Osetian beer: recipe at home

Ossetian beer at home is more than just a drink. During cooking, they read a special prayer, and special ingredients give it an incomparable piquant taste. They drink this Ossetian beer both at weddings and in moments of sorrow. And this drink has a very rich history.

Legend of Ossetian beer

The history of the intoxicating drink dates back to ancient times, when no ritual meal was without it. Once an ancient Alan (one of the inhabitants of a nomadic tribe) named Uruzmag, strolling through the forest, noticed a funny picture. A sparrow, swallowing a few grains of ripe hop, fell to the ground and began to behave strangely: he rolled on the grass, as if drunk with such a treat.

Returning to his wife, Uruzmag told her about what she saw, and she said: "Bring this hip to me." After the husband fulfilled her request, she cooked the leaven from the hops and added it to kvass. That's how a resourceful woman named Shatana came up with an intoxicating beer, from which it was easy to get drunk.

Beer in the culture of Ossetians

In general, Ossetian beer, cooking features and its recipe are mentioned in many legends. Particularly fond of the local inhabitants of the variety "Aeluton". It is said that for the preparation of this beer mutton carcasses or sheepskins were used - after their digestion a stunning drink was obtained.

To prepare for a noisy celebration, malt was harvested from the whole village - from each family by a certain measure. Therefore, Ossetian houses always kept stock of grains for such a case. Beer was brewed, mainly from barley - an easy crop in cultivation and unpretentious to weather conditions.

The famous holiday under the name of Georhoub also does not do without such a drink as Ossetian beer. The reviews say that they celebrate it in honor of George the Victorious himself - as is known, this saint is the patron of Ossetia. It is celebrated in the autumn, when all the efforts are over, the harvest is collected, which means it is not a sin to enjoy a home-made intoxicating drink.

Recipe and technology

Before you make Ossetian beer, you need to make malt. To do this, raw wheat and barley grains are flooded with clean water (preferably spring and tasty) and left in this form for 24 hours or at least for the night. After that, the water is drained off, and the damp grains are covered with a lid and placed in a warm place for another three days. During this time they should start sprouting.

The resulting grains with germs are dried, better in a natural way and ground into a coarse grinding. Thus, malt is obtained, which is necessary for the preparation of Ossetian beer.

Ingredients:

10 liters of water will need one and a half kilograms of grains of wheat and barley. But what other ingredients are needed to make Ossetian beer:

• Yeast - 20-75 grams.
• Sugar is optional.
• Corn flour - 2 kilograms.
• Cones of hops - 50 grams.

Step-by-Step Recipe

1. After you have received the malt from the germinated grains, pour it into a large saucepan and fill it with water - let it stand for 3-4 hours. Then boil and cook on low heat for another two hours.
2. Slightly cooled mixture, try to strain as the Ossetians themselves do, filtering the Ossetian beer. The recipe at home assumes the presence of a wicker basket littered with straw. But you can take a regular strainer or colander.
3. Filter the filtered liquid with hop and bring it back to a boil over a small fire.
4. At this time, take up corn flour: it needs to be fried in a dry frying pan, stirring constantly, until it changes color. Be careful: it changes the color, darkens, but in no case should not it burn!
5. This flour, too, add to the liquid with hop and cook it for three hours.
6. Then remove the pan from the heat and cool a little. Pour into a clean container.
7. In a glass of the resulting liquid, dilute the yeast. Their number depends on the desired strength: for light, "female" beer will be enough only 20 grams, but a strong "male" drink will require all 75.
8. Dissolve the liquid with diluted yeast in a common dish and put in a warm place for fermentation. You can even cover the top with a blanket. Will take this process at least a day. After that, the Ossetian beer again strain. If desired, you can add a little sugar.

As you can see, the recipe of Ossetian beer is not so complicated and does not require any exotic ingredients. The only thing you need is to have patience.

Just beer or religious attribute?

Of course, today beer is considered to be just an intoxicating drink, not more. But in the minds of the Ossetians themselves, it remains one of the main elements of the religious ritual. Ancient priests offered prayers to God, holding a bowl with beer in their hand. But over time, invented araka - another popular Ossetian alcoholic beverage, beer began to be combined with it, and it gradually lost its ritual purpose.

In modern Ossetian feasts, beer became no more "religious" than water or juice. But to this day it is one of the national symbols. Perhaps, no less significant than Ossetian honor or Ossetian traditions. It may seem incredible, but only for us, not familiar with their culture of people. The process of preparation, preparation, quality of ingredients - everything is of great importance.

The Mystery of Cooking Beer

It is the sacrament, and not just the cooking process, that the Ossetians themselves call it. Just imagine: carefully peeled ripe barley is soaked in water and germinated. After that, the grain turns into a real storehouse of enzymes. The malt prepared from it passes through the processes of hydrolysis, as a result of which its solids pass into a liquid, that is, into a must.

After mixing with hop, the raw materials are evaporated, sterilized and collected with aromas. And after the addition of yeast, the main mystery begins - the process of fermentation. Hop itself is already rich in lupulin, cleansing beer of all "superfluous" and harmful, preventing the development of microorganisms and serving as a kind of antiseptic. Hops are also responsible for long-term storage of beer.

Important role in the recipe is played by water. The taste of beer depends on its composition, purity and quality. Another well-known German researcher Henry Julius Klaprot, traveling across the Caucasus, drew attention to the taste and strength of Ossetian beer. He noticed that this drink is the best in the whole region and does not inferior to the English porter. And after Prince Potyomkin received a few bottles of beer from Ossetia as a gift, he even ordered a few brewers from there to repeat their "masterpiece" in St. Petersburg.

But what happened? No matter how hard the foreman tried, the beer still did not turn out as delicious as at home. I had to bring water for cooking, too, from Ossetia. And after, and hops, and grain, and all the other ingredients.

Cookware for beer

Traditionally, Ossetian beer was prepared and served in special vessels. Boilers for cooking were from 300 to 1000 liters in volume, and they were made by special blacksmiths from huge sheets of copper. This pot was considered almost the most valuable thing in the family - after all, he cost as a dozen heads of livestock. Well, beer was served in richly decorated carved bowls. They were made by skillful carvers and talented folk masters.

Until now, the arrival in South Ossetia of an expensive guest - a minister or the president himself - can not do without a cup of intoxicating beverage. And every time it turns into a noisy and colorful ceremony.