Cook the sbiten for 10 minutes.
How to cook Russian sbiten
Products (based on 3 servings of 300 milliliters)
Water – 1 liter
Honey – 150 grams
Sugar (sand) – 2 tablespoons
Ground dried ginger – pinch
Dried cloves – 1 piece
Black pepper (peas) – 2 peas
Dried mint leaf – 1 teaspoon
Ground cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
Lemon – half
Thyme – a quarter of a teaspoon
Sage – a quarter of a teaspoon
St. John’s wort – half a teaspoon
How to cook classic Russian sbiten
1. Pour 1 liter of water into a saucepan.
2. Stir the water with sugar while heating.
3. Add herbs, sliced lemon and spices, boil for 15 minutes over low heat without a lid.
4. Strain sbiten and cool slightly (up to 80 degrees).
5. Add honey and stir in sbitnah.
6. Cover the pan with a lid and leave for 15 minutes.
Delicious facts
– Sbiten is a traditional ancient drink of the Eastern Slavs. The composition of the drink, in addition to water, spices and honey, included medicinal herbs. The word “sbiten” comes from the word “beat down” (to combine), since the preparation of sbiten involved combining liquids prepared in two different vessels: honey dissolved in water and an infusion of medicinal herbs. The first mentions of this drink date back to 1128 (chronicles of the ancient Slavs). Sbiten was the most popular drink in Russia until it was supplanted by tea and coffee. The drink was prepared both for home use and for sale. In our years, sbiten reappears in eco-shops.
– The benefits of sbitn are due to the ingredients that make up it. The list of useful actions of sbit is wide: from preventing diseases to their immediate cure. Using various ingredients in the composition of sbitnya, you can achieve both a tonic and, conversely, a calming effect. If infusions of herbs are used in sbitna, they help prevent colds, improve digestion and metabolism, have a positive effect on the activity of the brain, and stimulate the activity of the cardiovascular system. If elecampane is added to the composition of sbitnya, the drink will have a pronounced anti-cold effect. When using herbs such as thyme, sage and some others, the drink acquires anti-inflammatory properties. And sbiten with ginger and ivan tea perfectly relieves a hangover. Cloves in sbitn have a beneficial effect on digestion, cinnamon has a hypoglycemic effect, and cardamom is known for its calming effect.
But the main beneficial properties of sbitn are from the honey that is part of it. Honey enriches sbiten with vitamins and microelements (iron, calcium, iodine, magnesium, potassium).
– Sbitny has contraindications. This drink should not be consumed by persons suffering from allergic diseases. Persons with chronic diseases of the liver, kidneys, heart, people suffering from diabetes mellitus should consult with a specialist about the possibility of using sbiten.
Sbiten is not recommended for those who are fighting overweight, because, due to the content of honey, the drink has a rather high calorie content.
– Can be added to sbiten, along with spices, sliced lemon. This makes the drink a real storehouse of vitamin C.
– For sbitn, a special extract of needles of coniferous plants is brewed, you can find this in taiga farms. You can add raspberries, sea buckthorn, lime blossom, cardamom, chamomile, oranges, ginger and lemon.
– Sbiten is drunk warm and fresh – it is considered that if the sbiten has stood for more than half an hour, it has lost its useful properties.