A Taste of Eastern Europe

Fermented Foods & Beverages Edition

1. Kvass (Fermented Bread Beverage)

Lightly alcoholic (< 1%) when store-bought, but mind you, we often stored it at room temperature - which I estimate, over a few days / weeks got the alcohol content up to 3-4 percent. I used to guzzle this stuff as a kid, heh. Still do!

Always make with rye bread - versions can be made with regular, white bread, but it's not the same. If rye bread is unavailable in sufficient quantities, a 50/50 mix or rye to white bread is permitted.

From my youth, I recall the large, handsome wheeled wagons (container trailers, almost), full of fresh kvass, that would typically be parked at venues. Particularly fondly do I remember one that was a frequent sight at the VDNKH in Moscow. It was there, I believe, that I'd first tried the beverage, at an age no older than four or five.

A great advantage of kvass is that it's ready to drink within a few days. Admittedly, I seldom brew my own anymore; as I am often in the local Eastern European grocery store, I tend to purchase off-the-shelf varieties. Nonetheless, I thought a recipe may yet be of use to those interested:

Recipe:

1. Dry your bread by slicing and drying in an oven - cook at a medium temperature until a dark crust forms (darkness of crust will affect how bitter / strong the flavour will be.)
2. Fill your vessel of choice one half (1/2) full of the dried rye bread, and pour boiling water over them until container is 2/3 full. Allow to stand for a few hours.
3. In a separate container (a cup would suffice, really), activate your yeast - add a spoon of active yeast, or dry yeast, to your cup; add warm water, and a few spoons of sugar. Wait until yeast blooms.
4. Once yeast has bloomed, add to your vessel with the bread mash, and top up with water until full. Place into a cool spot for a day or so. Place a tray or a plate under, should it overflow / overferment, to avoid a spill.
5. After a day or so, pour off the water; you can now fill all containers you want to brew kvass in half-full with your mash. Fill with water, and add sugar (to taste - anything from 3 tablespoons to a cup or more - it really can depend.) Add a few pieces of your oven-dry bread, some raisins, and let sit.
6. One day later, you will have ready to drink kvass!

2. Lacto-fermented Pickles

A very healthy probiotic snack. Unlike Western, vinegar-based pickles, these are salted, and then lacto-fermented. Think sauerkraut, but with cucumbers. When I first came to the West, I fell in love with vinegar-pickled products, but as the years pile on, I find myself reaching for the kind I'd grown up with more and more often.

Production is very different from Western pickles, although, these are less shelf-stable. Canning isn't required, which is a bonus; I never took up canning out of fear of botulism. Perhaps an unfounded one, but one I have had for years nonetheless.

Recipe (To Be Continued.) (Ran out of time.)

3. Fermented Red Cabbage (Georgian-Style)

Another classic dish, Georgian-style pickled cabbage. When I was a boy, my father told me many stories of his childhood in Sukhumi, and of the many adventures and misadventures he'd gotten himself into. People, at the time, were assumed to make most of their foods themselves - this, of course, includes pickles, and such other goods.

One such story revolved around him (no older than 7) stealing pickles from the incredibly large, buried clay pots, where enormous batches of all manners of delicious and crunchy treats were kept - everything from the aforementioned cabbage, to garlic, to tomatoes, and pretty much any other vegetable you can imagine.

The red cabbage was a common side-dish (practically a condiment) to nearly every meal I've had growing up - whether it be mamaliga (a sort of porridge made with corn millings) or lobio (a delicious bean stew), the crispy, salty cabbage was a wonderful palate cleanser to take between bites. Believed to greatly improve digestion, this was a product commonly found in many kitchens around the country.