Origins of Kvass
Kvass is a medieval drink which means ‘leaven’. It is basically non-alcoholic drink fermented from rye and mixed with herbs or fruits like mint and strawberry. If you have never tasted it your missing something. It is popular in Ukraine and Russia and goes back 5000 years plus. It is also known as a monk’s drink. In Ukraine and Russian in the 17th and 18th and 19th century it was the most popular drink in town. I put up a quick recipes here Kvas recipe. It taste great cold in the summer. Below is me next to a Ukrainian Kvass truck when I was in Crimea. I drank Kvas morning, noon and night.
Kvass truck
A funny Kvass story
Last summer I was sitting in a field behind my flat in Kraków with my Kaisa. I was eating salami and drinking Kvass and reading a book. At that point two Polish police officers proceeded to write me out a ticket for drinking in a public place. Of course I tried to explain to them it was Kvas and for some reason they did not know what I was talking about. Kasia explained to me that Kvass is really a Ukrainian Russian drink and not popular in Poland. When I gave them a whiff of the Kvass bottle, they said aha and made some comment about me being an American health food guy and walked off.
Second Kvas story
I had secured a great supplier of Kvass at one of the local shops and was walking down the street with my stash. I had so many bottles of kvass that one of the bottles broke though the cheap plastic bag I was carrying them in. My kvass broke open and sprayed a girl walking by all dressed up for her Saturday night date. It was almost as if my kvass followed her as she tried to get out of the way. The end result is she was covered with my kvass. I tried to apologized but she said ‘great, now my boyfriend will think I was drinking’ – I said ‘its kvass!’ .
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