Recipe

Beet Kvass Molasses

by Sasha Marx

Just when you thought the beet onslaught was over, I’ve got one last recipe to add to the mix. I wanted to provide another use for our Beet Kvass, the delicious, briny byproduct of making lacto-fermented beets. If our Negroni-inspired granita isn’t your bag, then maybe this kvass molasses will be to your liking. This recipe is inspired by pomegranate molasses, a pantry staple in Middle Eastern cuisine—made by reducing pomegranate juice (with or without sugar) to a thick syrup—that is used in both sweet and savory dishes.

This recipe is dead simple—combine beet kvass and sugar in a pot and reduce it to a thick syrup over low heat. The final product is sweet and sour, with bonus savory depth from the lacto-fermentation process. From there, the culinary possibilities are endless. Substitute it for grenadine in cocktails or make hipster Shirley Temples; add it to your favorite vinaigrette recipe to boost acidity and provide body; stir a little into a mignonette sauce for raw oysters; brush it onto meat, fish, or vegetables as a glaze; substitute it for pomegranate molasses in muhammara (check out the version we made for Hasselback Eggplant); or treat it like aged balsamic vinegar and drizzle it over vanilla ice cream.

Photography by Steve Klise 

Yield
150 grams (½ cup)
Ingredients
600 g beet kvass
50 g sugar
2½ cups beet kvass
¼ cup sugar
Essential Equipment
Instructions
    • 600 g beet kvass 
    • 50 g sugar
    Combine kvass and sugar in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, whisking frequently to dissolve sugar, 2 to 3 minutes. 
  2. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally and scraping down sides of saucepan with rubber spatula, until mixture thickens to molasses-like consistency, fully coats back of spoon, and measures about 150 grams (½ cup), 20 to 30 minutes. 
  3. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer into heat-resistant airtight container; let cool until no longer steaming, 10 to 15 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (Beet kvass molasses can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 1 month.) 
Instructions
    • 2½ cups beet kvass 
    • ¼ cup sugar
    Combine kvass and sugar in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, whisking frequently to dissolve sugar, 2 to 3 minutes. 
  2. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally and scraping down sides of saucepan with rubber spatula, until mixture thickens to molasses-like consistency, fully coats back of spoon, and measures about ½ cup, 20 to 30 minutes. 
  3. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer into heat-resistant airtight container; let cool until no longer steaming, 10 to 15 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (Beet kvass molasses can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 1 month.) 
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