Borscht - every family has a food that warms the heart and soul

My family’s borscht is milchig (no meat), made up of beetroot, pot­ato, cabbage, somewhat bitter sorrel and sour cream; it was the heart and soul of my grandmother’s Russian cuisine. From my friends at school in the 1950s, I knew that the Ukrainian, Lith­uan­ian and Polish Jewish families also loved borscht.

For families with too many children and very little spare income, borscht was an ideal food. Cheap and easy to grow at home, beet­roots and potatoes were collected by the children in autumn and stored in the family cellar for use during the long winter months. There were no fridges of course, but the family cellars were so cold that the vegetables were naturally preserved.

I had assumed that borscht was always vegetarian, hot and tasty in winter, chilled in summer. The women in my family in any case traditionally avoided meat when they could help it; meat was too expensive and who wanted to slaughter helpless animals? Other families preferred meat borscht, made with beef marrow bones and chicken carcasses, but no sour cream on top. The meatless version was far quicker and easier to make, and had a fresh fragrance. But the meat borscht had fat-based bulk and substance.

Vegetarian borscht with a dollop of sour cream

The core recipe is simple. In a large pot, put 3 medium potatoes, a large beetroot, a large chopped onion, a large chopped carrot, 3 cups of finely shredded cabbage, 1 litre tomato juice, water and caraway seeds. After cooking over a low flame for 30 minutes, pour into individual soup bowls and add a dollop of sour cream in each.

In summer, cook the borscht in the same way, but cool over­night in the fridge before serving. Cold bor­scht is a true summer­time soup, and I liked the blogger who compared the thick, hearty product to a Jewish version of chilled tomato and basil soup, or perhaps gazpacho. Vinegar on top allowed the borscht to sit in a keg for quite a length of time. Fermented borscht, which had to be skimmed regul­arly, could be kept for weeks or even months without refrigeration.

One question remains. In my experience potatoes were the food of the masses in Russia and Ukraine, so where did they learn to base soup on a red beetroot base instead? I know that the Ukraine is usually noted as the source of borscht, but if that country’s national soup was originally made from potato or cow parsnips, I am still not certain about the Ukrainian love affair with beetroots. Nonetheless the sweetness from Ukrainian beets was eventually bal­anced with a kvass (sour, slightly alcoholic beer made from bread) vinegar and lemon juice. Borscht was eaten with a garnish of sour cream and fresh greens like parsley. Borscht was commonly prepared in a large pot to feed a family for several days, improving with each extra day.

Tzimmis

Even if Jews were happy to adapt local recipes to make the soup kosher, substituting beef for pork or making it totally vegetarian, why did beetroots replace potatoes? It wasn’t until the 19th century that the red borscht we know today became popular, the time when red beets eventually made up much of the local diet. A beet-based version in Poland came to be called barszcz!

Forward agreed that beetroots were often not included. The removal of beet from borscht perhaps explained why white borscht could still be called “borscht”. A Polish adaptation often used a base of fermented rye instead of beet stock. It was traditionally served on Easter with a cubed rye bread and hard-boiled eggs added to the broth.

Gil Marks’ book, The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, explored unique cultural cuisines that differentiated between Jewish communities, as well as those that united the Jewish people. Although borscht has long been a favourite of Ashkenazi Jews, beets also appeared else­where in Jewish cooking. Roasting beets was still the best way to bring out their sweetness, delicious in winter. Ashkenazi Jews often ate beet greens in salads, or Russian beet salad with her­ring. Seph­ardi Jews, prominent around the Mediterranean, long used beets in Moroccan spiced salads.

Recipes from My Russian Grandmother's Kitchen
by Elena Makhonko

Perhaps Jews understood earlier than other communities how healthy beetroots are. Despite having more natural sugars than any other veget­able, they are rich in fibre, magnesium and potassium; they help lower blood pressure and they protect against heart disease.

Thank you buba! Thank you mama!

Do other families have an iconic dish?