This month’s Pickle Club is receiving a pickle that has a story attached to it, and I thought it was worth sharing that story here.

At the beginning of the summer, I wrote a post about Whole Baby Beets.  These pickles were good, but I tweaked the recipe over time and ended up liking them enough to make a big batch of whole beet pickles for the pickle club.  While they were in the fermentation chamber (much less fancy than it sounds), I happened across a true gem of culinary history at John K. King bookstore (the largest used bookstore in Michigan).  This book:

This RELIC has since resurfaced in my daily life two times… and the reason it has anything to do with this post, and with pickles (beyond the inherent connections between Jewish food and fermented pickles) is that there turns out to be a traditional Jewish fermented beet pickle called “Russel.”

As the story goes, there was a tradition of placing whole washed/scrubbed/topped beets in a crock covered in boiled-then-cooled water.  no salt (what? no salt? I can’t figure out why… any suggestions welcome).  These beets would sit for 4 weeks in a warm place.  When they were done, the beets and the vinegary brine were used in a beet borscht known as Russel Borscht:

I’ve adapted the recipe and provided it to my pickle club as follows:

Russel Borscht

(adapted from Love and Knishes, By Sarah Kasdan)

1 jar beet brine and 1 jar Russel beets (shredded)

1 lb fresh beets, shredded

3 cups water

½ onion, diced

1 tsp salt (or, to taste)

½ Tbs honey

Additions: sour cream, hot boiled potatoes, hard boiled egg, minced parsley

Bring all ingredients to a boil, simmer for 15 minutes. Can be chilled then served with hot boiled potato, or served warm– you decide! **note: boiling the pickle brine will pasteurize it, if you’re seeking the probiotic power of pickles, add the pickle juice only after the soup has cooled to 110 degrees.

Hopefully this brief trip down memory lane has been as interesting for you as it was for me.  And If you do choose to make a foray into the realm of traditional Russel Borscht, post news of your experiences here!