SC - Kvas

[Stefan li Rous]

Adamantius replied to me:
> Stefan li Rous wrote: 
> > I do question though whether raisins would have been used in this drink
> > in Russia, at least by the peasants. Isn't it too cold in Russia to
> > grow grapes? I imagine the nobility could have imported raisins, but
> > would they have used imported raisins this way?
> 
> I'm not so sure the grapes (and the sunshine used to dry them) aren't
> found in southern Russia. If you look at a map, you'll see that Russia
> either borders on, or is fairly close to, Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan,
> etc. The dynamics are different now that there's no longer a Soviet
> Union, but not dramatically so in this instance, I think.

But the distance from this southern area of Russia to the north, say
Kiev or Moscow is that much different than from Byzantium or southern
Europe right? I don't think crossing "national" boundaries would be
the problem as much as the other hardships of trade, tariffs, tolls,
dangers, robbery etc. Shipping somthing that distance still costs
money. Would the resulting grapes/raisins be cheap enough to use
in a drink? A peasant's drink? I'd think other items would fetch
a much better price than raisins. Spices for instance.

It is possible that having some rivers running north and south would
affect things vs. actually getting an item from southern Europe since
Kiev is on a major river. But kvass seems to be rather widespread and
not confined to areas along a river.

- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
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