YORKTON - What glows like a ruby, smells like heaven, and is a delicacy anytime but especially at Christmas? If you guessed borscht, you’re right! Borscht is delicious any time, any season, but it is one of the cornerstone dishes of the special meal on Christmas Eve.
For gardeners, beets are a garden staple. They like sunny locations, well-drained soil, and can tolerate some frost. They grow easily, aand we can use them from root to tip: the beet roots are a delicious vegetable, and the tops are a popular addition to salads or to make yummy beetniks. And of course, they are the main and most beautiful ingredient in borscht.
So today we’ll go from the garden to the table together. Let’s imagine we have a basket full of the bounty of the garden—so let’s talk borscht!
There are as many variations of borscht as there are amazing cooks: everyone has their own special techniques. The main ingredients are mostly the same: beets, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, onions. In my readings through many recipes, I sometimes see recipes that call for other things such as peppers or even apples, but my darling Mom stuck to the basics, and her borscht was always so delicious. The whiff of borscht, either just being made or ready to eat, is enough to take me back to Mom’s cozy kitchen and recall all the delicious food she prepared for us. Such memories!
Borscht is so versatile: we can eat it hot or cold, yummy with sour cream, or with tasty pampushky or uszka. A cousin shared her remembrances of uszka in soup, so one year we made them, and they are beautiful mushroom-filled additions that look like tiny crowns.
Here are a few factoids about borscht. First, there are several spellings like “borscht” or “borsh” or “borsch”. They are all correct, no matter how the name is spelled.
This next tidbit was news to me: did you know that UNESCO recognizes borscht as what they call “intangible cultural heritage” and deem it worthy of protection.
Here’s another: did you know that the name comes from the Slavonic word ‘borsht’ which means ‘hogweed’. And guess what, that was one of the ingredients in long ago times.
Why is it so extra special at Christmas? The soup has come to represent a lot more than just a wonderful addition to the meal. It is made from basic, simple ingredients, and this is said to be compared to a good life, down to earth, doing basic, simple things that make a good difference in the world.
And what about those marvellous flavors? Borscht is more than the individual flavors of the beets, the potatoes, the onions…it is a subtle marriage of sweet flavor and sour flavor. The sweet comes from the lovely diced or grated vegetables, but the sour can come from the sparkling addition of vinegar, citric acid, pickle juice, sauerkraut juice, or kvass.
It is truly a garden soup, but one that becomes magical and mystical with each cook. So if you will be enjoying the bounty of the garden with a bowl of borscht on Christmas Eve, let’s all watch the evening sky together on December 24 for the first star. This signals the time to begin our meal, and to say a special prayer of thanks to the many generations of marvellous cooks and gardeners who have gone before us, leaving us with precious memories and the special gift of this special recipe. Thank you, Mom and Dad. I love you forever.
Thank you to our friends at YTW for their fine work every week. Gardeners, visit the Hort Society at www.yorktonhort.ca and see what’s new. Have a wonderful and flavorful week!
