Barszcz

Borscht, an Eastern European sour soup prepared with beets and eaten hot or cold, may be familiar to you. The Polish word barszcz means borscht, however, this soup is not the same. Unlike typical borscht, which is an opaque purple with meat, tomatoes, and cabbage, barszcz is a basic beet broth that is relatively translucent, whether red or white in color.

Traditional barszcz is frequently made with a kwas or sour starting; some people even chill this fermented starter and drink it, much like kombucha. If the soup is red, the kwas was made with fermented beets (kwas buraków). White barszcz was made with fermented rye flour or rye bread (ur or kwas chlebowy).

This simple, clear red Polish beet soup recipe skips the sour starter and instead gets the desired sourness from lemon juice or vinegar. This soup is delicious when served hot with boiled potatoes or cold with rye bread.

For Polish Christmas Eve dinner (known as wigilia), this meatless soup is frequently served with mushroom uszka ("small ear" dumplings). When served in this manner, the soup is known as barszcz wigilijny.