Borş fermented wheat bran gives soup a boost

Borş fermented wheat bran juice forms the basis of many sour soups in Romanian cuisine. The sour soup containing borş (“borsh”) is usually called a ciorbă (“chorba”). Sometimes people call the soup itself borş. Romanians also consume borş outright for its probiotic and antioxidant properties; people also drink it as a hangover cure, probably due to its anti-inflammatory effects and high concentration of Vitamin B. Less pungent and effervescent than kvass, borş nevertheless shares a similar production method and purpose.

Borş takes its name from the Slavic borscht (борщ), a soup most often made from beets and never from wheat bran. While it may refer to a soup, borş is the liquid souring agent in a soup. Borş fermented wheat bran juice contains high amounts of ferulic acid, a powerful antioxidant present in many plants and seeds, possibly exerting anti-cancer activities. It is therefore not surprising that Romanians regard this juice highly not only for its flavor enhancing abilities but for its health benefits. The ciorbas we will make with this fermented juice will be all the more delicious for it. Jump right to the borş recipe.

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Waste not, want not Borş fermented wheat bran juice

Like so many foods in the Eastern European traditions, borş makes use of ingredients that might otherwise go to waste. Milling wheat berries into white flour creates wheat bran as a by-product. Full of fiber and nutrients, wheat bran makes great cereal and whole wheat bread. When people ground wheat to make flour, they would often sift bran out to make fluffy bread or tender cakes. In Romania, people fermented the discarded wheat bran and use the resulting juice as a base for their soups. Today, Romanians are more likely to purchase ready-to-drink borş or make it from store-bought wheat bran rather than from their own home milling operations. Romanians sometimes also use a commercially available borş seasoning packet when making it from scratch.

Making borş isn’t difficult; it just takes time. You need a large jar or vessel, wheat bran, cornmeal and water (and possibly some flavoring agents if you desire). If you’re starting a batch of borş from scratch the first time, you’ll also need a couple pieces of bread to get the fermentation started. After you’ve made borş, you can save some of the wheat bran as a “starter” for future batches.

Begin by rinsing 2 cups of wheat bran in cool water, strain it and put it into a large jar. Incidentally, I added the dry wheat bran to cold water in the jar then strained off the water and added the rinsed bran back to the empty jar.

Add 1 cup of cornmeal and fill the jar with 2 quarts of warm water. Stir to hydrate the grains. If making borş for the first time, add three or four slices of black bread to the jar. The mixture will create two things: huște, the borş fermentation base, and the liquid borş.

A little flavor

Romanians will sometimes flavor their fermentation liquid with fruit tree leaves (often sour cherry), celery, parsley or some combination of these. If you do not have access to a fruit tree or fresh fruit market, you might have to scour your supermarket produce department as I did, scavenging for the odd leaf left attached on the fruit. I was able to collect a handful of cherry, apricot, pear and other fruit leaves to flavor my fermenting liquid.

Put a lid on the jar and leave it on the counter in plain sight. Periodically give the contents a stir. The next day check that the liquid is beginning to bubble. That’s the start of fermentation. After you see this bubbling start, you can strain out the bread pieces and fruit leaves.

Continue stirring the mixture periodically for a couple more days. After the third day the borş should smell a little like pickles. It shouldn’t smell bad necessarily but perhaps a little unpleasant. At this stage, pour the borş into bottle or jars for storage, filtering out the solids.

The finished borş will look a little like lemonade. It probably won’t be super fizzy like some fermented beverages but it may have a little carbonation. Reserve the remaining solids to make a huște (starter) for future batches. Press as much liquid out of the solids as possible and put into a bowl. Add equal amounts of cornmeal and wheat flour to dry out the mixture. Form into small patties and let them dry out completely.

When the patties are completely dry, put them in a freezer safe bag and store frozen for your next batch. When you make this second batch, replace the black bread pieces shown in this recipe with a couple patties of huște starter.

The recipe