Cabbage soup

In national cuisines

Cabbage soup is popular in Russian, Polish, Slovak and Ukrainian cuisine. It is known as kapuśniak or kwaśnica in Polish, kapustnica in Slovak and капусняк (kapusnyak) in Ukrainian. It is also found in Czech (Czech: zelňačka or zelná polévka), German (German: Kohlsuppe or Krautsuppe), French (French: soupe aux choux) cuisine, Finnish (kaalikeitto) and Swedish (Swedish: kålsoppa) cuisine.

The Swedish cabbage soup is usually made from white cabbage, which is browned before being boiled, and seasoned with generous amounts of allspice and sometimes served with boiled meatballs.

A variety of the soup called shchi (Russian: щи) is a national dish of Russia. While commonly it is made of cabbages, dishes of the same name may be based on dock, spinach or nettle. The sauerkraut soup is called "sour shchi", as opposed to "fresh cabbage shchi".

In most of Latvia sauerkraut soup (Latvian: skābu kāpostu zupa) is made with sauerkraut, potatoes, carrots and groats, but the region in Latgale only sauerkraut and bacon is used.

Traditional kapuśniak preparation

Drained and chopped sauerkraut is cooked in water with chopped pork, pieces of kiełbasa and a bit of salt until the meat is almost tender. Instead of meat, a ready broth is also used. Afterwards, diced potatoes and carrots are added and boiled until they are cooked. Tomato paste and spices may be added. In some regions the soup is served with added flour and butter. A lean kapusniak is cooked with roots and fungi.

Kapuśniak is served hot, in some regions with sour cream and sprinkled with chopped parsley and dill.

In popular culture

Louis de Funès was the protagonist of the French film "Cabbage Soup", La Soupe aux choux.

Catherine the Great, a Russian tsarina of German origin, initially notorious at the Russian court for her poor command of Russian, was quipped to be capable of making 7 misspellings in a two-letter word: a two-letter Russian word щи would become Schtschi in German.