Kvass is that?
Previously published 4/06/2019. Updated 25/01/2025
There is much to learn from our elders. It is about time that tradition made it back to the kitchen. We can no longer afford to be a sick world, dependent on modern medicine, which is far from having our best interest, our health, at heart.
Fermented foods were staples in our diet for millennia, and with the creation of supermarkets, convenience, and appliances that could refrigerate and keep food frozen, traditions have been lost and no longer passed on from mothers to daughters. At the same time, we have seen a growing number of the population succumbing to a plethora of diseases. During the last decade, there has been much money to be made in the natural health sector, and suddenly, shop shelves are inundated with dozen of brands selling all types of kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, and kvass. Although, the latter still needs to catch up with its cousins.
Kvass has an acquired taste, a bit like beer, but most of the time, it is made with rye bread and is thus unsuitable for people with gluten intolerance. Many times, commercial kvass is made with wheat flour rather than grain.
Many people referred to kvass as the Russian cola as they are both similar in appearance. Personally, I would compare it to Guinness as it is closer to beer than to a liquid-sugar soda.
Kvass was for Russians what bone broths are to us today, and it was used as a base for cold soups or drunk on its own or with bread, like “peasants” have done for centuries.
Kvass, or more exactly kvas, means leaven. “Kvas” was first mentioned in the Old Russian Chronicles in 989, but its true origin remains unknown. What we know is that kvass was an alternative to stagnant water and offered a safe drinking alternative (which, at the time, was consumed way more than water). Prince Vladimir, best known for establishing Christianity, may have said, ‘Give food, honey and kvass to people’ after they were baptised (source: Primary Chronicle).
Kvass was made pretty much in every household; however, monks of the time would, as they were doing it the world around, keep records of everything and keep a catalogue of recipes. While kvass means "leaven", monks of the time referred to it as ‘zhivoi’, which literally means ‘live’ — like kombucha or any concoction bubbling at the top.
The process is very similar to beer making, which is why its colour has changed over the centuries to match the colour of beer. Kvass has a very low alcohol content, though (0.05-1.44%), and is not considered an alcoholic drink. The main ingredient of the original recipe is rye bread.
Kvass, like brewer's yeast, is rich in B vitamins (essential for detoxification and DNA protection and repair).
Kvass is more than fermented rye concoctions. It can be made with beetroot and potentially anything sweet and/or fermentable. It can be made at home without any effort at all. Perhaps companies proposing kvass are very few because they know how easy it is to make it and that once the word is spread, there won't be much money to be made anymore. In Russia and ex-Soviet countries, though, the market is still big business.
Kvass can also be a storage process, an easy lacto-fermentation process to preserve vegetables for longer.
It makes vegetables easier to digest because bacteria have digested the sugars that we often cannot digest (e.g. raffinose, found in broccoli, sorbitol, found in apples, pears, and stone fruits) and produced lactic acid instead.
Most importantly, because the sugar content is much reduced, it can also reduce the GI/GL of sugar-rich vegetables (e.g., beets).
Kvass is not a heating process. Therefore, vegetables retain all their nutrients. Partly digested, the nutrients they contain are now readily assimilable, and the absorption ratio is thus increased. Most importantly, these vegetables are now considered probiotics and may provide a better-suited method of bringing friendly bacteria colonies into the gut. In 1913, Russian bacteriologists proved that kvass is a germicide by demonstrating that typhus bacteria die in the drink.
In the recipes below, you will find beet kvass, which is the brine from the fermented beets, not the vegetable itself. Although you can eat beetroot, and you should.
Exquisite Private chef Beet kvass (for 1 litre jar)
Ingredients
4 beetroots (diced into small chunks)
2 garlic cloves
1-inch piece of ginger (more or less, depending on your taste)
salt
Water
Yes, this is all you need.
You can also use carrots (diced), cucumber (sliced), broccoli or cauliflower floret, and add a touch of fresh herbs. You can experiment with any flavour to make your own.
1. Fill the jar with the prepared vegetables; for this recipe, the beets. Do not peel the beetroot. You just need to wash them properly and brush them, if necessary, with a vegetable brush to remove the soil that may be trapped at the root of the leaves.
2. Add a sprig of rosemary or a bit of dill and the garlic clove, partially cut to open the flavour.
3. Add enough water to cover the vegetables, keeping at least 2.5 cm from the top of the jar. More is also fine.
4. Using a measuring jug, empty the water you poured into the jar while keeping the vegetables within the jar.
5. Now add 2% of salt. For example, if the water is 500 ml, add 10 g of salt (or 2 g per 100 ml). You can use a spoon to help the salt dissolve in the water. Although you can speed up the process by warming the water slightly or using hot water from the kettle, you must ensure the water is pure, and the pan or kettle is completely clean (descaled and free of deposits). You must also wait for the liquid to fully cool before mixing it with the vegetables in the jar.
6. Fill the jar with the brine. Close the lid and store the jar in a dark place, at room temperature, for 2 days to a week. You know it is ready when foam appears at the top of the liquid. The ideal temperature is between 18-23˚c; any lower, the fermentation process may take much longer, up to 2-3 weeks.
Do not open the jar if the kvass is not ready; bad bacteria may contaminate the liquid and spoil the process. Once you have opened the lid, the jar must be placed in the fridge (below 3˚c).
7. Once ready, you can drink the liquid (kvass) or keep it refrigerated for several months. Store the vegetables separately in an air-tight container and keep them for a week, sometimes more (must be below 3˚c).
But you can also keep the jar as it is, use the vegetables to add flavour to a salad or dish, or even eat the veggies as a snack. I have been able to keep mine for over a year (maybe two 🤭), and it was safe, delicious and crunchy. However, this depends on your fridge, temperature variations (how often your fridge is opened and for how long), and how clean the utensils you have used. To help, you can use clean wooden chopsticks and replace the lid on the jar, wiping it clean to minimise the risk of transferring bacteria into the liquid or killing the lacto-bacteria using metal utensils.
Personally, I loved eating the beetroot pieces with a toothpick, served with lightly roasted pistachios, cumin, and fresh parsley. This is an absolute cocktail party treat, especially if friends have arrived at your door unannounced.
I have also tried it with feta and pistou; together with peppery rocket leaves and watercress, it was an inspiration worth a picnic.
You can drink a shot of the beet kvass in the morning; it is a wonderful tonic, especially with the ginger.
Tip: To speed up the fermenting process, thinly slice the beets.
Tip: You can also mix vegetables together and add many different herbs. Remember that you will drink the liquid, so it must be pleasant.
Original Rye Kvass (for 1 litre jar)
While many bloggers and recipe sharers ask for ale yeast, this is truly not necessary. They ask for this special ingredient as a shortcut for a beer-like beverage, and more-or-less, the result is more beer than true kvass.
Ingredients
2 litres pure, clean water (boiled is fine too)
200 g sugar
100 g rye bread
To prepare the bread, the best thing to do is to use stale rye sourdough. If you are not making it yourself, you can buy it from a baker, but make sure to ask about the ingredients. The fewer the ingredients, the better the kvass. Some iodised salts, also often bleached, can interfere with the fermentation process.
If you want to bypass the time the bread takes to dry, you can dry it in your oven. Just be aware that the more you dry or colour the bread, the stronger the colour of the final liquid. For example, burning the bread would result in kvass looking much like Guinness and somewhat a bitter taste.
1. Dry the bread or use stale rye sourdough/bread
2. Dissolve the sugar into the water. If you have boiled your water, as it cools, you can add the sugar and stir from time to time to help it dissolve.
3. Using a 2-litre jar, place the chunks of bread inside the jar and fill with the sweet water until fully covered. Make sure to keep a 2.5 cm gap from the top. The water should be around 40-45˚c to kickstart the fermentation process. Be careful not to use hot water as it will sanitise the recipient and prevent the fermentation from occurring.
4. Place the lid and make sure it is tightly in place, and position the jar in a dark corner or a kitchen cupboard. Room temperature is ideal, but sometimes, in the winter months, the fermentation may take longer. If you do not have a lid with an automatic air-evac system, you must “burp” the jar daily to let the pressure escape. You may have to do it twice a day if it is warm. Bubbles should start to appear and build up within 2-3 days. You may even see the bread moving around and the volume of bread considerably shrinking.
5. After 3 to 7 days, you can taste the liquid. It should taste tart but pleasant, not too sour or sweet. If it is to your taste, you may strain the bread using a plastic spoon or cheesecloth over a glass, ceramic, or plastic bowl.
6. In the same way you can add a second carbonation to water kefir, you can use raisins (they must not contain sulphites, a preservative), the traditional ingredient. The sweetness from the raisins is enough to kickstart another round of fermentation and make the liquid more fizzy (remember, kvass is also called Russian cola). If you add this process, you must use glass bottles suitable for fermentation. Otherwise, they may explode and become a health hazard (square bottles are a no-no because they are neither strong enough nor made to resist the pressure).
Leave the bottle to ferment for another 2 days at room temperature, then refrigerate.
7. Kvass is best enjoyed ice-cold, a bit like beer. Perhaps you could make kvass your new official football drink and enjoy a delicious, nutritious, alcohol-free, and, may I say, good-for-you beverage. (especially if you are a Guinness lover)
But, like beer, moderation is key. If you are new to fermented drinks, you should build up to them by drinking no more than 100 ml daily.
If you experience bloating or digestive discomfort, reduce your intake and gradually increase your resistance (over a longer period of time) to the suited intake.
Do not discard the bread; you can mix it into a salad or make tasty croutons; however, if you are making kefir or kombucha, you need a stater to make the recipe again. The chunks of bread are now your starter, so you can use them to make your next batch of kvass. Therefore, fermentation will be much faster the next time and more tasty; use this starter 3 to 4 times or possibly more.