Refreshing seasonal drink that uses birch sap instead of water to improve taste and health benefits. We will consider the correct recipe and technology for preparing birch kvass with honey, in which you can control the sweetness and saturation of the wort.
It is advisable to make kvass on fresh juice, but canned is also suitable. The main thing is that the juice does not have time to sour. The taste of the finished drink depends on the choice of honey: the lightest option will be with flower or linden honey, buckwheat and other dark varieties give a richer taste. Lemons add sourness and a light citrus aroma.
Yeast selection. The preferred option is store-bought wine yeast and homemade raisin sourdough (prepared 3-4 days before working with juice). Baker’s pressed and dry yeast gives characteristic alcohol tones that not everyone likes.
Ingredients:
- birch sap – 2 liters;
- honey – 400 grams;
- lemons – 4 pieces (medium);
- sourdough or yeast – per 3 liters of wort (or 10 grams of dry bakery).
Recipe for kvass from birch sap with honey
1. Strain the juice through cheesecloth, pour into a fermentation container.
2. Pour boiling water over the lemons, rinse in running water and wipe dry to remove the preservative from the skin, which is used to treat fruits for long-term storage.
3. Remove the zest from the lemons – the top ball of the peel without white pulp (gives bitterness). Add the zest and lemon juice squeezed from the pulp to the fermentation container.
4. If honey is thick, before mixing with other ingredients, slowly heat it in a saucepan or saucepan in a water bath to a liquid state. Initially, liquid honey can be used immediately.
Attention! You can not heat honey above 60 ° C, otherwise it will lose its beneficial properties.
5. Add half of honey to birch sap and lemons (200 grams according to the recipe). Add starter or yeast. The container should be filled no more than 65%, if necessary, it is better to divide the kvass wort into a couple of cans.
6. Stir, cover with gauze (insects did not get inside). Move the container to a dark place with a temperature of 20-27 ° C.
7. Leave kvass to ferment for 10-12 hours (on dry yeast, 6-8 hours is enough). After 30-90 minutes from the moment the yeast is added, foam should appear and a hiss should be heard, which means that everything is going fine. You can not overexpose the drink on fermentation for longer than 14-16 hours, otherwise it will become alcoholic.
8. Remove the lemon zest. Add the second part of honey to birch kvass – about 200 grams. You can add more or less according to your taste.
9. Stir until smooth. Pour the drink into bottles, leaving 3-5 cm of free space from the neck, hermetically close with stoppers.
The sediment at the bottom can be left for the next portion of kvass. Keep the sourdough tightly closed in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
10. Leave kvass at room temperature for 1-2 hours to saturate with carbon dioxide – the appearance of gas, then transfer the bottles to the refrigerator, cellar or cellar. After 6-10 hours the drink is ready to drink.
Attention! Keep an eye on the gas pressure in the bottles (the plastic ones will become hard) and bleed if necessary, as excess pressure can cause the bottles to burst.
In the case of storage at a temperature of 0-8 ° C, the shelf life of kvass from birch sap with honey is up to 3 months, but after 10-15 days the taste gradually deteriorates.