BEETROOT KVASS: THE SOVIET "LIVING MEDICINE" THAT OUTSMARTED MODERN SCIENCE (And The Rebel Mothers Who Kept It Alive)
Chatting with Deepak this was our first real conversation about a topic, he wants to preserve and keep alive.
Русская Народная Медицина” (Russian Folk Medicine) by Pyotr Mikhailovich Kurennov
What a read, what a bombdrop.
I will be diving into Beet Kvass with Deepak and many more posts to follow, just too much and overwhelming for one post,
Let’s get one thing straight: beet kvass isn’t a “trendy ferment”—it’s a clandestine health operation that’s been dodging suppression since Stalin’s cronies first labeled it “peasant nonsense.
Yet here we are, 2024, with:
Mothers in Moldova still brewing it for anemia.
Chernobyl docs quietly prescribing it for radiation detox.
Deepak gets very fired up on this book, its essence and how we allow folklore to die, – searching for wisdom in Farm$a files will never bear fruit.
In his own words > (“——— ۞ GB34 ———”)
“THEY CAN’T STOP WHAT’S ALREADY INSIDE 10,000 JARS.
OH, THE RUSSIANS WERE (AND STILL ARE) FERMENTATION SORCERERS—AND THEIR SECRETS ARE DARKER, MORE POTENT, AND MORE BEAUTIFULLY UNAPOLOGETIC THAN THE MAINSTREAM FERMENTATION TRENDS WILL EVER ADMIT.” Deepak B
KVASS: THE BLOODY HISTORY OF RUSSIA’S LIQUID BREAD
Kvass wasn’t just a drink—it was liquid rebellion.
The Meaning & Magic of KVASS: Russia’s Forgotten “Living Water
🔬 What Does “Kvass” Even Mean?
Old East Slavic kvasъ (квасъ), meaning “fermented sourness”.
(khlebny kvass, “bread kvass”) it was fermented from rye or barley loaves—literally! liquid bread.
- 9th Century: Slavic pagans brewed it in sacred oak barrels (the original probiotic)
- 1242 AD: Russian soldiers drank kvass before battling Teutonic knights (first recorded “pre-workout”)
- 1941: Soviet snipers carried frozen kvass cubes as wound disinfectant
Why the fuss? Because kvass:
✅ Ferments in 3 days (faster than communism falls)
✅ Costs less than dirt (literally—it’s made from stale bread)
✅ Works as medicine, cleaner, and currency (true story)
