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Snezhana Goldfild wrote in with this recipe for apple kvas (яблочный квас). I knew I had to try it so I purchased ingredients the next day and went to work. It really was as she described it “very refreshing.” It’s easier than the classic bread kvas that I posted earlier and just as good. Looking forward to having kvas more often now that I have such an easy recipe.
I mentioned this recipe to my mom and it brought back memories of her childhood; her brothers would go into the forest and collect birch tree juice. Her Mom added yeast and dried pears for color and they would drink Birch kvass all summer long.
Now, where do I find Birch tree juice – wouldn’t that be awesome?!
Back to the apple kvas – Snezhana mentioned that it can be made with fresh apple juice – I’ll have to visit mom’s juice maker for that. Snezhana – thank you so much for this wonderful kvas recipe. It’s sure to become a family favorite!
Ingredients for apple kvas:
8 cups apple juice (any kind, fresh or concentrate)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp dark molasses (or 1 tsp instant coffee), used for color only
6 cups filtered water
How to Make Apple Kvas:
1. Fill a 16 cup glass jar with 8 cups apple juice.
2. Add 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 Tbsp yeast and 1/2 tsp molasses, than stir until sugar dissolves. Finally add water.
3. Cover with multiple layers of cheesecloth or a cotton cloth and put a rubber band over the rim of the jar. Let stand on the counter for 18 hours, then refrigerate. Once it’s completely chilled, you can remove the cheese cloth and screw the lid on. If you put the lid on while it’s warm, too much pressure will build up inside the jar. This is especially dangerous with a plastic bottle (KA-BOOM!)
Serve Kvas once it’s completely chilled.
Notes: Snezhana suggested: 4-8 heaping Tbsp of sugar, (7 Tbsp = 1/2 cup which turned out quite nice!) Instead of using a cloth over the top, you can also poke holes in the lid while it sits on the counter.
Russian Apple Kvas Recipе - Квас
Ingredients
- 8 cups apple juice
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 tsp dark molasses, or 1 tsp instant coffee
- 6 cups filtered water
Instructions
- Fill a 16 cup glass jar with 8 cups apple juice.
- Add sugar, yeast and molasses. Stir until sugar dissolves than add water.
- Cover with multiple layers of cheesecloth or a cotton cloth and put a rubber band over the rim of the jar. Let stand on the counter for 18 hours, then refrigerate. Once it's completely chilled, you can remove the cheese cloth and screw the lid on. If you put the lid on while it's warm, too much pressure will build up inside the jar.
Serve Kvas once it's completely chilled.
Notes
Hi Natasha! I know this is an oldie but goodie recipe 🙂 I am craving some Kvass and want to make it bc I know there are gut benefits too, but do you know if this one with the yeast has less benefits from the fermentation process vs. kvass made with bread? Or do you think it’s about the same? Thank you so much as always!
Lindsey, I don’t have the answer to that. If anyone knows, please feel free to share.
Is there alcohol in this?
Hi Julie, if it sits longer, it will start to have very small amounts of alcohol, but nothing significant. It is similar to kombucha.
I thank you for the recipes. It is so wonderful trying recipes from other countries.
My pleasure Virginia! I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Hi Natasha, may I ask, did your kvas form a white foamy cap on the top? If so, do you just take it off?
Hi Alena, I don’t recall getting a foamy cap with this one but you can skim it off with a spoon. Did you possibly use a different kind of yeast?
Red star 🙂 thanks for the reply
You’re welcome Alena!
Hi Natasha, you for the recipe, we have been making this kvas for quite some time and love it but we had a few times where it didnt become bubbly and we cant figure out why any suggestions what might have went wrong?
Thank you
Hi Diana, typically it is due to not letting the kvas sit long enough to become bubbly but it could also be due to using old inactive yeast or keeping it in an environment warmer than 100˚F, or reducing the amount of sugar. The yeast feeds on the sugar so reducing it or using a sugar substitute could be a culprit. I hope that helps!
Do i need to use warm/ boiling water? Since the recipe says to wait till it is chilled before putting the cap on.
Hi Solomiya, no, the warm/boiling water is not necessary. Just use filtered water such as from the refrigerator or bottled water. I meant when it is chilled in the refrigerator so it doesn’t burst.
Would apple cider work better instead of apple juice?
Hi Lana, apple cider has some spices that will alter the flavor of the kvas (cinnamon and nutmeg, sometimes other spices). I haven’t tried that substitution but keep in mind if you use it, the flavor will be different.
Thanks for the recipe! I can’t wait to try it! Kvass stirs up so much nostalgia of my Russian summers, so it has a special place in my heart 🙂
My hubby (American) hasn’t been able to acquire the taste for it, so I’m hoping he might like this one. I think I’ll add some cinnamon to give it a little extra oomph!
You are welcome Sonia and let me know how it turns out 😄.
I just wanted to mention that you can find birch syrup online too — not that you shouldn’t look for it in local stores also!
It’s on Amazon as “Alaska Birch syrup”
Thank you so much for sharing!
Excellent recipe. Thank you for sharing. I am looking forward to making it! I have been making bread kvas, but this definitely sounds much easier! Have you tried kvas made with lemons or beets?
I haven’t tried kvass with lemon or beets but I’m always willing to try new things :).
Привет Наташа, как дела?
Inspired by your apple kvas and the sharing your grandmother’s way of making birch tree juice kvas -which turned out magnificently- I decided to give ‘Latino succulent kvas’ a shot, using Aloë vera which is known for its medicinal and dermo-protective (skin-envigourating) properties.
Not only is Aloë juice the basis of several soft and hard alcoholic drinks such as Mezcal, Pulque and Tequila, which reveals a high natural sugar content in this cactus/succulent, and next to this our succulent seems widely marketed all over the word as a fresh food or -water conservant, not to speak of the thirteen-in-a-dozen cosmetic product gamma touting Aloë vera as the next best thing to the ancient water from the Macrobian springs, widely known for their mystical rejuvinating power, in Greco-Roman Antiquity, said to turn old, wrinkled бабушки, with horny stumps on their heads anid eternally bent backs, into lithe, blossoming teenage girls almost overnight. 😉
But back to the kvas: I found Aloë juice marketed here in green plastic bottles with English/German labels: “Aloe Vera Juice with Vitamin C, No Conservants or Articifial Colorants added / Aloë Vera Getrank mit Vitamin C, Weder Konservierungsmittelen noch Farbstoffe” .
According to the label they contain: Aloë vera gel [cactus/succulent juice is always a thick, slimy gel. -OC], mineral water, citric acid, extract of grapes and fructose. The nutritive chart says 8.3% carbohydrate content, meaning our sugars.
So as it already contains sugars, only yeast had to be added, 1 tablespoon of dehydrated yeast per 3L juice. I used a general-purpose top fermenting beer yeast, but regular baker’s yeast works just fine. Adding more yeast speeds up the process but the product will end up tasting like yeast if you are not careful, so don’t over-do it. Also, the general rule is, re-hydrate you spoonful of yeast powder first in a cup of Aloë juice for at least 30 minutes before adding it to the mother-flask. stir from time to time. After 36 hours it is ready to drink ad the taste is heavenly, but if you like it a bit more “character-building”, wait 3 days, then it will contain as much alcohol as a beer.
In conclusion: the recipe, based on Natasha’s originals, is yet again a winner, and although not “from the Motherland”, there are and have been enough White and старообря́дцы families in exile that have or had settled in warmer countries all over the world where this succulent grows naturally or has flourished as an introduced species.
I hope someone will repeat my steps and enjoy this mixture of tradition made possible by Natasha’s kitchen ideas. ;-))
Thank you so much for sharing that! You are a pro! 🙂
I have found birch tree juice in the local Russian supermarket, it is sold quite cheap in tetrabricks, containing 95% birch juice, remainder is sugar and citric acid as conservant. I added 200 grams white sugar to 2 liter of juice, followed by two tablespoons of dried baker’s yeast. After 2 days a beige coloured kvass is obtained, but still too sweet for my taste, 3 days is best (last day can be done in a brown plastic 2L bottle, 3/4 full with a balloon on top, to dissolve carbon dioxide).
I observed that pure birch juice, when left standing to the air for about a day, turns from colourless to red. I suppose this is from the oxidation of phenolic compounds in the birch tree juice into quinonic compounds which are almost always deeply coloured (for the chemists). These phenolic compounds we want to preserve, as they are responsible for the anti-oxidant action of the tree juice. Now when yeast is added, this colouration does not happen. One can observe a slight reddish colouring in the beginning, but by the evening everything is beige coloured. This can be explained by the reductive properties of yeast. These properties are even employed on an industrial scale in bio-organic fermentation reactions in synthetic chemistry. For us it guarantees the protection of valuable phenolic compounds in the birch sap against rapid air oxidation.
Also, there is a naturtal foaming agent present in the birch tree juice. I always rehydrate my yeast in a cup of the juice with added sugar for 20 minutes before adding to the mix. Use a large cup (not more than 1/3 full), as so many foam will be generated in a small amount of time, that your cup will overflow.
Anyway, thanks for sharing another great idea.
That’s very exciting to learn since my grandmother made birch kvass! Thank you so much for sharing your expertise 🙂
My pleasure, I must thank you, and bless your grandmother, birch kvas is simply the best kvas I’ve had as of yet!
i tried your birch kvass recipe with the tetra brick juice from a russian store, it is delicious! my kid loves it
. indeed a bit on the sweet side, i am going to try it with less sugar next time, see if it still works. thank you for the idea!
Hello Dear, what kind of yeast can I use? I guess its not that usual stuff you bake cakes with or is it?
Richard, I use the same yeast that is used for baking. In this case it was active dry yeast by Red Star Company. Hope this helps :).
Instead of the molasses or instant coffee could I just use vanilla? I’m new to the world of baking and cooking so sometimes I ask dumb questions, haha!
It’s a good question, but I haven’t tested it with Vanilla so I’m not sure how it would affect the flavor.
Hi Natasha,
I was just curious, how long do you usually refrigerate the kvas once its done brewing?
Thanks!
For it to cool completely, you’ll want to refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Thanks a lot,I will until tomorrow,I wish it’s gonna a be alright ..my fiancé from Russia so I use a lot your recipe and turn out he like so much.because i am from Indonesia.
Oh wow! How did you two meet? I hope you both love the kvas! 🙂
I made mistake,I put directly to refrigerator .can I still continue the proses?
You should still be able to put it at room temp and continue with the process.
This was just wonderful, especially now during hot summer days! My 3 and 5 year old boys loved it as well. Making more today 🙂
Great :), I actually would love a glass of it right now.
Hi Natasha! I made apple kvas, i overslept and it was sitting on the counter for about 23 hours! It smells and tastes somewhat like apple cider. We’re drinking it, just wondering if that’s the usual smell and taste? I’ve made a lot of Russian bread kvas, not apple kvas and just don’t know what to expect. Thanks!
That’s expected. Your kvas will be stronger than mine 😉
I wanted to pass along some info on honey. OlgaPaulescu passed out a little bad info on it. Honey is a complex mix of sugars but it is mainly glucose (roughly 30%, by weight) and fructose (40%) in invert form; the bees supply the invertase, which is the enzyme that inverts the fructose. Honey’s make-up is not consistent – it varies by source, season, region, and producer. It is about 75% fermentable sugar; the remainder is water, proteins, some minerals, etc. Glucose is a monosaccharide. This simple sugar is derivable from converted starches such as what happens when mashing malted grain. To metabolize sugar a process called Glycolysis will occur. Glucose is required for glycolysis, so if glucose is present there is no delay in the digestion of the sugar. In the case of fructose, which is a complex sugar, it must be broken down into Glucose before being digested. Fructose will be broken down into sucrose and glucose and then the sucrose will be broken down again into glucose. So yeast prefers simple sugars over complex, because the complex sugars like sucrose and fructose take more time and energy to metabolize.
Yeast does “feed” off of honey. You wont get sick from fermenting it. Mead has been made for a long time without any incidence of causing sickness (fermented honey and water). I do like your recipies. I shall be trying them in the very near future as I make my own breads.
I didn’t know that about honey. Thanks for the tip. It probably does taste different, but I haven’t tried it with honey.
Natasha, do you ever let it sit longer than 18 hours? Cause isn’t the longer it sits the tastier it gets? If you have, how long did it sit?
We drink it sometimes for up to a week; I guess that’s the same as letting it sit that long. It does get pretty strong though 😉