For centuries, kvass has occupied a place of honor in the daily diet of the inhabitants of Russia, it was considered both food and drink. They appreciated it for the fact that it gave strength, improved metabolism, quenched thirst in the summer and strengthened the immune system in the cold season. Even the sick or wounded in times of war were prescribed it as a general tonic. Regular consumption of kvass helps in the prevention of diseases and protects the body from many infections.
In Russia, as in Europe, the common cold is the most common winter infectious disease. The experiment set by the German “discoverer” of kvass is noteworthy. Wilhelm Kanne, together with a group of doctors, decided to analyze the relationship between a cold and drinking a drink. The medical experiment involved 117 women and men aged 48 to 55 years, each of whom had suffered from a severe cold at least once during the winter over the past five years. Half of the participants in the experiment agreed to drink 1 liter of vegetable juice daily, and the other half of the group — half a liter of kvass. The study was conducted during the cold season, from October 1 to January 10, under the constant supervision of doctors.
As a result of the experiment, it turned out that people who used kvass were less susceptible to seasonal colds than those who liked vegetable juice. If someone from the first group caught a cold, then the cold passed in a mild form, did not give complications.
It is no secret that the disease of colds and flu is primarily associated with the weakening of the body’s defenses. It is no accident that every year, before the onset of the epidemic threshold, doctors remind us of the need to prevent colds, and above all to strengthen the body’s immune system. A natural way of prevention can be a long-known Russian kvass therapy. The latest scientific developments prove that the bread drink is able to weaken the influence of harmful bacteria. Doctors tend to explain this effect by the influence of certain enzymes and bacteria that occur during fermentation.
The usefulness of the drink is explained by the presence of lactic acid in it, which is produced naturally during lactic acid and yeast fermentation. But today on the shelves of stores it is difficult to find kvass, which is prepared using traditional technology. The real Russian kvass should be considered only the one that is prepared using the technology of double fermentation — yeast and lactic acid, as this drink was made in Russia. In the same way, it was produced in the USSR. In double fermentation, a starter culture of yeast and lactic acid bacteria is used. To make kvass tasty and healthy, the process of its preparation on an industrial scale requires a lot of time, hard work and money costs. But this is the only way to get a real traditional kvass.
Most manufacturers prefer to make kvass using a simplified technology of single yeast fermentation. This is a gross violation of traditional technology, and most importantly, the drink obtained in this way does not have the healing properties of traditional kvass. However, today you can buy kvass prepared using the traditional double fermentation technology, and many people, of course, know it. This is the most popular kvass in Russia — “Ochakovsky”. It not only perfectly quenches thirst, but also strengthens the immune system thanks to the vitamins, amino acids and useful substances contained in it. “Ochakovsky” contains everything that is so necessary for us to maintain the body in a healthy state.