I am posting this as a tribute to beets!
Traditionally borscht is made with meat and can be served hot or cold. Should we not even try to compete with the slow cooked borscht in beef juices, made by people on a regular basis?
Needless to say, I could not find a recipe that I just love. Especially a plant based one.
Then I thought about a gazpacho! That chilled salsa soup! Great inspiration for a raw beet soup! In fact, I found several chilled soup recipes to check into while I was looking for beet soups. Check these out!! 15 best Spanish style cold beet soups.
The Beet Goes On!
Just to show how versatile beets are, my beet steaks might be of interest.
Theses beet steaks are grilled lightly over hickory wood to get that smoky flavor. see recipe here.
I use a coffee rub on the beet steaks and serve it with a chimichurri type sauce.
I’ve also taken a lemony cashew cream and added pickled kumquats and dill for an alternative topping. This was really good!
They are delicious!
Beets in a salad? You beet!
Strawberry and orange salad – with beets!
Back to the soup:
When I really want something healthy, this cold been soup fits the bill!
Adjust the vinegar to taste. I use sparking water to finish it and that make it really unique!
This chilled orange-beet soup is bright and refreshing on a hot day! It is all raw except the beets. The beets are pickled in orange juice, umeboshi plum vinegar and spices. That juice is used for the base of the soup.
The fizzy stuff!
If you cannot find Topo Chico and have a carbonator, try carbonating the liquid before pouring over the vegetables. Most carbonated water often has added chemicals you don’t need like fluoride or preservatives.
Tummy upset? Try using ginger beer instead of sparkling mineral water. I recently discovered that sparkling ginger beer is amazing in this soup!
You won’t believe how good this is!
Cold Spring beet soup
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Beets I make extra to have on hand. You will probably use 1 beet in this recipe.
- 1 Tbsp Garlic purée
- 1 TBSP Ginger purée
- 6 TBSP Umeboshi Plum vinegar
- 1 Cup Orange juice Or juice of one fresh orange
- 2 Quarts Water for cooking beets
- 1/2 TSP Himalayan salt
- 2 Persian or baby cucumbers
- 1 Carrot
- 1/4 Sweet onion like vidalia Red or green onions work as well
- 12 Kumquats Sub orange segments
- 4 Strands cilantro Substitute dill, mint, basil or choice
- 8 Radishes
- 1 Red habanero or Fresno chili Optional
- 8 Fresh strawberries Optional
- 1 12 oz Bottle of sparkling mineral water Topo Chico or ginger beer
Instructions
- Peel beets. Dice or slice to your preference. Use gloves to avoid staining. Add to a large sauce pan and cover with 2 quarts of water. Add more water if necessary to cover the beets. Salt the water and set the saucepan on medium heat.
- When your beets can be cut with a fork, remove from heat. Move beets to a jar or glass container and pour in the garlic, ginger, orange juice and vinegar. Cover the beets with the remaining beet water. Taste the beet juice and add more vinegar, garlic, ginger or salt to your taste.
- Slice cucumbers into thin nickle slices. They are pretty if you slice them on a diagonal. Divide into bowls.
- Peel and grate carrot. I use a serrated peeler that makes long strands, then I cut the strands into 1" long pieces. You can also thinly slice them on the diagonal to make coins. Divide into bowls.
- Thinly slice the radishes, arrange in bowls.
- Cut the onion into quarters and thinly slice 1/4 of the onion. arrange in bowls.
- Cut kumquats in half lengthwise. Arrange in bowls.
- Remove tops from strawberries. Slice the berries thin and add to bowls.
- Remove seeds from pepper. Thinly slice then chop. Distribute sparingly into bowls.
- Remove cilantro leaves from stems, or trim herbs of choice. Dill and mint work very well here.
- Divide the vegetables into bowls. Divide the orange juice and kumquats evenly between the bowls.
- Add about 1/4 cup of beets per bowl.
- Add orange juice to beet juice, then pour beet juice over the vegetables to cover.
- Add cold mineral water to cover the vegetables. (Don't stir to combine, it is prettier with the mineral water floated on top). Spoon from the bottom while eating to blend the earthy beet juice with the refreshing mineral water.
- Garnish with cilantro or herbs of choice.
- Enjoy. For non-vegans, sour cream or feta cheese would be great with this!
Notes
This is a Snap Pea Sheep recipe.
The vinegar should be very subtle in this soup. Adjust to your taste. You may substitute rice or champagne vinegar if you cannot fine umeboshi plum.
Ginger purée can be adjusted to taste. Add some to the final dish if you like more ginger.
The kumquats add a sweet-sour component with just the right amount of acid.
You can use orange segments instead and squeeze juice from the peels and membrane to use for your soup.
Adjust the vegetables and fruits to your liking. A little ginger could be good in this soup. It needs the fruits to round out the flavors of the beets.
A good dollop of unsweetened coconut yogurt is a great finish for this soup.
I have altered this soup by adding thin shavings of savoy cabbage, as shown. Although I like cabbage, it was not a good fit for this.
