Kvass
Kvass is a fermented cereal-based low-alcohol beverage of cloudy appearance and sweet-sour taste.
A mug of mint kvass and its ingredients | |||||||
| Alternative names | kvas, quass, quasse, quas, quash, kuass, kwas | ||||||
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| Type | Fermented low alcoholic beverage | ||||||
| Course | Beverage | ||||||
| Region or state | Northeastern Europe; Central and Eastern Europe; North Caucasus; Xinjiang, China; Heilongjiang, China | ||||||
| Associated cuisine | Russian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Uyghur cuisine | ||||||
| Serving temperature | Cold or room temperature | ||||||
| Main ingredients | Rye bread or rye flour and rye malt, as well as water and yeast | ||||||
| Ingredients generally used | Berries, fruits, herbs, honey | ||||||
| Variations | Beetroot kvass, white kvass | ||||||
| Circa 30–100 kcal | |||||||
Nutritional value (per serving) |
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Kvass originates from northeastern Europe, where grain production was considered insufficient for beer to become a daily drink. The first written mention of kvass is found in Primary Chronicle, describing the celebration of Vladimir the Great's baptism in 996. In the traditional method, kvass is made from a mash obtained from rye bread or rye flour and malt soaked in hot water, fermented for about 12 hours with the help of sugar and bread yeast or baker's yeast at room temperature. In industrial methods, kvass is produced from wort concentrate combined with various grain mixtures. It is a popular drink in Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, some parts of Finland, Sweden, and China.