Every family has it's own recipe and my recipe I have adapted over the years to what it is now...one of my favourite soups!
I make a canning pot and deliver some to a few friends and the rest I freeze for the fall when I want some nice borscht to warm me up.
12-15 large beets boil half of them with 4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in the water and remove skins the other half rub with olive oil and spices and roast until almost cooked and skin will pop off (water from beets to be used for broth)
6 cups beef broth (add to beet water)
Keep beet tops aside and chop finely along with 1 purple cabbage and 1 large bunch of swiss chard, 1 large red onion, 1 large white onion 3-4 parsnips, 3-4 carrots, 6 cloves of garlic 1 small retabaga or turnip
4 potatoes all chopped.
1/2 of the veggies are to be sautee'd in bacon grease add to broth and the other half will be added in 1.5 hours after the veggies simmer in the pot and are mashed up.
Add a can of diced tomatoes with herbs a large can of tomato paste and 1/2 pound chopped pastrami, some thyme, garlic, cardamon, dill weed and dill paste, 1 cup of dill pickle brine, and a table spoon of butter, a pinch or two of crushed caraway seeds.
After the 1.5 hours of boiling and mashing of the veggies in pot add the other 1/2 of the veggies and cook down until veggies are near done and turn offf pot, adjust seasoning to taste and serve with sour cream on top and a bit of dill and caraway seeds.
This is a large canning pot worth of borscht so adjust to amount you would like to have.
It freezes well but wouldn't keep it in the freezer more than 6 months, most cook books say 3-4 months but have kept and used it for 6 months and it tasted fine and was not frost bitten as I put a layer of waxed paper between the lid and the soup that stops the frost from biting the food.
I hope you and yours enjoy my borscht recipe
