Chilled Beet and Cherry Borscht

A far cry from the jarred kosher borscht of my childhood, this one is almost as much a color story as it is a flavor play. The cherries intensify the shade of the glistening liquid to a sort of purple midnight, at the same time adding playful sweetness to borscht’s earthy pull. Though I leave the cherries raw, I precook the beets using a method I learned from Elena Koros, a talented Russian-Israeli cook who lives in Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv. By boiling, then cooling, the beets in their skins, they retain their color and texture when shredded.

Serves 4

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours (including minimum chilling time)

2 medium beets (8 ounces each), scrubbed

1 cinnamon stick

2½ cups unsweetened sour cherry juice or natural (unsweetened) pomegranate juice

4 ounces (⅔ cup) fresh cherries (or frozen, defrosted), stemmed, pitted, and halved

2½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more to taste

1½ teaspoons honey

¼ cup sour cream or labaneh (this page or store-bought)

Lemon zest, for serving

Cover the beets with water in a medium pot, add the cinnamon stick, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the beets can be pierced with a skewer but aren’t mushy, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain, discard the cinnamon stick, cool the beets for 5 minutes, place them in a plastic bag, and freeze for 20 minutes. Remove the beets from the freezer, slide the skins off with a paper towel and discard, and grate on the large side of a box grater into a medium bowl (you should have about 1 cup grated beets). Stir in the sour cherry juice, cherries, lemon juice, and honey; cover and chill to let the flavors meld for at least 2 hours and up to 24. Taste the soup, and if it’s too sweet for you, add a little more lemon juice until you’ve got the sweet-tart combination you love. Divide among bowls, and top each bowl with a dollop of sour cream and a grating of lemon zest.