Making Beet Kvass

We're wrapping up our beet theme today with an interesting recipe that I promised last night.  We're making a beverage called Beet Kvass.  It is a fermented beverage that is popular in Russia and Ukraine.  Now, I'm not used to seeing the consonants, 'k' and 'v' used together, so I was guessing that this recipe is from another culture and after looking on Wikipedia, that assumption is correct.  Kvass is an old Slavic word that means, 'yeast' or 'leaven.'

It all starts off on the row of beets.  After you've grown some nice beets, pull them out of the ground and bring them inside.

Bull's Blood Beets

We use a recipe from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions Cookbook.  Sally Fallon is associated with the Weston A. Price Foundation, a foundation we belong to whose mission is "to restore nutrient-dense foods to the American diet through education, research, and activism."

First you want to peel and chop up 3 or 4 medium beets.  You don't want to shred them - just chop them into some nice sized chunks.  Beets are a boring, drab looking root vegetable, but when you peel them and cut into them, they come alive with a vivid red color!

Chopping up the beets

Clean up a half gallon sized Mason jar and put your cut up beets into it.

The only ingredients you need besides beets are 1/4 cup whey and 2 teaspoons of sea salt.  We had just made some kefir, so we had plenty of whey.  Add the whey and the sea salt to your chopped beets in the jar.  

Beets, whey, and salt

Then add filtered water to fill the jar.

Adding filtered water

Stir well and then put the cap on securely.  Give it a good shake and leave on the counter at room temperature for 2 days.  After 2 days move it to the refrigerator.  The neat thing about this recipe is that when you have drunk almost all of the liquid you can fill it back up with water and do it again.

At room temperature for 2 days

According to the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook: "This drink is valuable for its medicinal qualities and as a digestive aid.  Beets are just loaded with nutrients.  One 4-ounce glass, morning and night, 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.  Beet kvass may also be used in place of vinegar in salad dressings and as an addition to soups."

I don't know how to adequately describe the taste to you.  The first time we made it I was a little suspicious of it because we were new to lacto-fermentation and I was afraid that it was going to kill me.  Well, I'm still here!  A cup of cold beet kvass is salty, slightly sour, but is refreshing and makes you feel better.  And it doesn't kill you. Enjoy a cup of beet kvass today!