Homemade kvass from chicory - the taste of kvass is like from a barrel in childhood
My grandmother always cooked fragrant fragrant kvass in the summer, which was infused with fried rye crackers. It was a very tasty, cool drink, which was brewed in large bottles in our basement, and you could always quench your thirst with it on a hot sunny day.
Of course, I have this recipe, and I often make such a drink for my family, but recently I was told another very curious recipe for a very aromatic refreshing drink that is much tastier than store-bought or barrel kvass.
I have already prepared a portion of such a drink a couple of times and each time I understand that we obviously do not have enough of this amount, because on a hot day you want to drink more, and even if guests come to us, you have to go to the store for mineral water, which is just not the best the best drink at this moment.
Therefore, I have already bought a large container to cook such a delicious chicory kvass at home, the recipe for which I want to give you. Kvassok in a double portion - just enough for the weekend. I like the special taste of the drink, so specific, slightly bitter and spicy, and all because I use a decoction of instant chicory with sugar syrup in its base. Supermarkets have a huge selection of such a product, you can choose at your discretion with any additives - ginseng, lemon balm and hawthorn to get a unique taste of the finished drink. Well, to add a little sourness, I pour in a little citric acid, it perfectly reveals the taste and aroma of the ingredients. Well, the last component is pressed yeast, which I dilute a little with water and pour it into the drink at the last moment, before leaving it for fermentation. After a couple of hours, kvass, poured into bottles, I take out in the cold for 8-10 hours.
The recipe is given based on 5 liters of the finished drink.
- instant chicory - 50 g,
- granulated sugar - 400 g,
- citric acid - 8 g,
- yeast (fresh) - 50 g,
- boiled cooled water - 5 liters.
First of all, boil and cool the water. If we take bottled water for kvass, then we skip this stage. 
Then pour 1 liter of water into a separate pan, pour sugar into it according to the norm. 
And add soluble chicory powder. 
While stirring, cook a strong sweet drink - as soon as it boils. 
Remove from fire and cool. 
Pour the decoction of chicory into the rest of the water and pour in the powder of citric acid.
In a small bowl, mix fresh yeast with water to make a liquid mass. 
And pour it into our drink. 
We cover the dishes with kvass with a lid and leave for a couple of hours for the fermentation process. 
Then we pour it into bottles and take it out in the cold for 10 hours. 
It tastes very good and
I want to wholeheartedly recommend you a recipe for kvass at home! I have made such kvass many times already, it is simply indistinguishable from cask. Remember the one that used to be sold in barrels? Such kvass is prepared quickly and easily! Sharp, cooling and toning! This is how homemade kvass turns out!
Prepare these foods:
- cold water - 5 liters;
- chicory ordinary - 2 tbsp. (it is necessary to take ordinary chicory, powdered, without any additives);
- sugar - 500-650 grams (depending on what you like for sweetness;
- citric acid - 1 tsp;
- 5-6 grams of dry yeast (half a pack).
Kvass recipe at home. How to cook
- Dissolve chicory in cold water. sugar and citric acid.
- Put on the fire, let it boil.
- When it boils, stir. And let it cool down to the temperature of fresh milk.
- Then add yeast and leave for 3-4 hours. If kvass doesn’t seem sharp enough to your taste, you can leave it all night, the main thing is not to overplay it.
- Usually, as soon as the foam appears, I try it. It should taste like real kvass.
Poured it into bottles or into a jar and refrigerate.
And then infused in the refrigerator, it will become cold, sharp. Mmmm .... delicious!
In summer, when the sun is hot, it is so nice to quench your thirst with cold kvass - it gives a boost of energy and restores vitality. For many, the most favorite kvass is from familiar yellow barrels.
But how to make this healthy and tasty drink at home? Traditionally, kvass is made from barley or wheat malt and fermented flour, or from rye bread. You can also add honey and herbs to it. In the same recipe, the main ingredient is chicory. With it, the drink acquires new shades of taste and rich color.
Ingredients:
- water - 5 liters;
- chicory - 2 tbsp. l.;
- citric acid - 1 tsp;
- sugar - 500 gr.;
- dry yeast - 5 gr. (for example, Saf-Moment).
Cooking method:
Pour chicory, sugar, citric acid into the water and put on fire. When the mixture boils, turn it off and set aside to cool. Then add yeast to the future kvass and leave until foam appears for several hours, and preferably overnight. (Note that aluminum utensils cannot be used for this).
Ready! Pour the finished kvass into bottles and put in the refrigerator to cool. You can store such a drink for no more than three days, then it loses its beneficial properties.
Kvass is homemade according to this recipe, it turns out harsh and sweet, very tasty. Exactly the same as they used to sell in barrels. Nothing removes thirst in the heat like cold kvass with foam, and even cooked at home without any chemicals. This recipe is surprisingly fast, kvass will be ready in 6 hours.
Ingredients:
- Water - 5 liters cold;
- regular chicory (without fillers) - 2 tablespoons;
- citric acid - 1 tsp;
- sugar - 450-600 grams (depending on how you like);
- dry yeast - 6 grams (about half a pack of a small one).
Kvass is homemade. Step by step recipe
- Mix water with sugar, add chicory, put on fire and bring to a boil. Before the water boils, add citric acid.
- When it boils, immediately turn it off and let it cool down.
- When the water is a little warm, add the yeast.
- Cover with cheesecloth and leave in a warm place for 3-4 hours. If the house is not very warm, it would be better to leave kvass overnight, then it will turn out to be sharper.
- After 4 hours, foam should appear, then the kvass is ready, you can try it, but it is not cold, and not so tasty.
- But when you cool it in the refrigerator, then kvass, what you need is obtained!
Refreshing, tonic and invigorating homemade drink. We advise everyone to cook, it will be delicious!
Evgeny Shatilov tells how kvass was prepared a couple of centuries ago. Now we make a drink in almost the same way - only a lot and on modern equipment. Steel vats instead of wooden barrels, electric heating instead of a wood-burning stove - well, everything in this (progressive) spirit. But today we are talking about the past - welcome to the Russian Empire!
In pre-revolutionary times, almost every house made kvass according to its own family recipe. It is similar to how borscht is cooked today: everyone has a special cooking secret. And, like borscht, kvass was loved by all segments of the population.
Peasants often prepared a simple drink based only on cereals, merchants sprinkled seasonings, and on manor estates they added raisins and mint to kvass. Geography also influenced the recipes: in Karelia, wild berries were added, in Voronezh - horseradish or dill seeds, in the Kuban - apples, and in Astrakhan, ready-made kvass was diluted with watermelon juice. In addition, kvass from one owner in two barrels could differ, because in the 18th century it was impossible to achieve a stable quality of the drink, especially at home.
Nevertheless, the main stages of kvass production were unchanged throughout the country.
1. Malt preparation
The main ingredient is malt, germinated cereals. Rye malt is used for dark kvass, rye malt for white ones, and wheat, rye, and barley could be mixed in different proportions for rustic kvass.
The harvest was collected from the fields with scythes or sickles, then the ears were dried and threshed - the grains were separated from the ears.
The threshed grain was poured with water in a nochve - a trough hollowed out of wood with a wide open top. There, cereals were germinated to form enzymes that would then break down the starch contained in the grain into simple carbohydrates (otherwise the yeast would have nothing to eat). Sprouted grains were dried and ground in a mortar.
Although there were methods and simpler. For example, in the Pskov region, they recall this method: “Kvass was made: they made rosh and spread it on the floor, covered it with rags; it will grow together with the layers - they tear the salt, scald hot water with water, set the oven, such a sweet one, then f fermented. Yes, we have a proofreader, we just left the original spelling - it's more interesting that way.
2. Brewing the wort
Next, the kvass brewer poured the crushed malt into a clay pot, filled it with water and sent it all into the Russian oven with the help of a fork. Malt languishing (or simply speaking, boiling) lasted an average of 3 to 6 hours: the exact time depended on the volume of dishes, the amount of water and malt.
During languishing, grain starch decomposed into sugars, and the sweetness of the grain turned into a liquid. When everything was ready, the pot was taken out of the oven, and the mash (the same brew) was filtered to separate the already unnecessary malt particles - grains - and feed it to domestic animals.
3. Adding starter
Leaven was added to the wort to induce fermentation. Since a pure culture of yeast was brought out only in 1881, fermentation was organized in all sorts of ways. The easiest way is to leave the wort in the open air, and the fermentation begins by itself due to wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria from the environment.
To speed up the process, they made sourdough, which could be based on soured black bread and yogurt. But since the taste and benefits of the finished drink largely depended on the starter, a successful recipe was carefully kept in the family and passed down from generation to generation.
4. Fermentation
The resulting mass was poured into barrels and sent for fermentation in a dark, cool place. The stronger they wanted to get the drink, the longer the fermentation went on - at least the future kvass stood for a week, on average - two or three. And in Germany, even now you can find kvass, which is classified as weissbier - wheat beer.
