Borscht, Borsch or Borshch?

Borscht, Borsch or Borshch? | All Things Good
Mystery seems to roll across the vast Russian landscape like a Siberian blanket of snow, spreading a dusting of enigma on nearly every aspect of life – including food. Or so is the case with Borshch, one of the great soups of the world that serves up its own culinary mystery in its seemingly endless varieties and different spellings.

Borscht. Borsch. Bortsch. Borstch. Borshtch. Borsh. Borshch.

But, what exactly is Borsch?

While “cultured” Americans are likely to spell it with a ‘t’ (Borscht) and describe it as “a beet soup served chilled”, with a little detective work we learned that during the long Russian winters, Borshch is served piping hot and is spelled without the ‘t’ (Borshch).

According to Darra Goldstein in her book, A Taste of Russia, there are well over a hundred varieties of the soup with as many as twenty different ingredients – the common ingredient, nevertheless, being beets.

“As a general rule,” she writes, “the farther west one goes, the more beets are added to the soup.”

Here at ATG, “around our culinary table”, our favorite version of Borshch is a Muscovite-style, which is tomato based with a little bit of beef.

There are many variations of borscht!
...for example: Dr. Zhivago Borscht Recipe on Food52: