Borscht

Borscht is a sour soup from Ukraine, common across much of Eastern Europe, and best known for its deep red colour, which comes from beetroot. Its name derives from an old Slavic soup made with hogweed, a wild plant that is rarely used today, and the dish has spread to other continents through migration.

History

The earliest form of borscht was a soup made by the Slavs from the pickled stems, leaves and umbels of common hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), a plant that grows in damp meadows. The parts were chopped, covered with water and left to ferment for a few days in a warm place, producing a very sour preparation that sources compare to something between beer and sauerkraut. The Slavic name of the soup comes from that plant.

Over time other ingredients were added, eventually replacing the hogweed altogether, and the name came to refer to any sour soup. One of the earliest written mentions appears in the diary of the German merchant Martin Gruneweg, who visited Kyiv in 1584 and remarked that Ruthenians rarely bought borscht because every household cooked its own. The first known Polish recipes date from the late seventeenth century, when the cooks of aristocratic households included sour versions in their books. In the eighteenth century, the version made with fermented beetroot became the most popular. In the nineteenth century, Elena Molokhovets, whose Russian cookbook was a bestseller of its time, included several recipes, some based on kvass, the traditional fermented rye drink.

Migration carried the dish far beyond Eastern Europe. In North America it arrived mainly with Ashkenazi Jews and Mennonite communities, and the English name itself comes from the Yiddish form of the word. In Argentina and other parts of Latin America, the presence of Jewish communities of Central and Eastern European origin brought the soup into new kitchens, where it remains a reminder of that heritage.

Culture

In Ukraine borscht is part of everyday life and national identity, and it is seen as a symbol of hospitality. Nearly every region has its own version. In Chernihiv, zucchini, beans and apples are used, and the sourness comes only from tomatoes and apples; in Poltava the stock is made from poultry; in Kyiv mutton or lamb is often added; and in Lviv the soup is served with chunks of Vienna sausage. Traditionally, borscht with meat was a holiday dish, while Lenten versions included fish. There are also seasonal types: green borscht made with sorrel is cooked in spring and summer, and the version with pork was linked to the Christmas season.

In Poland, clear red borscht is a ruby-coloured broth often served in twin-handled cups, sometimes with small croquettes or filled pastries, and it is not whitened with sour cream. The Polish Christmas Eve version, barszcz wigilijny, is made with fish broth and served with uszka, small dumplings filled with mushrooms. In Russia there are many regional variants, including a Moscow style served with sausages, a Siberian style with meatballs, and the Russian Navy version, whose vegetables are cut into squares or diamonds rather than julienne.

Among Ashkenazi Jews, borscht adapted to dietary rules. Because kosher law forbids mixing meat and dairy, there are two versions: one with beef brisket and cabbage, and a dairy one with sour cream or milk, which is vegetarian. Cold borscht is very popular in summer in Lithuania and Belarus, where it is made with beet sour or beet juice blended with kefir or yogurt and served with cucumber, radish, hard-boiled egg and dill. Today the dish stands as an emblem of Eastern European cooking and of the communities that carried it abroad. In 2022 UNESCO included Ukrainian borscht cooking on its list of intangible heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.

Trivia