Beet a plant native to the Mediterranean Basin, was already grown in antiquity.[99]
Only the leaves were of culinary use, as the tapered, tough, whitish
and bitter-tasting root was considered unfit for human consumption.[100]
It is likely that beet greens were used in variants of green borscht
long before the invention of the beetroot-based red borscht.[14] Beet cultivars with round, red, sweet taproots, known as beetroots, were not reliably reported until the 12th century[101] and did not spread to Eastern Europe before the 16th century.[102] Mikołaj Rej, a Polish Renaissance poet and moralist, included the earliest known Polish recipe for pickled beetroots in his 1568 book, Life of an Honest Man.[103] It would later evolve into ćwikła,[104] or chrain mit burik,[105] a beet-and-horseradish relish popular in Polish and Jewish cuisines. Rej also recommended the "very tasty brine"[v] left over from beetroot pickling,[106]
which was an early version of beet sour. The sour found some
applications in Polish folk medicine as a cure for hangover and – mixed
with honey – as a sore throat remedy.[76]
It may never be known who first thought of using beet sour to flavor
borscht, which also gave the soup its now-familiar red color. Jerzy Samuel Bandtkie's Polish-German dictionary published in 1806 was the first to define barszcz as a tart soup made from pickled beetroots.[107] The fact that certain 19th-century Russian and Polish cookbooks, such as Handbook of the Experienced Russian Housewife (1842) by Yekaterina Avdeyeva[108][109] and The Lithuanian Cook (1854) by Wincenta Zawadzka,[110] refer to beetroot-based borscht as "Little Russian borscht"[w] (where "Little Russian" is a term used at the time for ethnic Ukrainians under imperial Russian rule) suggests that this innovation took place in what is now Ukraine,[11]
whose soils and climate are particularly well suited to beet
cultivation. Ukrainian legends, probably of 19th-century origin,
attribute the invention of beetroot borscht either to Zaporozhian Cossacks, serving in the Polish army, on their way to break the siege of Vienna in 1683, or to Don Cossacks, serving in the Russian army, while laying siege to Azov in 1695.[14]
Spanish conquistadors brought potatoes and tomatoes from the Americas to Europe in the 16th century, but these vegetables only became commonly grown and consumed in Eastern Europe in the 19th century. Eventually, both became staples of peasant diet and essential ingredients of Ukrainian and Russian borscht. Potatoes replaced turnips in borscht recipes, and tomatoes – fresh, canned or paste – took over from beet sour as the source of tartness. The turnip is rarely found in modern recipes, and even then, together with potatoes.[14] In Ukraine, beet sour and tomatoes were both used for some time until the latter ultimately prevailed during the last third of the 19th century.[111]
Over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, borscht's popularity
spread beyond its Slavic homeland, largely due to such factors as
territorial expansion of the Russian Empire, Russia's growing political
clout and cultural stature, and waves of emigration out of the country.
As Russia grew to cover most of northern and central Eurasia, borscht
was introduced to the cuisines of various peoples inhabiting the
territories both within and adjacent to the empire, from Finland[112] to the Caucasus[48][113] and Iran,[114] to Central Asia[115][116] and China, and to Alaska (Russian America).[117]
Borscht's westward expansion was less successful; Germans used to scoff at the soup along with other East European fare.[11] What helped familiarize Western Europe with borscht was the practice of Russian emperors, as well as Russian and Polish aristocrats, to employ celebrated French chefs, who later presented their own versions of the dish as a foreign curiosity back in France. One of the first French chefs to do so was Marie-Antoine Carême, who worked briefly for Emperor Alexander I in 1819.[118] In his take on borscht, the original Russian soup served only as inspiration for an extravagant haute cuisine dish with an air of eastern exoticism.[119] Apart from vegetables and beet sour, his recipe calls for a roast chicken, a fried chicken, a duck, a piece of veal, an oxtail, a marrow bone, one pound of bacon, and six large sausages, and suggests serving with beef quenelles, deviled eggs, and croûtons.[13] Auguste Escoffier, Carême's apprentice, who was mostly fascinated by the soup's vivid ruby-red color, simplified his master's recipe, while also securing the place of potage bortsch ("borscht soup") in French cuisine.[120] Urbain Dubois and Émile Bernard, both of whom had been employed at Polish aristocratic courts, presented borscht to the French public as a Polish soup; their cookbook, La cuisine classique, published in 1856, contains a borscht recipe under the descriptive name, potage au jus de betteraves à la polonaise ("Polish-style beet-juice soup"),[121] which had been changed to potage barsch à la polonaise by the third edition in 1868.[122] In 1867, beetroot borscht was served, along with herrings, sturgeon, coulibiac, Pozharsky cutlets and vinaigrette salad,[123] at a Russian-themed dinner at the International Exposition in Paris, strengthening its international association with Russian culture.[124]
Mass migration from the Russian Empire to North America – initially
mosty by members of persecuted religious minorities – was instrumental
in bringing borscht across the Atlantic. The earliest waves of migration
occurred at a time when cabbage-based borscht was still the dominant
variant of the soup in at least parts of Russia. The Mennonites, who
began arriving in Canada and the United States from Russia's Volga region in the 1870s,[32] still eschew beetroots in their borscht;[14] instead, Mennonite varieties include Komst Borscht (with cabbage or sauerkraut) and Somma Borscht (sorrel-based "summer borscht").[32] According to the Jewish Encyclopedia published in 1906, cabbage-based kraut borscht was also more popular than the beet-based variant in American Jewish cuisine at the time.[53] Subsequent Jewish immigration helped popularize the red borscht in America.
In the 1930s, when most American hotels refused to accept Jewish guests due to widespread anti-Semitism, New York Jews began flocking to Jewish-owned resorts in the Catskill Mountains for their summer vacations. The area grew into a major center of Jewish entertainment, with restaurants offering all-you-can-eat Ashkenazi Jewish fare, including copious amounts of borscht. Grossinger's, one of the largest resorts, served borscht throughout the day, every day of the year. The region became known, initially in derision, as the "Borscht Belt", reinforcing the popular association between borscht and American Jewish culture.[11] As most visitors arrived in the summertime, the borscht was typically served cold. Marc Gold was one of its largest suppliers, producing 1,750 short tons (1,590 t) a year in his business's heyday.[125] Gold's borscht consists of puréed beetroots seasoned with sugar, salt and citric acid;[126] it is usually blended with sour cream and served as a refreshing beverage, more aptly described as a "beet smoothie". Such kind of "purplish, watery broth" is, according to Nikolai Burlakoff, author of The World of Russian Borsch, "associated in America with borsch, in general, and Jewish borsch in particular."[127]
In the Soviet Union, borscht was one of the most popular everyday dishes. It was described by James Meek, a British correspondent in Kiev and Moscow, as "the common denominator of the Soviet kitchen, the dish that tied together ... the high table of the Kremlin and the meanest canteen in the boondocks of the Urals, ... the beetroot soup that pumped like a main artery through the kitchens of the east Slav lands".[128] Among Soviet leaders, the Ukrainian-born Leonid Brezhnev was especially partial to borscht, which his wife continued to personally cook for him even after they had moved into the Kremlin.[118]
The soup has even played a role in the Soviet space program. In March 1961, as part of a communications equipment test, a pre-recorded recipe for borscht was broadcast from the Korabl-Sputnik 4 spacecraft. The craft, carrying animals and a mannequin, had been launched into low Earth orbit in preparation for manned space flights.[129] Actual borscht eventually made its way into outer space as space food for Soviet and, later, Russian cosmonauts. Originally, a puréed version of
The addition of tomatoes may give borscht an orange tinge instead of the purplish red imparted by beetroots.
Spanish conquistadors brought potatoes and tomatoes from the Americas to Europe in the 16th century, but these vegetables only became commonly grown and consumed in Eastern Europe in the 19th century. Eventually, both became staples of peasant diet and essential ingredients of Ukrainian and Russian borscht. Potatoes replaced turnips in borscht recipes, and tomatoes – fresh, canned or paste – took over from beet sour as the source of tartness. The turnip is rarely found in modern recipes, and even then, together with potatoes.[14] In Ukraine, beet sour and tomatoes were both used for some time until the latter ultimately prevailed during the last third of the 19th century.[111]
Spread
Auguste Escoffier, known in France as the "king of chefs and chef of kings", was fascinated by borscht's ruby-red color.
Borscht's westward expansion was less successful; Germans used to scoff at the soup along with other East European fare.[11] What helped familiarize Western Europe with borscht was the practice of Russian emperors, as well as Russian and Polish aristocrats, to employ celebrated French chefs, who later presented their own versions of the dish as a foreign curiosity back in France. One of the first French chefs to do so was Marie-Antoine Carême, who worked briefly for Emperor Alexander I in 1819.[118] In his take on borscht, the original Russian soup served only as inspiration for an extravagant haute cuisine dish with an air of eastern exoticism.[119] Apart from vegetables and beet sour, his recipe calls for a roast chicken, a fried chicken, a duck, a piece of veal, an oxtail, a marrow bone, one pound of bacon, and six large sausages, and suggests serving with beef quenelles, deviled eggs, and croûtons.[13] Auguste Escoffier, Carême's apprentice, who was mostly fascinated by the soup's vivid ruby-red color, simplified his master's recipe, while also securing the place of potage bortsch ("borscht soup") in French cuisine.[120] Urbain Dubois and Émile Bernard, both of whom had been employed at Polish aristocratic courts, presented borscht to the French public as a Polish soup; their cookbook, La cuisine classique, published in 1856, contains a borscht recipe under the descriptive name, potage au jus de betteraves à la polonaise ("Polish-style beet-juice soup"),[121] which had been changed to potage barsch à la polonaise by the third edition in 1868.[122] In 1867, beetroot borscht was served, along with herrings, sturgeon, coulibiac, Pozharsky cutlets and vinaigrette salad,[123] at a Russian-themed dinner at the International Exposition in Paris, strengthening its international association with Russian culture.[124]
Ukrainian beet-and-cabbage borscht
In the 1930s, when most American hotels refused to accept Jewish guests due to widespread anti-Semitism, New York Jews began flocking to Jewish-owned resorts in the Catskill Mountains for their summer vacations. The area grew into a major center of Jewish entertainment, with restaurants offering all-you-can-eat Ashkenazi Jewish fare, including copious amounts of borscht. Grossinger's, one of the largest resorts, served borscht throughout the day, every day of the year. The region became known, initially in derision, as the "Borscht Belt", reinforcing the popular association between borscht and American Jewish culture.[11] As most visitors arrived in the summertime, the borscht was typically served cold. Marc Gold was one of its largest suppliers, producing 1,750 short tons (1,590 t) a year in his business's heyday.[125] Gold's borscht consists of puréed beetroots seasoned with sugar, salt and citric acid;[126] it is usually blended with sour cream and served as a refreshing beverage, more aptly described as a "beet smoothie". Such kind of "purplish, watery broth" is, according to Nikolai Burlakoff, author of The World of Russian Borsch, "associated in America with borsch, in general, and Jewish borsch in particular."[127]
In the Soviet Union, borscht was one of the most popular everyday dishes. It was described by James Meek, a British correspondent in Kiev and Moscow, as "the common denominator of the Soviet kitchen, the dish that tied together ... the high table of the Kremlin and the meanest canteen in the boondocks of the Urals, ... the beetroot soup that pumped like a main artery through the kitchens of the east Slav lands".[128] Among Soviet leaders, the Ukrainian-born Leonid Brezhnev was especially partial to borscht, which his wife continued to personally cook for him even after they had moved into the Kremlin.[118]
Tubed borscht as space food
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