('Recognized By Accident' music)
Greetings my beautiful lovelies. It's Emmy.
Welcome back to another episode of Fermented,
where I toy and experiment with things
that are fermented.
If you've missed the other episodes in the series,
I will put the link up above and down below to the playlist
where you can see other
bubbling, fizzing, things including kimchi,
and... what else have I made that's fermented? Oh!
Sourdough experiments...
But today I'm going to be making a beverage,
a beverage called kvass.
So kvass is a fermented drink and as a result of the fermentation process
alcohol is produced, but is produced in such small amounts,
it's about 0.5 to 1 percent alcohol.
It's kind of similar to drinks like kombucha where it is present,
but not high enough in amounts where it's considered alcoholic.
So kvass comes from the Slavic and Baltic regions of Central and Eastern Europe.
It's been produced and consumed for hundreds of years
all the way back to the Middle Ages.
Fermented drinks like kvass and beer were safer to drink
because they had undergone a fermentation process.
Also, the fermentation process often requires the water to be boiled,
killing many of the pathogens that were in the water.
So it's interesting to think that fermented drinks like beer and kvass
were safer means to get hydrated during the Middle Ages.
Brilliant, right? So, so interesting!
So today I'm gonna be making kvass, and the reason why I wanted to make it
is because it's super simple to make, and
it is made of only three ingredients:
water, sugar, and bread...bread!
So there are many different recipes and techniques to make kvass,
some use additional amounts of yeast with the bread,
some use fruits, some use this kind of flour paste
Lots of different recipes - some even use beets
Basically we need some kind of sugar that needs to be fermented,
we need a source of yeast, we can add additional
manufactured or commercial yeast
Or we can use naturally occurring yeast,
which exists everywhere kind of similar to sourdough
But today I'm going to use the simplest process,
I love the idea of just using
stale bread, water and sugar to make some kind of beverage
So stinking cool!
And in that sense
this is related to pruno which is
the prison hooch or prison wine that's made in prisons using some kinds of sugar,
kool-aid, ketchup, and the bread
mixed together with water, allow it to ferment,
and you got yourself some prison hooch
That is a prison recipe that I have not made -
if you're interested in seeing that one,
please comment down below
the recipe that I'm gonna be using today
I found from the Beets & Bones blog
and I will put a link down in the description
So the first thing you're gonna do
is take your bread
I'm using a very dark rye bread or pumpernickel bread
So place the bread on a rack and allow it to dry out
Some other recipes say that you can also toast this
to get a really dark color
that will also make your kvass a darker color
So, after a day
the bread was very very crisp and dry
and I cut it into small pieces
and we're gonna need two cups of that
So bring six to eight cups of water to a boil
and once it comes to a boil you're going to take about two cups of that and
add it to one cup of raw cane sugar
You're gonna stir this up until the sugar is completely dissolved
The sugar water needs to be at 130 degrees or less,
we don't want to add it immediately to
the bread because it will kill
the yeast
And the reason why we're using hot water is that the hot water will extract
more of the flavor from the bread
Once we've added the syrup,
we're just gonna close up the jar,
put it in a warm spot and allow it to ferment
anywhere from three to seven days
Every day or so you want to open the jar up
and allow it to burp a little bit
because carbon dioxide will build inside of
the jar
It's been six days for me and now we are ready to consume our kvass
So we're going to strain it
I should also mention, this is not the first time ever had kvass
I had my first tasting of it
I believe in my 'Emmy Eats Serbia' video
I also had the Estonian version of kvass and it's called kali,
and that was in my 'Emmy Eats Estonia' video
and I will put the links to those videos down below
So, let's see how mine compares:
open up my container
Ooh!
Can definitely smell the Rye
it smells a little bit anise-y,
kinda sweet
Alright, here we go
Now this soaked bread we can save
and actually use this as a starter for our next batch of kvass
Alright, I'm gonna have to get a second jar
Okay, I'm gonna seal this up
and place this in the refrigerator because kvass
is generally consumed cold
Doo doo doo!
Because this is not completely cold,
I put this in the refrigerator, but it's not completely chilled
I'm going to speed things up with a glass of ice
So, let's try it like that
(ice cracking)
I love that sound of cracking ice
It smells good,
you can definitely smell the rye in there.
Alright, let's give that a taste -
cheers!
Ooooh! Hmmmm!
That is interesting,
that tastes really different than what I remember
the kali and the kvass that I tasted in the cans
It's just slightly effervescent, just a little bit
Actually, the kali I tried
wasn't very effervescent at all, but it was much darker in color,
and as I remember it was called,
oftentimes, Estonian Coca Cola
Because this was the drink of choice before colas and Coca Cola
and sodas and soft drinks invaded
So it's slightly effervescent, there's a little bit of tanginess to it
You can definitely taste the bread
the rye flavor is in there,
it's a little bit anise-y,
a little bit kind of licorice
and it tastes of bread and there's a bit of sweetness to this,
that tastes kind of caramelized
but the color is really different than the kali that I tasted --
the kali was much much darker in color.
This is almost like a ginger-ale in color.
Hmm! Not bad!
I like it's actually really refreshing when you have it cold.
The kvass that I had in my Serbia video was also very dark in color,
and had a similar kind of bready flavor,
but it didn't taste as much like rye bread as this one.
And the glass that I had in the can I remember was much
fizzier than this one.
And I've read that you can make this fizzier by adding
just a pinch of commercial yeast to this
about a day before you're ready to
strain the bread out to give an extra little bit of carbonation.
But I kind of like it like this --
just barely barely a little bit of bubble in there.
This reminds me a little bit of kombucha,
it's not nearly as vinegar smelling or vinegar tasting as kombucha.
I love kombucha, by the way, if you haven't seen my kombucha video,
I have a very old video
on how to make it at home.
I'll put the link above and down below.
This reminds me of that a little bit because it has a little bit of a kind of a
slightly fruity flavor to it
But, it's more tangy rather than being
really kind of vinegar-ed
But this has a very strong rye bread flavor to it,
very interesting drink and when you iced it,
Very. Refreshing.
So, there you have it homemade kvass or
bread beer
If you've got some leftover pumpernickel or rye bread around
definitely try making this it's really fun
and I love the process of fermentation!
It's absolutely fascinating natural and alive
There's something about this energy that happens when something is fermenting,
you can hear it fizzing,
you can see the bubbles bubbling and gurgling,
it's just absolutely delightful
Alrighty, I hope you guys enjoyed that one,
I hope you guys learned something,
please share this video with your friends
Follow me on social media
check out the Fermented playlist
and...yeah!
Like this video, subscribe, and I shall see you in the next one!
Toodaloo! Take care! Byeee!
(giggles)
(Sprightly outro music)
('Recognized By Accident' music)
kvass kvass kvass kvass kvass KVASS!
(burp)
You knew it was coming!
(snare drum)
