Zupa Grzybowa

The story

A creamy soup of dried wild mushrooms, most often porcini, is the alternative to barszcz on the Wigilia table in families that come from regions richer in forest than in beets — a regional difference that often gives away where in Poland a family originally came from. As with kapusta z grzybami, the mushrooms must be soaked first, and the soaking water becomes the base of the soup, rounded out with onion, carrot, and a little sour cream for a velvety texture — it is still a fasting dish, since the Wigilia fast rules out meat, not dairy. In some families it is served with łazanki, small squares of pasta, instead of bread, which makes it somewhat more filling than clear barszcz. Gathering and drying wild mushrooms in late summer and early fall was long an almost sacred family activity in Polish villages — heading into the woods with a basket, recognizing the safe species, drying them on a string by the stove — a skill handed down carefully from generation to generation, and one that is slowly beginning to fade in the diaspora, where mushrooms are bought dried at the store.