...a Polish Borsht, which is just a clear beet soup with nothing (or almost nothing) in it.
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Love this chilled with a lot of sour cream stirred in until it becomes bright magenta. Just perfect on a hot summer day.
The juice from canned beets is an acceptable quick substitute, IMO. Add 1 tsp of lemon juice if you want it sour and 1/2 tsp sugar to balance the earthy and sour w/a bit of sweet. Cut the beet slices into matchsticks and add.
Use full fat sour cream and serve in a tall glass with a spoon for the cream and sliced beets.
Strange that this is my birth family’s version, as my maternal grandmother was Ukrainian Jewish. We never had the meat version of borsht when I was growing up, always the clear chilled w/sliced beets and served with sour cream.
As for the sour soup made with sorrel....you can have all mine, although I make a Green Soup with sauteed onions, chicken broth and braised greens of any kind pureed into a soup, served cold with sour cream. Sorrel soup is too puckery for me.
Sorrel is edible, but not healthy (in large qualities). It contains Vitamin C, so it was popular in the early transoceanic travel era as scurvy preventer.
But we have now lot of other Vitamin C foods, a lot of better than Sorrel.
Ukrainians used to starve a lot, so they eat a lot of not so great stuff. Just something to eat, to keep you alive.