Dry borscht in a jar: immigrants in Texas adapted a Ukrainian dish to American realities

At the Central Market in Dallas (Texas), you can see the familiar name for Ukrainians "borscht". The traditional national dish is sold by the Revenko spouses from Zaporozhye. Why is it so unusual for the leisure, the publication found out Voice of America.

The finished dish is packed in a small jar, but the borscht there is not ordinary, but dry.

“When people pick up a can, they read the ingredient list. After all, it really is borscht and everything that goes into it. How did you do it? They ask that it’s dry,” says Alexey Revenko.

“This is our trade secret,” adds wife Victoria.

The borscht history of the Revenko family began with the addiction of the late father Alexei. When he retired, he began collecting borscht recipes.

On the subject: In the USA, Ukrainian borscht was recognized as one of the best first courses on the planet

“I went to libraries, visited friends, asked, wrote down. And somehow it grew into a huge database. My father loved to catalog it all,” Alexey recalls. “In total, 1496 recipes for various borscht were collected.”

Therefore, in the USA, the couple decided to start their own borscht business. At first, they sold the ready-made first course on tap at the market.

“We brought home an almost full pot of borscht and spent a whole week finishing it,” recalls Victoria. “Over time, each time there was less and less of it.”

The national Ukrainian dish soon became popular among Americans, but the coronavirus changed the couple’s plans. The sale of prepared food was prohibited at the market. And Revenko decided to slightly modify the cooking method - they started a dry borscht startup.

“The phase of experimentation has begun. We were looking for a way to dry vegetables and at the same time make borscht borscht,” explains Victoria.

“Our daughter loves to eat, but only good and real food,” the Ukrainian woman goes into detail. “She is our borscht marker—a kind of critic of this dish.” My daughter was very suspicious of dry borscht, as if it wasn’t real.”

“Over time, I stopped saying that it was dry borscht. And then one day she ate it, but when I told my daughter about it, it turned out that she didn’t even notice the difference. And then we realized: this is exactly it,” explains Victoria.

The dish, ready in dry form, was placed in glass jars, which were decorated with Petrikov painting.

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“After using the contents, the jar can be reused. People use it as a sugar bowl or as a flower vase,” Alexey noted. “There is also borscht in a magnetic container, which can also be used for something later.”

It is very easy to prepare such borscht: you need to boil the broth, add the mixture and meat (if desired), and then cook for 20 minutes.

“This is exactly the same borscht that my grandmother, mother, and neighbor made. A taste from childhood,” emphasizes Alexey.

The couple's mission is to make the popular Ukrainian dish accessible to everyone who does not have time to devote several hours to it in the kitchen. The Revenko family has already started selling borscht online with delivery.

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