How to Make Beet Kvass with Honey
How to make a sweet honey and beet kvass easily at home. Full recipe below.
Kvass is a non-alcoholic lightly sparkling traditional fermented Russian beverage, which is traditionally made with rye bread.
For this recipe, I’m not going to get too much into what kvass is, where it came from, or the probiotic side of things. I’m also going to leave out ginger bugs and fermentation basics.
I’ve already covered that in my previous traditional kvass recipe and kvass guide found here.
Read that article and try out the traditional kvass first. Even if you don’t make the traditional kvass. It’s still a good idea to skim through that post just to understand what exactly kvass is and the details around non/low alcoholic percentages, benefits and safety.
Now. Assuming you’ve already read that post. Let’s get onto our popular kvass variation - Beet kvass. Where we will be swapping out the main rye bread ingredient for something more earthy - beetroot! and adding a touch of something sweet - Honey
What you will need to make beet kvass
Before you make beet kvass it's a good idea to invest in a jar with an airlock. But you know that already because I covered it in my main kvass article.
Just in case you missed it, A jar with an airlock fixture will allow your beverage to freely ferment without contamination or explosions occurring.
Why Beet kvass?
Why beetroot in kvass you may ask. I don’t know if I’m honest, it just seems to be a popular variation. I guess the earthiness of the beetroot adds a complexity that works beautifully with this recipe.
However, why we don’t see beetroot kombucha or beetroot Tepacha I don’t know. Either way, don’t argue with it, just try it. It works wonders.
I do differ my recipe slightly to that of others, in the way that I add honey to sweeten the kvass.
That combination of earthy beetroot with sweet and floral honey is a match made in heaven. trust me
Beet kvass Ingredients
Ingredients
250g Beetroot
1 tsp salt
1 litre of boiled water
100ml Honey
½ tsp ginger bug or ½ tsp wine yeast
Beware of that extra alcohol forming
Once we bottle up our beet kvass with the added honey. Because there won't be an air lock or open fermentation (because we will have a lid on the bottle) The co2 created by fermentation will force itself into the liquid creating an extra bubbly beet kvass. Which is great! However, left too long the co2 build up will be too much and become an explosion hazard. So make sure you open your bottle up at least twice a day to allow the build up of co2 to escape so nothing explodes in your fridge. That would be a cleaning nightmare trust me, I've been there.
Beet Kvass
Ingredients
Instructions
- Dice your beetroot into small chunks and add them to your senatised jar.
- Add the salt
- Mix 50ml of the honey with the boiling water and stir until dissolved.
- Pour your honey water over the beetroot and sprinkle over your yeast or ginger bug.
- Seal your jar and allow to ferment for 2 days.
- After 2 days a white foam should be formed on your liquid and your airlock should have the occasional bubble. This means it's been fermenting and is ready to strain.
- Strain, refrigerate and taste. If you like it, keep it how it is. Otherwise add the rest of the honey and stir. Refrigerate and consume within 7 days.
Notes
A note on adding extra honey.
There is a reason we only add half the honey before fermenting and half after. The half prior is giving the yeast something to feed on. The yeast will eat the sugars creating your fermented drink. Meaning it doesn't add any sweetness.
The yeast we add after is to sweeten our mix.
However, if the yeast is still thriving (and chances are after 2 days it still will be) This means you will also be feeding the yeast. Meaning it will slowly become more alcoholic and more bubbly.
The nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
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