Birch juice is a very tasty drink, but it is not available for a long time in a fresh form. To preserve its useful properties, you can prepare it for the winter. By combining birch sap with barley, you can prepare a delicious kvass, which will not only refresh, but also bring considerable health benefits.
Useful properties of birch juice and kvass from it.
Kvass from birch sap with barley allows to preserve and increase the useful properties of its components for 4-6 months. Useful properties of this drink include the following:
- strengthening the body's defenses;
- increased vitality;
- stimulation of metabolism;
- normalization of digestion;
- cleansing the body of toxins, slags;
- improving blood circulation;
- activation of the regenerative forces of the body.
In addition, birch kvas has a diuretic effect and is able to fill the body with vitamins B and C, micro- and macro elements( including potassium, manganese, copper, calcium), organic acids and other useful substances.
Thanks to barley, birch kvass is very useful for diabetics, as it is able to rapidly reduce the level of cholesterol and sugar. Also, it is able to strengthen the tooth enamel and gums, nourish the roots of the hair, improve the complexion.
Optimizing metabolism, kvass does not allow to propagate pathogenic flora in the intestine, and by accelerating the removal of fluid from the body it helps to get rid of excess kilograms.
That's interesting! Birch kvass is superbly refreshing in hot weather, especially if served well chilled, with traces of condensation on bottles.
Regular use of this drink helps in the fight against various problems and diseases of the body:
- avitaminosis and lowering of immunity;
- with gastrointestinal diseases( with reduced acidity) and kidney;
- joint diseases( gout, rheumatism, arthritis);
- colds, cough.
You can use kvass from juice with barley and outside. In this case, it helps to cope with skin diseases, rashes( acne, acne, eczema, furunculosis), as well as accelerate the healing of wounds and stop hair loss.
Contraindications and side effects of
There are no direct contraindications to the use of birch juice with barley, as well as obvious side effects. Refuse this drink will only have to in case of individual intolerance or allergy to birch pollen.
It should be very careful with birch kvas to those who suffer from gastric ulcer, cholecystitis, pancreatitis, urolithiasis and dysbiosis. In general, for therapeutic purposes, this drink can be used only as part of complex therapy and after mandatory consultation with a doctor.
Children are not recommended to consume more than 50 ml of kvass per day, as this can cause gastrointestinal upset.
Recipes for cooking
Birch kvass can be cooked on a variety of recipes - based on bread, dried fruits, with barley. In any case, it is preferable to use fresh natural birch juice for cooking. You can buy it, but it's better to collect it yourself.
juice that was made with your own hands. Important! Before the , the birch sap can be filtered through a gauze folded in several layers. This will help to clear it of possible debris.
Classic recipe with crackers
To create a kvass by a classic, proven recipe, you will need the following set of ingredients:
- birch juice - 10 liters;
- crackers - 200 g;
- oak bark - ½ cup;
- dried cherry berries - 300 g;
- stalks of dill - a few pieces.
Cooking kvass is better in a wooden barrel. It is poured into juice, croutons are added to the gauze. By connecting its ends so that the pouch turns out, a long rope is tied to it and the bag is dropped into the barrel. If kvass is cooked in several barrels, then there should be several bags with crackers, one for each. The upper part of the rope is not necessary to immerse in the juice.
Already in two days, the fermentation of the juice will begin, at which time it will be necessary to remove the rusks from the barrel and add oak bark, cherry and dill stems. After that kvass will take two weeks to insist.
Important! For the preparation of kvass, plastic containers can not be used, a birch barrel can be replaced with enamel or glass containers.
Birch kvass with barley
Very tasty drink is obtained from juice with the addition of barley. To give it softness, the barley grains should be fried in a dry frying pan until golden brown. And if you bring them to a dark, almost black color, kvass will acquire bitterness. If you do not add sugar to it, the fermentation process will last a little longer, but if sugar is not contraindicated, you can add about half a glass of sand, which will speed up the process for 2-3 days.
For the preparation of kvass, you need to defend 3 liters of birch juice for the beginning, leaving it for 1-2 days in the refrigerator. After frying a handful of barley, it is added to the container with juice, mix well and leave the beverage to infuse at room temperature for 10 days. After that, kvass is filtered and sent to a cool storage place.
Important! In order not to filter ready kvass, barley can be dropped into it in a bag.
Together with barley, a small piece of honey juice can be added to the birch sap - about 6 * 6 cm. You can also get interesting flavoring nuances by adding raisins or crackers. If you add a little berries or cowberry leaves to the fermented juice container, this will strengthen the diuretic effect and accelerate the removal of excess water from the body.
Birch kvass is an amazingly tasty drink that will not only refresh on hot days, but will also bring great benefits to the body. The main recipe can be varied by changing the degree of roasting barley or adding dried fruits, honey, crackers to the drink. Having prepared birch juice with barley, you can keep its useful properties for many months.