Borscht is one of those foods that I've heard of since I was a kid, but never had. In fact, before this event, if you had asked me what exactly it was, I'd have probably guessed it was some kind of stew. But now I'm a bit more educated about it. The example I bought was Gold's classic borscht, which came in a large jar.
Let's start with the name. It's thought that it comes from a proto-Slavic word for hogweed, "bursci." But this then inspired the Yiddish word "borscht," which is how English speakers usually refer to it. Other spelling renditions include borsch, borsht, and bortsch. Okay, now we know the name--when was it invented? Alas, there's no clear answer to this. Supposedly the earliest mention in history was in a 16th century Russian compendium, entitled "Domostroy" ("domestic order.") But clearly it was developed long before that time. Location-wise, it's very common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. As to how it's made, and with what ingredients, the answer to these is "many ways," and "just about anything," respectively. The original way, like the name suggests, was a soup made from the hogeweed plant. However, cooks took the ball and ran with it. There's a rye, wheat, or cornmeal variety, which is a white color. A kind made from sorrel, spinach, collard greens, dandelions, or other greens results in a borscht with a greenish hue. But by far the most popular, and famous type is made with a beet base, which obviously results in a reddish dish. This scarlet soup is credited to the Ukrainians, and is what most people think of as borscht. All of these borschts usually have other other ingredients, not shockingly, and these can be many things. Cabbage, carrots, sour cream, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, beef, pork, lamb, fish, marrow, etc., etc. Essentially, pick a thing, and as long as it's not something ridiculous, like M & M's or dirt, and chances are good that someone puts it in their style of borscht. Cooking methods also vary, although slow cooking seems to be the most frequent way. Furthermore, it's eaten both hot, and cold (usually this way in the summer). Some even consume it as a thick beverage.
As far as my home goes, borscht in the U.S. was mainly introduced by Eastern European Jews and Mennonites, and usually the Ukrainian beet-based style. Some Americans, and some foreigners, may have heard of the "Borscht Belt." This is based on something that is depressing, but turned into something positive in the end. Antisemitism meant that Jews in the Northeast were often barred from popular resorts and hotels. So they started their own, located mostly in the Catskill Mountains in New York state. Entertaining at these resorts were various comics (many of whom were Jewish as well), some of whom went on to become famous and successful across the country, or even the world. Some of these were Milton Berle, Mel Brooks, George Burns, Lenny Bruce, Rodney Dangerfield, Phyllis Diller, Buddy Hackett, Jerry Lewis, Jackie Mason, Don Rickles, Henny Youngman, Joan Rivers, and Carl Reiner (who just passed away--RIP). The heyday of these resorts was the 1920's through the 1960's. So Borscht Belt can refer to the area, or the style of comedy that developed there.
Gold's, or to use their full moniker, Gold's Pure Food Products Company, Inc., was started by Tillie and Hyman Gold in Brooklyn, NY back in 1932. At that time most delis made their own horseradish, which was rather tedious and time consuming to do. Gold's marketed their own, and the business was soon a hit. Currently, aside from their flagship horseradish, they also sell mustards, sauces, various kinds of borscht, Fox's syrups, and schav (see my post on March 28, 2015). Gold's exports to Australia, Israel, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, and England. They also make and distribute Nathan's Famous condiments. Nathan's is famous (or infamous, depending on how you feel about it) for their annual hot dog eating contest. Which, by coincidence, is happening today, although not in front of a crowd due to the pandemic. If you're curious, Joey Chestnut is the reigning male champ, and also holds the record for most hot dogs and buns eaten in 10 minutes--74! Miko Sudo is the reigning women's champ, and has the record high of 41. Gold's sold its controlling interest to the La Salle capital investment firm in 2015, for those into business minutia. Finally, Guinness doesn't seem to keep a record listing for this, but allegedly Gold's at one time had the biggest root cellar in the world.
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Gold's Pure Food Products Company, Inc., classic borscht: This came in a 24 ounce (680.4 gram) jar. The ingredients were simple--water, beets, sugar, salt, and citric acid. The color of it was obviously an intense purplish red, from the beets. The borscht itself was thin--mostly liquid, with finely minced up pieces of beet. I should note that I'm not usually a fan of beets. I can stomach eggs pickled in beet juice, but that's typically it. Therefore, I was quite surprised that I rather liked this borscht. The sour tangyness was pleasant. I didn't love it, but I did think it was decent. So now there are two soups I like--this and gazpacho (see June 23, 2018 post). I should note that I had it at room temperature, and then chilled. So I haven't changed enough to like hot soups. Moreover, I'm certainly aware that this borscht was no frills, and a basic, minimal take on the soup. But I would be willing to try more elaborate beet kinds, or even the green and white sorts. But only served cold!
One final note--if anyone's thinking of making their own, original gangster type of borscht, using hogweed as the base, be very careful. Many of the plants that closely resemble hogweed are poisonous. I'm familiar with the giant hogweed variant, from my years of field archaeology. That kind is also partially edible, but if the right parts of the plant are picked, or not properly processed, they can cause awful, photosensitive chemical burns. Check out the results on Google Images, if you want to be horrified! And the thought of those burning sores in your mouth and esophagus is nightmarish.
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