Beet Kvass is a traditional Ukrainian fermented beetroot drink. Beetroot is packed with vitamins and minerals – and a couple of glasses of the kvass “is an excellent blood tonic, promotes regularity, aids digestion, alkalizes the blood, cleanses the liver and is a good treatment for kidney stones and other ailments.” (Nourishing Traditions, p 608). It’s a great accompaniment to your meal.
I won’t lie to you – this one is not for everyone! Filippa and I luuuuurve it!! It’s true – call us weird, call us old-fashioned or try it and maybe you will too! When I first moved into Casa Araki, we would sip it decorously with our dinner out of wine glasses. All pretensions to sophistication have long since been dropped and now we happily guzzle from large tumblers.
Every dinner we share with others we take the opportunity to educate our friends on the amazing health benefits of this fermented beetroot drink and sit back watching with interest as they sip it suspiciously. Truthfully, we haven’t made many converts – perhaps it’s a bit of an acquired taste. Funnily enough our most successful convert to date has been Kayo (Filippa’s 10 month old) who drinks it with relish, hooting happily between sips and kicking her legs with excitement in anticipation of the next sip.
I brew the kvass in a large 3 litre glass jar that has a screw on lid and an inner snap on pouring lid that successfully holds back the beetroot cubes when decanting. When the brew is made we decant into large glass bottles to store in the fridge. Before I found the brewing jar, I used to use a 2 litre glass juice flagon for brewing and would tie some netting over the top when decanting to stop the beetroot pieces tumbling out.
To make beet kvass, you will need:
2 large, 3 medium or 4 small beetroot (increase the number of beetroots for a larger container)
1 dessertspoon sea salt
1/4 cup kefir whey
water (filtered water)
2 litre glass flagon
Finely cube the beetroot – no need to peel them, just remove the tops if they are dirty and give them a wash. Put cubes in flagon with salt, whey and fill up with water. Give a little shake then put the flagon aside in the kitchen where it won’t get in your way. The time it takes to ferment will depend on the climate. In summer time it may take 24 hours, in winter it can take 3 or four days. You need to taste along the way to check. You will know it is ready when it has a rich sour, salty beetroot flavor and a tingle of a fizz through it.
When it’s ready, decant into glass flagons and store in the fridge. Leave 1/2 cup of the Beet Kvass in the brewing jar with the diced beetroot. Add another fresh diced beetroot, 1 dessertspoon of sea salt and fill with water. Put aside to ferment again. After you have done two batches on the one lot of beetroot, throw out the beetroot (compost it!) and begin again. After the first batch has been brewed with whey, each successive batch can be innoculated with some of the Beet Kvass instead.
The hardest thing for Filippa and I is pacing ourselves on one batch so that we don’t drink it all before the next batch is ready! I wonder if you’ll have this trouble?
