Shchi ( rus, щи, p=ɕːi, a=Ru-щи.ogg) is a
Russian-style
cabbage soup
Cabbage soup may refer to any of the variety of soups based on various cabbages, or on sauerkraut and known under different names in national cuisines. Often it is a vegetable soup. It may be prepared with different ingredients. Vegetarian cabb ...
. When
sauerkraut
Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ...
is used instead, the soup is called sour shchi, while soups based on
sorrel
Sorrel (''Rumex acetosa''), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ('dock' being a common name for the genus '' ...
,
spinach
Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...
,
nettle, and similar plants are called
green shchi
Sorrel soup is made from water or broth, sorrel leaves, and salt.Екатерина Авдеева. Ручная книга русской опытной хозяйки. СПб, 1842 Елена Молоховец. ''Подарок молодым ...
(russian: зелёные щи, ''zelionyje shchi''). In the past, the term ''sour shchi'' was also used to refer to a drink, a variation of
kvass, which was unrelated to the soup.
History
Shchi (from orv, съти, the plural of "''съто''" (s(i)to) - "something satisfying, feed") is a traditional soup of Russia. Cabbage soups have been known in Kievan Rus as far back as the 9th century, soon after cabbage was introduced from
Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium' ...
. Its popularity in Russia originates from several factors. Shchi is relatively easy to prepare; it can be cooked with or without various types of meat; and it can be frozen and carried as a solid on a trip to be cut up when needed. As a result, by the 10th century shchi became a
staple food
A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard Diet (nutrition), diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of ...
of Russia, and a popular saying sprang from this fact: "Щи да каша — пища наша." (''Shchi da kasha — pishcha nasha'' "Shchi and
kasha
In English, kasha usually refers to pseudocereal buckwheat or its culinary preparations. In various East-Central and Eastern European countries, ''kasha'' can apply to any kind of cooked grain. It can be baked but most often is boiled, either ...
are our food"). The major components of shchi were originally cabbage, meat (beef, pork, lamb, or poultry), mushrooms, flour, and spices (based on onion and garlic). Cabbage and meat were cooked separately and
smetana was added as a garnish before serving. Shchi is traditionally eaten with rye bread.
[
]
The ingredients of shchi gradually changed. Flour, which was added in early times to increase the soup's caloric value, was excluded for the sake of finer taste. The spice mixture was enriched with black pepper and
bay leaf
The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used in cooking. It can be used whole, either dried or fresh, in which case it is removed from the dish before consumption, or less commonly used in ground form. It may come from several species of tr ...
, which were imported to Russia around the 15th century, also from
Byzantium
Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium' ...
. Meat was sometimes substituted with fish, while carrot and
parsley
Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, ...
could be added to the vegetables. Beef was the most popular meat for shchi in Russia, while pork was more common in Ukraine. The water-to-cabbage ratio varied and whereas early shchi was often so viscous that a spoon could stand in it, more diluted preparation was adopted later.
[
]
Linguistics
The two-letter word щи contains the letter щ, which is absent in most non- Cyrillic alphabets and is transcribed into them with several letters. In German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, щи becomes eight letters, ''Schtschi''.
See also
* Borscht
* Rassolnik
* Solyanka
* Kapusniak
* List of cabbage dishes
This is a list of cabbage dishes and foods. Cabbage (''Brassica oleracea'' or variants) is a leafy green or purple biennial plant, grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. Cabbage heads generally range from , and can be g ...
* List of Russian dishes
This is a list of notable dishes found in Russian cuisine. Russian cuisine is a collection of the different cooking traditions of the Russian Empire. The cuisine is diverse, with Northeast European/Baltic, Caucasian, Central Asian, Siberian, Eas ...
* List of soups
This is a list of notable soups. Soups have been made since Ancient history, ancient times.
Some soups are served with large chunks of meat or vegetables left in the liquid, while others are served as a broth. A broth is a flavored liquid usua ...
* List of vegetable soups
References
{{Soups
Russian soups
Cabbage soups
National dishes