Malt
1 ln Barley Malt
Boiling Water
1/3 lb Raisins
4 ea Pieces of Hops
3 tb Dry Yeast
2 tb Wheat Flour
Luke warm Water

Boil a sufficient quantity of water to produce a thick, but pourable, gruel using the 2 malts. Mix to a smooth consistency, place into in a cast iron vessel then place in oven for 2-4 hours for full infusion. Remove and pour into a large pot, dilute with boiling water to the desired consistency, allow to settle then decant. From the decanted liquid, take 3 cups and dissolve therein 3 tb of yeast and 2 tbsp. of wheat flour, allowing the mass to rise in a warm place then pour this mixture back into the pot.

Add sugar to taste, 1/2 ln raisins & 4 pieces of hops. Mix well then place in a warm room until the yeast and raisins come to the top and form a hemispherical foam "cap". Remove this "cap" with a perforated spoon, pour kvas into your bottles, seal them then put in a cold place. The kvass may be drunk the next day.

Blackbread Kvas

45 ea slices of black bread, place upon large cooky sheets. Place in heated oven till bread is dry and hard. Place bread in a wooden tub and pour over it 18 cups of boiling water then cover the tub and allow to stand until luke-warm. Now you must strain this liquid through cloth without pressing. Add to this liquid add 48 ounces of molasses and mix it very well. Now add 5-6 tablespoons of yeast mixed with 1 tbsp. wheat flour; cover lightly with a clean towel. Allow to stand for 12-16 hours in a warm place. Next strain, pour into bottles, place 1-2 raisins in each bottle; seal and store in in the regrigerator or in a cold place. Kvass is ready to drink or to use in 2 days time.

Mint-Flavored Bread Beer Kvas
Categories: Kazakh, Soup, Ethnic, Russian, Sidedish
Yield: 6 Servings

1 lb Stale black bread
- or -
1 lb Pumpernickel bread, stale
1 c Sugar
2 tb Raisins
2 tb Mint leaves, fresh
- or -
1 tb Dried mint leaves
2 tb Active dry yeast
1/4 c Luke warm water

**NOTE** Water must NOT be hot as it will kill the yeast.

Oven must be pre-heated to 200 deg-F.
Cube bread then spread on a cookie sheet and place in oven for 1-hr.
Bring 6 qts of water to a boil and drop in the bread.
Remove from heat, cover with a towel, & allow to sit at room temp. for 8-hrs.
Strain through a fine seive by pressing the moistuire from the bread.
Sprinkle the yeast & 1/4 ts of sugar over the cup of lukewarm water and stir to dissolve the yeast completely.
Set aside in a warm place covered by a towel for approx. 10-12-mins. or until the mixture doubles in volume.
Add the mint leaves, and remaining sugar, stir well, then re-cover with the towel and set aside for 8-12-hrs. more at room temp.
The again strain the mixture through a fine seive.
Pour into a 1 gal. container, add the raisins, cover the top with plastic wrap, secure with a rubber band, and place in cool but NOT cold, spot for 4-5 days or until the raisins are floating and the sediment has sunk to the bottom.
Pour off the clear amber liquid and rebottle in a clean jug or bottles. refrigerate until ready to use. In Russia this is a beverage as well as cold soup stock.

ORIGIN: Dr. Sergei Betchonov, Uralsk-Kazakhstan, circa 1995

Sources:

Kvas The Nectar of Life, Andrei L. Bushinksy, in Russian, pamphlet 1997

http://forums.delphiforums.com/globalcuisine/start

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Russia-Georgia-Ukraine

© Donald R. Houston, PhD 2005-2011