Fermented beetroot starter for barszcz

I’ve been away from here for ages! I just haven’t had the time. Things piled up and finally overflowed. A truly enormous amount of work. I did do a little cooking last weekend (there’ll be at least two recipes once I find a moment to post them), but otherwise, nothing.

Mostly I’ve been eating out, as they say. One of the more interesting things I haven’t yet boasted about on the Facebook fan page was eating salo, cured pork fat, in Kyiv at a very interesting place called „Spotykacz„. It came with delicious dark bread (warmed up) and vegetables. Strange, but it was really good. Smoked in a distinctive Ukrainian way. Look at how it was served:

Not bad, eh?

I could write much more about my culinary adventures in Ukraine, actually, but perhaps in another post. Still not enough time.

Well, these things happen sometimes. What’s more, it doesn’t bother me at all 🙂

But today I somehow managed to find a moment, because time is ticking, Christmas isn’t far away, and you can’t make a fermented beetroot starter for barszcz in a day. I should add that Ukraine is a country of barszcz, so it fits in with that part of the world too. Besides, on the PrymitywnaKuchnia.pl Facebook page you could see that I’d had some, and it was really good red barszcz. Different from ours, with meat and a dollop of sour cream (in Poland I prefer mine with uszka dumplings). It was exquisite. I’ve never had anything like it in Poland. But to the point…

It’s a quick recipe, so you can literally have the jar prepared in 5 – 10 minutes. I’m making it for the first time, and I’ll say straight away that I don’t know whether it’ll work. I found it on ugotuj.to and it’s recommended by Jakub Kuroń. So I’m hoping it’ll turn out well.

The ingredients look promising and seem to guarantee an amazing flavour. The barszcz they produce should be wonderfully aromatic (lots of garlic and caraway), with a slice of proper bread (make sure it’s made with rye sourdough too). It ought to work. So I recommend taking up the challenge as I have and preparing your own starter. And if it doesn’t work? You can pop down to Żabka 😉

I’ll let you know how mine turned out along with my Christmas wishes. Good luck!

At a glance:

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Fermentation time: around 2 – 3 weeks

Serves: enough for soup for 10 people

How many calories: fermented starters have no calories

Ingredients for a fermented beetroot starter for red barszcz:

• 1 large beetroot
• 1 small head of garlic
• 1 slice of proper rye bread (I had „Zaścianek”, a slice about 10 cm long and 1 cm thick)
• half a tablespoon of caraway seeds
• half a tablespoon of salt
• boiled water, still hot

How to make a fermented beetroot starter for red barszcz:

You’ll also need a jar. I used one with a rubber seal, holding about a litre (from Ikea) — you can see it in the photos.

I peeled the beetroot and cut it into small, narrow strips. I put it in the jar. I peeled the garlic, cut it in half and dropped it onto the beetroot. I cut the slice of bread into 3 pieces and added it to the jar. I sprinkled in the caraway and salt.

I poured hot water over everything (until it covered all the ingredients) and closed the jar. I set it aside somewhere warm.

The starter should develop for at least two weeks (apparently); I’ll probably check mine on Christmas Eve. Are you in? Red barszcz made with your own fermented starter ought to be even better.