Hello & welcome to all the new subscribers! Thank you so much for joining me here.
I love learning about the worlds of fermentation and bread-baking, and that’s what I primarily aim to share through my newsletter. I’ve been slow in sending out these newsletters during summer which has become 5X crazier when you are working in 2 bakeries. I guess this is also why brainstorming for today’s newsletter was a no-brainer for me. I am sharing about Beet Kvass which has become a summer essential.
I sincerely hope you enjoy reading it and your support through feedback/ suggestions is welcome and deeply appreciated.
Love,
Ekta
Fun with ferments
I discovered the magical world of fermentation beyond Sourdough & Yogurt-making during the lockdown, and homemade fermented beverages have been my favourite discovery. They are easy and quick to make. The flavour possibilities are endless. For someone who hasn’t developed an appreciation for liquor and wishes to steer away from store-bought carbonated drinks, fermented beverages opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me.
This is when I also made Beet Kvass for the first time. Since then I have made it regularly, especially during these hot summer days. A fun ritual in my house is my husband and me starting our mornings with beet kvass shots. The slightly salty and tangy flavours do its job well in fully waking us up.
This year, the beet kvass got a little makeover. Instead of the bright, dark-red coloured drink, I made it with golden beets that lend the ferment a more calming, golden colour to it. Golden Kvass, as the name suggests, is made with golden beets. I found it to have a lighter fizz compared to the red beet kvass. But is equally inviting and has the similar refreshing kick that I love about this drink.
The intense earthiness of beetroots can be an acquired taste for some. If you relate, then you would like the golden beets that are milder than the red ones.
But isn’t Kvass made with bread?
Here’s what I learned about Kvass:
Kvass is a lovely, refreshing, effervescent sour beverage usually made from old bread. It is traditional in Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and other countries of Eastern Europe, where mobile kvass wagons can still be found, especially in summertime. Kvass is so iconic in this region that other types of sour beverages are also called kvass - beet kvass, for instance, or tea kvass, a name for kombucha. According to Elena Molokhovets, author of the 1861 Russian cookbook A Gift to Young Housewives, at that time drinking kvass was “a culture-laden act that helped to define one’s Russianness.” Similarly, today in Russia, Kvass is being marketed with an appeal to nationalistic pride. An Internet blogger translated a Russian news report: “Local drink producers advertise their products as patriotic alternatives to Western drinks. One of them even chose a patriotic name: Nikola, alluding to ne kola [not Cola]. In the last year, they even launched an ‘anticolanization’ campaign against colanizing Western soft drinks.”
Excerpt from Sandor Ellix Katz’ book: The Art of Fermentation (published in 2012)
Kvass is said to be a great digestive aid and possesses many nutritional benefits.
How to make Golden Kvass
Ingredients:
Process:
Thoroughly wash the beets under cold water with a scrub brush.
Chop the beets with the skin on (because good microbes!) into small 1-2 cm chunks.
Add the beets, turmeric, spices, and ginger/garlic to a clean, sterile jar.
Now fill the jar with water leaving about 2” of room for the ferment to breathe and bubble without overflowing.
Salt quantity is at 2.5% of the weight of total ingredients (including water). You can easily scale up the recipe and make it your own now. Yes, go make that big batch!
Loosely cover the jar with its lid. Let it ferment for 3-6 days until you notice the drink has become fizzy, the colours have deepened, and the flavours are more enhanced. It would almost taste like a pickle brine with sharp notes. But feel free to dilute it to your liking.
Once fermented, place the jar in the fridge where it will continue slow fermenting and will keep for several months.
Recipe Notes:
You can peel the skin off if you like and use them to make a bright and rich vegetable broth.
Ginger and garlic are optional but recommended, depending on your taste bud’s liking. They do add a stronger punch to the ferment.
Kahm yeast is a layer of thin, white, sometimes foamy, layer on the ferment and is quite common in Beet kvass. The ferment will still be safe to consume, but it’s best to keep a close eye and skim off any formation in earlier stages. If you notice any mould/fungus, discard the batch immediately.
You can use the beets and spices after straining and make one more batch of Kvass. You can add 1-2 tspns of any other ferment like Kombucha, yogurt/ kefir whey etc as a starter to speed up the fermentation for this second batch.
Use strained beets as a snack, or add them to salads. I blitz them and add them to my Indian sabzis or even soups - because I love the complex flavours it adds!
There’s a lot of room for experimentation while making Beet Kvass. Some suggestions for flavour variations:
Carrot-beet-ginger Kvass
Addition of sliced onions or mint
Hope you enjoy making it. Happy Fermenting!