My recollection of borscht was seeing my Dad, ( who was Russian we said but actually Ukrainian Jewish) eating it with sour cream. I thought it looked like strawberries and cream so when I tasted it I thought it was shockingly not what I wanted.

Since then, well over 60 years ago, I haven't touched it. I've only recently come around to tolerating beets because of that trauma.

I had never eaten it until I went to Russia a few years ago. I couldn‘t believe how good it was! I have never made it though.

Another with eastern European ancestry. Grandparents on both side were immigrants.

My mother made it only once when we were children. We moaned and carried on about how awful it was. She never bothered to make it again.

I love beets, so probably if I had it as an adult, I'd like it.

ETA to add, yes DLM those borders !! Hard to know what the country was from year to year.

LOL, Salonva, that must have been a shock. Beets can be divisive, for sure. Some people think they taste like dirt, or have only ever had the sorry processed ones that are overly soft. My Mom never made borscht but she did make some Polish dishes. Years ago when I travelled in Russia I pretty much alternated between eating borscht and stroganoff!

I kept trying to get my girls to try them by emphasizing their color. No dice. DS will eat anything and it was his idea. He liked it but I don't think he loved it as much as I did. DH ate it but did not want seconds, let's just say. And when he came home later from ice hockey, he made a PBJ! I guess I will be finishing the leftovers.

Beets are one of those things that I love cold...pickled or in a salad...but can't stand when their hot. It's me, I know.

That's interesting, Annie. I kind of feel the same way about tuna. For example, I think tuna melts are abhorrent.

Trapped isn't that the truth how the countries changed! My paternal grandparents were Hungarian, maternal were Russian but in reality the villages were probably no more than 100 mile apart and in current day Ukraine - we think. Hard to be certain.

When one of my kids was researching our family's immigration, one branch claimed in Census records alternatively to be from Russia or from Poland, depending on the year you asked.

I grew up eating the cold borscht without meat - and with sour cream. The jarred stuff from the supermarkets was a staple for our Jewish holiday meals. I've never made the heartier stew, but we made lots of the meatless kind back in the day. I think the recipe we used was from my NYTimes vegetarian cookbook.

Yum, yum, yum....give me beets in any form. My daughter was a very picky eater when she was little, but her cousins were bewildered at her love of beets. We still love them!

Mtn, I'll have to try that recipe and would be happy with the cabbage.

I loved beets so much as a kid, I would cook my own little pot of beets with o.j. to eat all by itself 😃

Now I eat them roasted with olive oil & sea salt and drizzled with lime juice when they come out of the oven. I cut up the leftovers and add them to salads.

Never had it but i love beets. I have seen it served with sour cream.

I kind of feel the same way about tuna. For example, I think tuna melts are abhorrent.

Hail fellow well met! Melted cheese on hot tuna...:::shudder:::

I like borscht - my Litvak grandmother used to make it all the time. I have it occasionally if we eat at an Eastern European restaurant.

I love borscht, but have no known Russian/Latvian/Ukranian ancestry. I enjoy beets in any guise, routinely roasting them and serving them warm or room temperature with basalmic vinegar and olive oil. I deplore the idea of tuna melts—makes me ill to contemplate.

Czarina, we used to go to a little cafe upstate and they had pelmeni, yum.

I love beets hot or cold, esp. marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette with capers and feta.

It's always important to keep in mind that when you eat a lot of beets you can forget and later on have a momentary hemorrhaging freakout.

I don't know about tuna melts, but I love creamed tuna on toast.

My parents (of Jewish/ Eastern Europe origin) would eat borscht regularly, cold, with sour cream. It looked so appealing, but I didn’t care for it…one of those mysterious foods only grown ups ate. I think it was typically just jarred Manischevitz, although I hasten to add that my mom (a true Berkeley foodie back in the day!) was a fantastic gourmet cook, and made a delicious Russian cabbage soup- a bit sweet and sour- that I still love to make, using her recipe. Stuffed cabbage, too; omg so good. Not raised in an observant home, we described ourselves as “food Jews”. (I hope that’s not offensive to anyone.)

@chinacatpeekin That sweet and sour cabbage soup sounds intriguing. Is it a recipe that you can share? I always make hot and sour soup if we have colds or flu. It's quick and easy and delicious.

Our geographic area reflects the varieties of borscht influenced by immigrants from various parts of the world. There is cabbage borscht, cold sweet and tangy borscht, hot borscht made with or without meat, with or without sour cream topping. I once ate a vegan borscht with seaweed. I grew up with the meat variety that had regular cream stirred in as one of the ingredients. Delicious! I love beets of any kind.

Nekotish, Here’s the recipe I wrote on an index card decades ago! I hope it’s legible enough:) if not, I am happy to transcribe it.
I’m going to make this tomorrow- I’m inspired!

I’ve never had borscht, but I do like beets — especially roasted. Beet greens are also delicious.

Ditto Bunny on the possibility of a momentary freak out due to beet consumption.

Nancy, it gets me every time. :)

Thanks for the idea. I haven’t made borscht for a good long time so maybe this week. Mine is meatless with yogurt and dill.

I finally found Mtn’s recommended brand of stock in the grocery store so some kind of soup needs to materialize this week.

LOL, look at me! I am an influencer!

Figures it would be for ... broth.

My mother used to make it. She used to say it was low in calories....easy to make...a good Summer soup. My husband just purchased beet juice. Beets are suddenly a "Super Food".

Beet roesti is really good- Mark Bittman recipe

@chinacatpeekin Thank you, I'll definitely give it a try. Just one question - is that half a cup of vinegar or lemon juice?

Yes, hall a cup. Enjoy!

@chinacatpeekinThank you - I'm sure we will like it

Our friend's invited us for a the holidays and they are Polish. I remember having it. I do not like beets but it tasted pretty considering I do not like them!

Best tuna melt I ever ate - and the first too - was at a local seafood restaurant. It was great - on swirled pumpernickel/rye, toasted, topped with melted Swiss cheese - yum!

Carol, sounds yummy. Hold the tuna. To me, hot tuna releases the oils and makes it taste too fishy.

I made borcht last night starting with the serious eats vegetarian recipe and added bay, tomato paste, cider vinegar and fresh dill. Not the very best I’ve ever made but satisfying.

Pumpernickle bread seemed like the perfect accompaniment. I didn’t think I’d find it at one of our rather french bread bakeries so I bought at WF—- what a mistake! No crust due to the plastic bag, fluffy texture, no discernable flavor—- just rye flour and caramel color to try and trick the mouth.

I should have made soda bread.

I found it hard to source good rye bread; it is like, out of style?

I prefer rye bread for most sandwiches, so I don't consider it out of style. I do resort to keeping a loaf of (already sliced) Oroweat bread in the freezer. Why does Oroweat omit the H???

And why did I just this week figure out Whole Foods will slice and bag any loaf I buy there?

The only time I cooked beets. which we never had growing up, they tasted like dirt. I usually like everything except peanut butter and Kool-Aid Do you know why they tasted like dirt?

.

They're supposed to taste like dirt. It's their earthy goodness.

I found it hard to source good rye bread; it is like, out of style?

Outside of NYC and a few other places, really good rye is difficult to find. Most that you get tastes like white bread with a few caraway seeds thrown in. Zabar's and Zaro's both make good loaves.

Not to hijack this thread, but @mtnrdredux_gw you have mail!

Got it, Amy, thanks for letting me know ... I don't check all the time.

LOL here I am thinking "hmm, why would she email me about Borscht?" LOL

"They're supposed to taste like dirt. It's their earthy goodness"

Well, yuck. This is for sure one recipe I am NOT trying.

Oh don't be so silly.

Beets are root veggies. Like all root veggies, including say, potatoes, they have an element of earthiness. They are also so sweet they are used to make sugar!

Do you like potato skins, for example? They have a pretty earthy flavor, too.

Yes I like potato skins, but they tasted NOTHING like the beets did. Maybe it was the beets or maybe it was the way I cooked them, but 30 years later I still remember the awful taste.

ETA: Go out in the yard and pick up a handfull of dirt andeat it.

To me the taste of beets is part sweet, part earthy. Are you someone who also thinks mushrooms taste like dirt?

Beets have an organic chemical compound called geosmin that gives them their earthy flavor. Each person has a different sensitivity to geosmin, causing some to like or dislike the natural earthiness.

That luscious smell we can detect after rain comes from an organic compound called geosmin, which is produced by microbes, including the bacteria genus Streptomyces.

Like other root veggies, roasting beets concentrates their sweetness. I like them diced and roasted in EVOO, finished with a little OJ and salted butter.

Beets have a lot of health benefits, and are even said to elevate mood.

Betaine was first discovered in the juice of sugar beets in the 19th century and these days the amino acid derivative betaine is recognised as being potentially helpful in treating clinical depression

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-beets#TOC_TITLE_HDR_11

Beets are the only vegetable that I do not like.

DH could not stand eggplant. He thought it tasted like dirt. He was so famous for saying it tasted like dirt that my sister and I won a round of some game by giving the clue ”tastes like dirt” to elicit the answer ”eggplant.” However, DH loved loved loved beets and found no unpleasant earthiness in their flavor. Go figure.

BBSTX, was that Taboo? Love that game

YES! Thank you. I couldn’t remember the name of the game.

FWIW, old beets lose their sweetness, IMPE - they can be flavorless, and all you'll taste is the 'earthiness'.

Nice fresh beets harvested at the right time are sweet and not very 'earthy' at all - I find carrots to be similar.

P.S. In case anyone didn't know, the beets used to make sugar are not the ones we eat as a vegetable. They're called 'sugar beets' and are white, not red.