Cooling Down with Kvass
A guest post from Keith Hartwig of Succession Fermentory
Hello Flavor Freaks!
Today’s guest post is from Keith Hartwig, co-founder of Succession Fermentory outside of Philly. He’s here to talk to you about kvass, a wonderful drink and a superbly customizable way to extract a ton of flavor from stale bread. There’s a downloadable pdf with the recipe & instructions down at the bottom of this post.
Keith is an artist, educator, and food producer whose work envisions vibrant, resilient futures for food systems in a warming world—not through high-tech solutions, but by looking to traditional, sustainable culinary ways that have nourished human communities for thousands of years. In 2021, Keith co-founded Succession Fermentory in Cochranville, PA, a farmhouse fermentation business committed to supporting regional, sustainable, and ecologically conscious agricultural practices.
IG: succession_fermentory (FB too)
Here’s Keith:
I’m writing this under the spell of a heat dome: pushing 100 degrees fahrenheit, 70% humidity, and clear skies that let the sun beam down unrelentingly. The plants are loving it! We people, on the other hand, are doing our best to stay indoors and cool. It’s times like these that I’m most grateful and aware of the privileges of having air conditioning and refrigeration. The latter especially, as my fridge is packed with crispy beverages, mostly homemade ferments, that promise to cool me down and boost my spirit on days like these. Tucked in with the kombucha, beer, and seltzers, is a swing-top bottle of kvass. This is one of my favorite fermented beverages to make, one that straddles the line between beer and natural soda, and which I seldom encounter outside of my own kitchen. Kvass, like many ferments, is extremely flexible, allowing you to experiment with process, ingredients, alcohol content, and of course, flavor!
Kvass, for the unfamiliar, is a fermented low-alcohol beverage, traditionally made from stale or leftover rye bread. It’s light, effervescent, tangy (the name means “to become sour”), and highly refreshing. And because it's fermented, the nutrients from the bread (proteins, B vitamins, phosphorus, zinc, etc) and whatever other ingredients you choose to add, are more bioavailable. By contrast, modern commercial versions, which you’re likely to encounter at an Eastern European or Russian specialty food market, are made from cereal grain extracts, malt syrup, and beet molasses, and are cloyingly sweet (and not very nutritious). They are more akin to Coca Cola or Pepsi than a natural homemade soda, and are nothing like their traditional counterparts described here, the likes of which have been made by folk practitioners for over 1000 years. Traditional kvass is a great example of food recovery, upcycling, and the resourcefulness of folk peoples. It’s an easy to make and healthy beverage that keeps well, especially when refrigerated.
If you’re feeling curious and want to make kvass at home, I’ve included an easy to follow recipe and worksheet [pdf at the bottom of this post] that lists all of the equipment and ingredients you need to get started. This recipe can easily be adapted to suit your own preferences, or for experimentation.
The base of kvass is good bread! While rye is traditional, any bread is suitable. Different breads will produce different flavors. For my most recent kvass endeavor, I created two batches, one with honey wheat, the other with sourdough rye. The honey wheat, not surprisingly, produced a nice nutty, semi-sweet kvass. The rye, with its caraway seeds, contributed a slightly spicy and anise like flavor to the kvass.
NOTE: Avoid bread with nuts, meat or cheese. The fats from these ingredients can cause the kvass to become rancid.
Toasting the bread is another way to adjust the flavor of your kvass. Typically I toast the bread until it is just starting to darken around the edges, which results in a fresh, light, and slightly nutty/grainy flavor. The darker your bread, the more maillard character, color, and toasty flavors will be imparted to your kvass. While I’ve never attempted it, you could go super dark and produce a brown ale or stout-like kvass with roasted and burnt sugar notes.
The kvass I make is usually on the low (but not NA) end of the alcohol spectrum. It is also tart and tangy owing to the presence of lactobacillus that I intentionally introduce via fruit or raw grain additions to co-ferment with the brewers yeast. Lacto-fermentation is optional, but in my opinion, produces an even more refreshing and bright kvass. You can also reduce (or increase) the alcohol content by adjusting the amount of sugar that you use.
The recipe provided is for a beverage of approximately 4.5% alcohol by volume. For example, if you’re looking to create something in the natural soda or kombucha end of the abv spectrum, you could reduce the sugar to 2-4 ounces. And the sugar you use matters too! Turbinado, piloncillo, jaggery, beet molasses, malt extract, invert sugar, honey (and its innumerable varietals), and more will all contribute unique flavors to your brew.
The final way I like to tinker with making Kvass is in the addition of fruit, herbs, and spices to the ferment. Since kvass only needs to ferment for a few days, I typically add these ingredients to the kvass as it is cooling and before I pitch yeast or lactobacillus. Here are some examples of a few of my favorite flavor combos; black lime and mint; anise hyssop, strawberry tops, and tulsi; and, my go-to, lemon peel, raisins, and ginger. So there you have it: kvass, and all the ways you can experiment with it. The next time you find yourself with a stale loaf of bread and a knack for trying something new, brew yourself a batch of kvass—and let us know how it turns out!
Thanks, Keith! Below you’ll find his excellent (and charmingly illustrated) kvass lesson in a handy pdf.
Interesting; I've never made kvass, and now I shall have to try it. Thanks!
I have been making beet kvass for years. I’ve never used breads. I might just . . . (an old friend told me her Eastern European grandmother used to spit into hers😳. Grandmother made hers with sourdough crusts).