Beet and Lemon Kvass

Introduction

I haven’t had kvass in a while. You get it in the kombucha section usually and I like that it’s not as sour as kombucha. I reminds me of the really thin borscht you get in Poland that is basically beet broth as opposed to blended beet soup. I’ve even seen more savory recipes that have onion added. I believe traditionally kvass was bade with a hunk of rye bread thrown on. I’ve tried making it before and it never tasted like more than salty beet water. Let’s see where this goes. If it does not ferment I’ll try adding some brine from beet kraut to kick start the process.

And the salt!! Again such wildly varying amounts. One recipe calls for 2 tsp in a quart but the same book calls for double the salt but only 50% more salt and another has 4x the water with just a pinch of salt…..

Getting Started: Ingredients, Tools, and Method

• 4 small beets from the garden, scrubbed and chopped in to 1/2 inch chunks (not peeled)

• Peel of a thin skinned lemon, torn

• a quart of water

• 2 tsp Diamond Crystal salt

I put it all in a pitcher and covered with a muslin cap and gave it a stir every day.

Salty Beet Water

I love the color - and this is Day 1!

Results/Observation Log

Day 5

Removed lemon peel as it can make ferments really bitter. Removed whitish scum from side of pitcher.

Day 8

Deeper purple in color. Tasted less salty and more beet-y but not at all sour. No bubbles.

There was some mold on the upper corner of the liquid so I carefully transferred into jars:

• divided chopped beets and liquid more or less evenly

• resulted in about 2.5 c volume in each

• added 3 tbs brine from a finished beet kraut to one of the jars

• covered with silicone pickle pipe instead of fabric

I would not recommend consuming from a molded ferment but I want to see what happens in fresh, clean jars and whether a starter would help.

Day 11

UGH.

This is the one with the kraut juice added. I tossed it 😩

I bottled the other jar. I tastes very beety and a bit too salty really. It’ll probably sit in the fridge until I get tired of looking at it. I’ll try a new