Boil honey or sugar ( 2 cups) and water (four liters). Let this cool to room temperature.

Break up  about a pound of rye bread and any fruit and herbs of your choice and add yeast to make a primary fermentor.

Next add the sweetened water.

Let this bubble up for a few days and then strain the mess out and you will have Kvas. Again it should be basically non-alcoholic Kvass.  If you want to read about a funny kvas story or two go here -> Kvas.  I think you will like it.

Ukrainian noodles

When you think noodles you think of Italy, Italy is the land of noodles. But this is wrong. Ukraine is the land of noodles. It is the bread basket of Europe and has the riches soil in the world. Rich black earth was left from times before when ancient seas covered Ukraine.  The result, the noodles in Ukraine taste like nowhere in the world. Much better than Italy in my opinion.   If you ever go to Ukraine try their bread and noodles. And of course try their Ukrainian noodle soup.

To make good chicken soup you need to use good amount of vegetables as they creat the flavour.

Ingredients:

1 large chicken

4 quarts of water (to cover the chicken in a pot)

3 carrots

1 parsnip

1 small celery root

1/2 a cup of chopped parsley

3 celery stems

1/2 pound of green asparagus

1/2 a leek

1/2 a small red or yellow pepper

1 pinch of Italian seasoning

3-4 bay leafs

5 whole allspice

3 tbs of salt

black pepper

1. Wash the chicken and vegetables.

2. Put the chicken in a pot and add water. The chicken should be covered. If it’s not you can cut it in a half or in pieces – whatever is easer for you.

3. Add spices and start the soup.

4. In a meantime chop all the vegetables and add them to the pot with chicken.

5. After the soup boils put the heat on low and let it simmer for about 1 hour.

6. After that time take the meat out. Now you have 2 options – you can either cut it in pieces and put it back into the soup or use it separately (for example to make chicken chops).

7. Serve you soup hot with or without vegetables. You can serve it with noodles or bread.

Ukrainian chicken soup for the flu

Basically chicken has arginine and amino acid good for the immune system. Add some garlic and you are well on your way to recovery.

1 pound of beats

1 bay leaf

1,5 cup of water

1/2 a cup of vinegar

4 whole spice

3 tbs of sugar

ground cloves

1. Boil beets for about 30 minutes until soft.

2. Cool down, peel, shred and put in a jar.

3. Boil water, vinegar, sugar, whole spice, bay leaf with a half tablespoon of ground cloves.

4. Pour boiling hot over the beets.

5. Close the jar. Pasteurize for 25 minutes.

Ukraine is the land of beets. I have never see soil so rich as in Ukraine.  If you put a stick in the ground it would grow.

Beets are great for the liver and kidneys.  They are cleansing. The are also good for energy for various reason.

If you know a good recipe for Ukrainian sweet pickled beets let me know.

1 pound of young peas

1 quart of stock

1/2 a cup of chopped lettuce

1 cucumber

1 tbs of oil

few lifts of fresh mint

salt and black pepper

1 tea-spoon of sugar

Wash peas, boil them in stock. Add salt, pepper. Add lettuce and mint. Slice cucumber, fry it gold. Add to the soup. Blend everything. Add sugar and mix well. 

In the summers peas are fresh and you do not need to use anything dried or frozen. Some people say frozen is almost as good as fresh. I totally disagree and I always use the fresh vegetables in the summer/fall time.

1. Buy some meat at the a good market, in Florida we go to Publix or Whole Food or if you can buy it directly from the farmer. It should be the bones like the neck.
2. Add water and boil the meat.
3. Add vegetables, I add carrots and parsnip and celery and onions. Your normal soup vegetable as well as a little garlic (but I would rather add a few variety of Onions).
4. When he broth is prepared, I add even a little more broth flavoring from a health food store.
5. Then strain everything and remove some good pieces of the meat.
6. Add th the meat and broth with the vegetables strained to  boiled barley.
7. Add green parsley and salt and white pepper.

I do not like mushy vegetables in my soup and use them to prepare broth. Rather the meat and broth and gain and herbs at the end alone make the best soup and it is easier to eat.

Ukrainian barley soup recipe in the winter

Soup to me is a winter meal. Barley has lots of vitamin B and it is good if you have the flu or for general weakness.

Ingredients for Ukrainian borscht:
.5 kg of the beef on the bone;
.4 kg of white cabbage,
.25 kg red beetroot,
Tomato
0.4 kilograms of potatoes,
1 parsley root,
2 medium carrots,
1-2 onions,
table spoon sour cream 18%
2 table spoons of sunflower oil,
1 spoonful of vinegar,
1 spoonful of sugar
Flour to zasmażki,
50 g butter,
5-6 peeled garlic
6 grains of pepper,
4 grains herb English,
4 large bay leaves,
Salt.

Ukrainian borscht  putting it together to make Ukrainian borscht

Boil broth,  separate meat from bones,  Cut the beets and take them in small strips.  Put beets in the pan, add oil, vinegar, sugar and tomato paste. Add a little broth and simmer Beets. On another pan,  butter cut in pieces, onions, and cut the strips, carrots and parsley root.  To add broth, potatoes, boil, then add cabbage.  After 15 minutes, add the contents of both pans and pepper, St. English, laurel leaves and cook another 15 minutes.  At the end of saute add butter, crushed garlic and parsley.  Allow the pot at least an hour. Separately to make sure each plate: first portion of the beef broth, then a large spoonful of cream and sprinkle with a mixture of everything pepper, herbs and dill.

The recommended cooking time individual components:
- Potatoes – 30 min
- Cabbage – 25 min
carrot and parsley – 12-15 minutes
Stewed with beetroot mousse – 10-15 minutes
- Spices, zasmażka 5-8 minutes
Again if you know another recipe for Ukrainian borscht let me know.

The basic idea is you just have to chop it, but better is with celery root, into pretty small pieces and fry with one tablespoon of butter. Low to medium heat and simmer for three minutes. Then pour water and cover this and leave it for ten minutes and add salt and white pepper and after it is done, blend it.

Add some sour cream or yogurt like two tablespoons. yogurt is lighter but sour creaming makes it taste better. Yogurt is if it is a cold version.

After you blend it add the above, you can warm it. If you add yogurt to something hot it will turn into cheese, so only add sour cream after warming, yogurt is the cold version.

Sprinkle a little with green celery garnish.

This is a basic Ukrainian celery sauce. My family is from Western Ukraine near Tarnopol, and I am sure there are regional variations.

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts of water

• 1 pound of ribs or chicken

• 3 carrots

• 2 parsnip

• 2 celery stems

• 1 small onion

• 3 cloves garlic

• 2 tbs of parsley (chopped)

• 3 bay leaves

• few whole allspice (3-5)

• salt

• black pepper

• 2 cans of crushed tomatoes/tomato sauce or 4 fresh tomatoes (add in the end of cooking)

• italian seasoning

• 4 tbs of sour cream or plain yogurt

1. In a large pot add water, ribs, whole spice and bay leaves, put i on medium to high heat.

2. In a meantime peel carrots and parsnips and cut them as well as celery, onion and garlic in regular pieces – the flavor is much richer if you cut the vegetables instead of putting them in the soup in one pice. More vegetables you use, the better the taste is. If you don’t have all the ingredients you can make a simpler version of this tomato soup by using vegetable base or chicken broth instead.

3. Bring the soup o boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.

4. In the end add salt (about 2 tbs) pepper and italian seasoning.

5. Take the meat out and let it cool down, separate it from bones and put it back in the soup.

6. Add crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce.

7. Blend everything together. Add sour cream.

Serve hot soup with noodles.

Other variations of Ukrainian tomato soup recipe has rice in it.  I have always been curious why Ukrainian recipes have rice when it is such a northern Country. Maybe because of trade via the Black sea to Ukraine.

Anyway let me know if you have any other Ukrainian tomato soup recipes.