SC - Kvas

[Stefan li Rous]

If I remember correctly, the skins on grapes and raisins are a good source
of yeasts. It may simply be that adding a few raisins was a good source
of yeast. Of course nowadays since we can buy dried yeasts the raisins
would not be needed for this.

> Morgan Cain wrote:
> > Does the kvas-concentrate recipe use raisins to test the fermentation?  I
> > have one in a translated-from-Russian cookbook (starts with toasted or
> > dried-out black bread) that included three raisins in the ingredients.
> > Curious, I read on, and learned that when the bubbles are strong enough to
> > float them, the kvas is considered ready to drink.
> 
> Interesting. The kvass recipe that I've used, which calls for a dough
> made of ground malt (yes, I think it's in the Florilegium) calls for a
> couple of raisins _in each bottle_. I assumed, since there are earlier
> English bottled ale recipes that call for raisins in the bottles as a
> form of priming sugar, that they were for carbonation. In the case of
> bottled beverages, I'm not sure how well the floating thing works, since
> the CO2 is dissolved and, for the most part, not stored in the form of
> bubbles of free gas, until you open the bottle.
> 
> Adamantius

- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****