Pink Soup

My grandmother called it cvas? i can't find the recipe anywhere. maybe she made it up. our whole family loves it.

1 whole onion, 3 or 4 country ribs (with bone), 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns, 1 cup vinegar, 1 to 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon whole allspice, 1 teaspoon butter, 1 jar regular beets.

cover all the ingredients (except beets) with water and lightly boil until meat is done. add beets and then thicken slightly with a flour-water-egg mixture. serve with noodles.

actually when my grandmother gave me this recipe over the phone i think she might have said marjoram, i wrote down butter. i've tried it with marjoram and it didn't seem right so i just go with my version. the only person that i know that doesn't like this soup is my husband, he doesn't even want to be home when it's cooking, the vinegar travels everywhere in the house.

No kapusta (cabage) in it?

Well, I guess nobody has heard of this soup, it might seem basic or boring but it has been a favorite with our family for a very long time.

your grandmother called it cvas (kwas)? it means "acid". it may be a localised name for this version of barszcz (borsch i believe is the word in English). It might have been called this way because originaly the main ingredient is beet-acid-which should be prepared in advance . In your recipe you use vinegar instead, that's why you smell it all over the place

what's marjoram?

a spice

marjoram is "majeranek". It's used in Polish cooking and it is definitely used in "zur", a soured wheat soup served with kielbasa.

kwas in general means that it was fermented. So, in the old days, when women were cooking they always used "kwas" as a base for their soup, if the soup was to be of a sour taste.

Making kwas involved either piece of rye bread or rye flour mixed with water, fermanted in the jar. Nobody does it anymore, because of time limits.
This base was used for beet soup(Borsch) or white borsch(zur), which I can still buy in Polish stores here in Canada. It is also widely available in Poland but only for the white version.
My mother occasionally mixed that "kwas" at home and it made a huge differance in taste.
Oh, I just found a recipe for "kwas" in teh Polish cookbook, so if somebody is interested, I will post it

I would never, ever add vinegar to my borsch, try lemon juice.

I really would like ot make borsch, I find it delicate but really tasty, the only problem is getting fresh beets in the UK

what kinds of beets do you get in the UK?

ones pickled in jars...you dont get them fresh in any supermarket I go to I have looked.

no, those won't do. Too bad though. Have yo ever tried Zur in Poland?

no, but im back for 5 days in late jan early feb so I'll look out for it.

borsch soup is what it is called or beet

it is an herb

or sick in a bowl

obviously not nice looking if resembles vomit in a bowl ... !

you can get beetroot in the UK quite easily - try your local greengrocer or market rather than a supermarket. I remember my Babcia complaining that in London, she could only find beetroot that had already been boiled and if she wanted raw, she had to order it in advance.