INGREDIENTS: ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT:

4 cups boiled but cooled water
1 tsp salt
2-4 uncooked beets (depending on size)
4-6 bay leaves
4-6 garlic cloves, peeled & sliced in two
1 tsp peppercorns
1 tsp all-spice (whole)
Skin of 1 dark-rye piece of bread (end or crust)
1 large mason jar (sterilized)
Cheese Cloth
Rubber band (to go around mason jar)
Peeler
Rubber Gloves
Big Knife
Cutting Board
Radiator or warm place in house
Sterilized Rock (optional)

METHOD:
For those cooking along: pre-measure ingredients

1. FILL 1 large mason jar with 4 cups of boiled but cooled water
2. STIR in 1 tsp salt and dissolve well
3. WASH beets well and slice thin with skin on OR don’t wash and peel skin off
4. PLACE beets at the bottom of jar
5. ADD the next 4 ingredients into the jar, with bread on top
6. PLACE sterilized rock on top to press down on kvass contents (optional)
7. COVER opening of container with cheese-cloth and put in a warm place (ex. next to a radiator) for at least 3-5 days and up to 1 week
8. CHECK kvass everyday and stir contents with clean spoon. Bread becomes soggy
9. MOLD or FOAM ok, as long as it’s white. Green/Grey mold = rotting = compost
10. STRAIN liquid. Kvass will keep for several months in the fridge

TIP: Fill the water line a little higher in the jar. Less airspace means less oxygen for the CO2 to push out, which means better fermentation.

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