Cold Sour Cherry Soup – Hideg Meggyleves
You haven’t ate nothing yet if not to taste the traditional Hungarian sour cherry soup. The taste buds cannot resist this delicious soup.
“Q” What is that fruit soup?
“A” Yes … they are very common in Hungary. A traditional homemade soup and served mostly as an appetizer and only sometimes as a dessert. This cold sour cherry soup is a bit more tart, making it a great starter dish.
The fruit soups are very popular all over the country and made from a wide variety of fresh fruits, such as … apple, sour cherry, elderflower, strawberry, red currant and gooseberry … soforth. It is a quintessential Hungarian summer soup!
The wild cherries stretches back through prehistory, the cultivation of cherries is believed to date to about 300 BC. The word cherry comes from the Turkish town of Cerasus, which reflects the western Asian origin of cherry cultivation and can also be seen unchanged in the name of one species of cherry. The nearest linguistic ancestor of the English word – cherise – sounded too much like it was plural, and by time became cherry.
Cherries wonderfully flavorful in a wide range … from jams to pies, This soup is enjoyed through the summer months, because sour cherries are the earliest of the spring fruits, this soup is often associated with spring festivals and, among Hungary’s Jewish community, is a favorite for Shavuot. This soup has a wonderful, sweet-tart flavor. Yummy served chilled, it makes a refreshing first course but also by the end of the meal as a desert will fit on a warm day.
Sour cherry soup is made with sour cream, sugar and whole fresh sour cherries. The soup is a good example of Hungarian fusion of Eatern/Asian influences and traditional Continental European cuisine. The sour cherry also called tart cherry or wild cherry. The fresh of the fruit being softer and is more acidic – so it is better for cooking and pastry.
In Hungary sour cream is called “tejföl”. It is a dairy product that is produced by souring heavy cream. Whether nott to trace at your area for this receipe any cooking cream will do.
Receipt for 4 person – preparation 30 mins. + cooling time.
Ingredients: 350 g ripe sour cherries (or one jar of bottled cherries), 1 lemon (fresh or juice), pinch of salt, 4 whole cloves, 1-2 cinnamon sticks, 100 g sugar, 100 ml red wine, 200 ml sour cream, 1 tbs flour … A small amount of sweet white or dry red wine is also sometimes added before serving.
Cooking: Wash the cherries … if needed remove pits … and place them in a pot. If using bottle cherries, add the juice as well. Add water which should always be double the cherries. Add a pinch of salt, the cinnamon, cloves and sugar to taste the flavor with the lemon juice and the lemon peal. Simmer over low to medium heat for cca. 10-15 mins. Time depends whether having fresh or botled cherries. Add the red wine … will bring more the body flavor, but if not prefer to have alcohol then leave it out, it will be delicous anyway. While cherries are cooking mix flour and cream or sour cream and a touch of salt in a small bowl. Remore soup from the fire, take out some of the liquid and mix into the cream and flour mixture. Carefully pour it back, constantly … make sure to split the temp. correctly, so the creram does not curdle, but if needed use a strainer. Return to the heat and cook for 5 mins. more stiring occasionlly.
Just a tip … Put spices in a small gauze pad, tie it with thread, and by the end of cooking just take it out of the soup. That’s it, don’t have to look for them one by one. When cool, refrigerate go to the finished soup
Serving the soup may add … to taste … on the already chilled soup whipped cream it will be not only pleasing to the eye but also the taste buds.
This Hungarian dish has been adopted by the Austrians, Poles, Slovaks, and Germans and Hungarian-Americans and Hungarian-Canadians brought the soup to North America.
To read more about traditional Hungarian soups, visit previous receipt @ “Q” & “A” Culinary Heritage Into Hungarian Kitchen.
© Aggie Reiter
Rolling in Budapest 