If you ask a person who visited the Soviet Union what non-alcoholic drink he associates with the country that has sunk into oblivion, then you will most likely be told birch sap and kvass. We have already discussed the topic of “juicy Soviet birches”, but forgot about the legendary kvass. It is time to correct the situation, especially since we knew catastrophically little about the favorite drink of adults and children. Kvass is a drink that was directly related to court folklore. Most often, stories were spread among the townspeople and their offspring about unappetizing objects found in those very kvass barrels. Depending on the unbridled imagination of the storyteller, it could be either a dead rat or the body of an unlucky food industry worker cleaning the container. inside and drowned in kvass due to the negligence of colleagues. And although literally everyone personally knew the guy who was present when the bodies were removed from the barrels, the popularity of the drink did not fall at all. There were always a lot of people with bottles and enamel jars near the barrels and special kiosks. When buying kvass at home, everyone did not miss the opportunity to drink a shot or a glass of the drink “on the spot” – it was a real ritual. Everyone knew perfectly well that kvass can differ in taste, but only true gourmets understood that it was not a matter of freshness or the degree of dilution (although this factor also played a role). In the USSR, three types of kvass were produced – “Sour”, “Okroshochny” and “Moskovsky”. Only the first two barrels were sold, and “Moskovsky” was poured into bottles and sold through stores and kiosks. For some reason, bottled kvass was a great rarity, but in almost any store in the country you could easily buy dry kvass in this form. . powder concentrate. But we will stick to the order in our story and start from the very beginning. Kvass was divided not only into three types, but also into three groups by production technology: bread, milk and dry. Bread kvass was the most versatile product, which could not only be drunk, but also used to make okroshka, beetroot and other dishes. . popular Russian cuisines. The recipe was based on water, barley malt, stewed rye malt, rye flour or rye bread. In addition, sugar, yeast, lactic acid bacteria, dye, and sometimes even mint leaves were added to bread kvass. Few people remember milk kvass – it was sold not long ago and not in all regions. It was made from whey that had undergone a pasteurization process. It was cooled, yeast and sugar were added to it, and after 15 hours of aging, burnt sugar syrup and pear or apple essence were added to the resulting semi-finished product. Sugar and fruit components were necessary to remove the milky taste of kvass and give it a characteristic dark color. Moreover, such kvass could contain up to 1.3% alcohol – this was known to everyone, as was the fact that milk kvass is a low-alcohol drink. You could get a little drunk with kvass, but not everyone was ready to drink it in large doses – it was much more profitable to buy beer or wine, this type of kvass was widespread until the early 70s, after which it was replaced with a liquid concentrate. Powdered kvass was divided into bread and rusk kvass. Bread was prepared using a complex technology. First, rye and barley malt were mixed with rye flour and water, dough was kneaded and bread was baked from it. When they cooled down, they were crushed – that is, the same bread concentrate was obtained more simply: ordinary cookies were crushed, malt was added to them and mixed until smooth. Kvass was prepared from powder at home, pouring water over it and infusing it according to a simple recipe indicated on the package. Connoisseurs subtly distinguished the taste qualities of bread and cracker products, although, of course, they preferred the most ordinary bread kvass “Moskovsky kvass”, it always stood apart from its brothers. It was prepared from the most saturated first wort and carbonated water and poured without fermentation into glass bottles. After closing, the bottles were left at the factory, in a dark place, where the kvass fermented. It turned out to be very dark, with a bright taste and sweeter than usual, kvass “Okroshochny” also infused, but much less sugar was added than usual. Kvass turned out to be very sour and was drunk without much pleasure, except with a hangover. But it was ideal for making okroshka and other cold first courses. It was sold less often than pan kvass, and fans of this type of drink had to run around a lot to find it. It remains to add that kvass in retail was shamelessly diluted with water, based on personal experience. Therefore, the drink could vary greatly in taste, color and spiciness. Discussions about the quality of kvass, which took place near the barrels, were not as lively as near the stalls with soft beer, but sometimes they still took place in raised tones. Of course, they did not have any consequences.
0 комментариев