Kvass

Kvass (Russian and Ukrainian: Квас) is a fermented drink popular in Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, as well as some parts of Finland, Sweden and China.

(A Kvass Barrel in Riga, Latvia, USSR in 1977.)

Kvass is made from a mash obtained from rye bread or rye flour and malt soaked in hot water, fermented for about 12 hours with the help of sugar and bread yeast or baker's yeast at room temperature.

The first written mention of Kvass is found in Primary Chronicle, describing the Celebration of Vladimir the Great's Baptism in 996 in Kyivan Rus (Ukrainian: Київська Русь.)

The Communists in the Soviet Union knew they needed a cheap drink to give the large numbers of Workers forcibly moved from their Villages to the Factories in the Towns and so they picked Kvass and sold on the streets in large Yellow Kvass Barrels.

As with most things Soviet Hygiene was not considered when selling Kvass. People would line up at the Kvass Barrel where the Seller would give them a glass of Kvass, the Buyer would then drink the Kvass right there and hand the glass back to the Seller who would then wipe it with a cloth and fill it up for the next Person in line.

From the Collapse of the USSR in 1991 until Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Western Soft Drinks overtook Kvass throughout Belarus and Russia, but since the wave of Anti-Foreign Products started in Russia in February 2022 Kvass has come back in fashion.

I have had Kvass in Russia, Ukraine and in Israel and have to say it tastes as it sounds – disgusting. I only tried the different kinds to see if there was a difference and there isn’t.