Summer Borscht

I pulled out my Auntie Betty's recipe card and put on a pot of Summer Borscht. I did my best to locate some Sorrel but had no success. I'm going to buy some seeds and plant them and by next summer maybe I'll have sorrel. I did find in several recipes the option to use beet leaves. . .and so I did.
When my beloved asked what was for supper I told him and then he said that I could quote him on this. . ."I wouldn't mind if you got back to making noodles again"..

I'll tell you what he said after dinner at the end of the post.


I really enjoy this soup but perhaps it requires a palette that is accustomed to "sea weed soup" as we called it growing up.

Summer Borscht (pronounced Zumma. . in German)

• 1 smoked ham bone or ham hock
• 2 - 3 cups or slivered sorrel leaves. . .or beet leaves I bought one bunch of beets and used all the leaves
• 1/2 cup of chopped green onions
• 1/3 cup of chopped dill
• 4 - 6 potatoes
• 8 cups of water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• hard boiled eggs

1. Put the water and the ham in a large pot and bring to boil.
2. Simmer for a few hours. Remove the bone.
3. Add the vegetables and cook until tender.
4. Add the meat back into the pot.
5. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
6. Before serving, take a bowl of soup out of the pot, and slowly add the sour cream, then add it all back to the pot.

We added our own sour cream into our bowls.

Chop up a hard boiled egg add this into the soup bowl.

So. . .once we started eating it. . .

He said. . "tasty". . I thought so too. He said "I hate eating my words".

I can assure you, now that I've discovered that beet leaves can be used in place of sorrel, I'll make it more regularly.

The Summer Borscht has been documented .. .for future generations. . .and for the fun of it.