Alcoholic kvass: ingredients, homemade recipe

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

According to the testimony of some ancient sources, kvass in Russia in the old, time immemorial was so strong that it "chopped" from the feet. Probably, this is where the expression came from, which we use to this day - “sour”! In general, as they say, "kvasok hits the sock"! And why do we need that foreign beer? After all, there is such a native and intoxicating drink - alcoholic kvass!

A little history as usual

The first references to alcoholic kvass, reminiscent of beer, are found 3,000 years ago, in Egypt. Then this wonderful drink was described by Hippocrates, and Pliny, and Herodotus. The following mentions of drinking are found in the annals of Kievan Rus. So, after baptism, Prince Vladimir ordered that honey and kvass be distributed to newly-minted Christians. And this does not seem surprising. After all, strong kvass was a ubiquitous, daily drink: and it was prepared by people of various strata of the population. And this product was also recognized as a symbol of well-being in the house, so it was present everywhere in Russia.

There is such a profession - kvass

Alcoholic kvass in those distant times was so in favor that there was even a certain profession - "kvass". Any representative of this stratum of workers was considered unique: almost everyone had their own authentic recipe. From here comes the richest abundance of varieties of the drink: alcoholic kvass was available and apple, and pear, and rye, and other options. Despite the fact that every respectable housewife-wife also had her own, dear drinking recipe, with which she regaled her husband.

How many degrees are there in kvass?

This question cannot be clearly answered: there will always be a scale - from and to - depending on the recipes. It is known that during fermentation processes, for example, rye kvass at home, a special fungus is formed in it, which can then turn into “degrees”. In general, any natural, properly prepared kvass can be safely considered alcoholic. True, you need to drink quite a lot of this drink in order to at least feel the effect a little and get drunk - but maybe this is for the best. Intoxication is very light and comes on gradually, it does not hit the head like vodka, or the legs like mash.

Traditionally, an alcohol content not exceeding 1.2% is considered acceptable. But in some varieties of home, if you add extra sugar and let it ferment for a longer time, 3-5% can occur. How many degrees in kvass: in Russia in ancient times, due to the specifics of manufacturing, until the twelfth century, kvass was even stronger, thickermodern analogue (even beer). Therefore, probably, the term "sour" has survived to this day.

Healing and benefits

It has been proven that home-cooked rye kvass increases working capacity, relieves any fatigue, restores energy, activates digestion, can improve appetite and helps a lot, due to its composition, to digest fatty meat dishes. It also restores the ratio of fluids, vitamins and s alts. Also, home-made alcoholic kvass contains many microelements, organoacids, destroys, removing from the intestines, all harmful flora. The ancient chronicles indicate that kvass is especially useful for males in terms of potency. He strengthens it and promotes he althy offspring.

Cooking is simple: the ingredients

To make rye kvass, we need crackers from a loaf of rye bread. To make the color of kvass darker, the bread needs to be burned a little, but not too much, otherwise the kvass will be noticeably bitter. Crackers need to be cut into cubes, not too large, with a long side of about two centimeters. We also need a small pack of dry yeast (bread, 11 grams), about half a glass of granulated sugar and a handful of raisins. Dishes for making kvass should be glass or enameled (some people prefer food-grade plastic - for example, you can take a 6-liter bottle of purified water), but not metal - so that oxidation processes do not occur in it during the preparation of our kvass.

Preparing a drink step by step

1. Pour the crackers into the prepared clean pan. Fill them with 1.5 liters of hot water (temperature about 80 degrees Celsius). Such a liquid will thoroughly draw both taste and color out of crackers - and this is very important for our future kvass. We leave the mass to cool to a slightly warm state (27-32 degrees).
2. In a glass of slightly warm water put about half a glass of granulated sugar. Pour a pack of dry yeast into the same place and mix thoroughly until completely dissolved. Pour the resulting liquid into a container with breadcrumbs. Mix a little.
3. Put in a warm place, cover with gauze or a towel and leave to ferment for 24 hours.
4. After a day, we take out the swollen crackers from the water with a slotted spoon, and filter the remaining liquid through a double layer of gauze.
5. If you plan to constantly make such rye alcoholic kvass, then take five or six tablespoons of soaked sourdough from the soaked crackers (we will add it later instead of yeast). The starter can be stored in the refrigerator for a while.
6. Pour the filtered liquid into a container and pour the rest of the granulated sugar into the same place. We also add a handful of raisins and two liters of warm (but not too hot) water. Mix lightly. Cover with a towel and leave to ferment for another 12 hours (conveniently - at night, for example).

Final stage

Now kvass can be poured into plastic bottles from mineral water and closed with corks. We leave a little empty space in them so as not toexploded. If we want our kvass to be sharp and strong, you can add another tablespoon of sugar to each bottle. Closed containers should be refrigerated for another day to complete the fermentation process.

After the above time, a settled white precipitate appears in the bottles. And kvass acquires a carbonated sharpness and a small alcohol degree (you can measure it with an alcohol meter to make sure). The fortress of good kvass can reach 3, sometimes 5 percent - well, why not beer? Now you can drink it or use it, for example, as a dressing for a tasty and fragrant (and most importantly, he althy) okroshka.

Kvass with yeast and sugar: not only from bread

As mentioned above, this drink with a content (albeit minimal) of alcohol can be made at home not only from rye crackers. Since ancient times, there have been recipes for preparing this product from various ingredients.

1. For example, birch kvass was considered a very he althy and very tonic drink. It has natural healing properties and has a beneficial effect on the entire human body. It is prepared with sugar and raisins (you can add a little wine yeast to be sure, but they are already available on grapes). Fermentation (and the acquisition of a light degree) is carried out due to the decomposition of sugar into alcohols, carbon dioxide and water. Tip: take a larger dish (from the initial volume of liquid - 2 times), so that kvass does not run away during the fermentation process.
2. From apples (pears) alsoYou can make excellent alcoholic kvass at home. To do this, you need to take apples and water, sugar and yeast (you can also use freshly squeezed apple juice). The fermentation process proceeds in much the same way as with rye kvass (some even add croutons to this version of the recipe). And the drink turns out bright and carbonated, with a light, barely perceptible degree - it will remotely resemble cider.