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Alcoholic drinks from Crimea, the Caucasus and Turkestan

Buza (Tatar and Crimean millet boza, alcoholic)буза

Buza is a thick, cloudy, lightly alcoholic drink of fermented cereal, usually millet but also oats or buckwheat. Russian dictionaries of 1880 and 1907 describe it as a braga-like hopped or plain drink that came into Russia with the Tatars.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Buza itself. Its own sources do not record how it is made, so the steps and scenes below are those of Boza, the closest documented soft drinks ferment, shown as a guide to the method, not as a record of Buza.

Short entryAlcoholic drinks

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedWhat goes in. No source gives amounts for this ferment.
millet (also oats, buckwheat, barley)
hops (in the stronger, drunken buza)

Total time across the steps of Boza: 26 h

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a grain30 °C

What changes: The ground millet and maize soak overnight in warm water

Step 1 of 6 · steps of Boza
Mix the ground grains and soak overnight
Time
Left overnight
Set
Temperature
30 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Buza is a thick, cloudy, lightly alcoholic drink of fermented cereal, usually millet but also oats or buckwheat. Russian dictionaries of 1880 and 1907 describe it as a braga-like hopped or plain drink that came into Russia with the Tatars.

What makes this one different

Dal describes buza as a thick, murky drink, a kind of millet kvass, and also a drunken buza made with hops. The 1907 encyclopedia calls it a drink like braga.

Related ferments

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Brockhaus and Efron small encyclopedia (1907) says buza was already drunk in ancient Asia, reached Russia with the Tatars and was widespread in Turkestan, the Caucasus and Crimea.

  1. [dal1880] Dal V.I. 1880, Tolkovyi slovar zhivogo velikorusskogo yazyka, 2nd ed., vol. 1, p. 139, entry Буза (Wikisource transcription)archive
  2. [mesbe1907] Malyi entsiklopedicheskii slovar Brokgauza i Efrona 1907, vol. I, col. 599, entry Буза (Wikisource transcription)archive
  3. [WP:Boza] Wikipedia, Boza (outline only)wiki