This Soup Is So Cool: The Tradition of Polish Chłodniki

chlodnik-z-botwinka-selerem-i-kozim-twarogiem-fot-mateusz-grochocki-EN_01522852_1161-s.jpg, default, Chłodnik with beetroot, celeriac & goat cheese, photo: Mateusz Grochocki / East News

#polish cuisine

Polish cuisine is often associated with warming. hearty comfort food which helped our ancestors survive harsh winters – think bigos, żur and thick meat stews. It’s worth remembering, however, that our Polish climate is quite varied, and we have no shortage of foods to cool us down during tropical heatwaves, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change.

When the heat is hard to bear, Poles know what to do: whether it’s whipping up some scrumptious Polish berries topped with yoghurt or cream straight from the fridge for a snack or using them as a controversial – yet famously beloved by Iga Świątek – topping for pasta, or taking crunchy fresh cucumbers and combining them with sour cream for a refreshing mizeria salad. Yet, in the summer, Poles don’t give up on one of their favourite types of dishes: soups. The only difference from the ones you know and love is that these are cold.

Cold soups & national epics

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Summer in the city at Moczydło Water Park, with Warsaw's skyline in the background, 2026, photo: Jacek Szydłowski / Forum

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Or maybe instead of 'soups', I should say 'soup', as chłodnik (also: chołodziec) litewski is the dish of choice for Polish summer. It is a mixture of fermented dairy (such as kefir, sour cream, soured milk, or buttermilk) with cooked beet greens (botwina), along with other vegetables such as cucumbers and radishes, dill, and chives, and is served cold. While this combination might taste strange to some Western palates – there’s quite a lot of fermentation going on – it’s very refreshing and healthy, precisely because of the fermentation, which means there are lots of good bacteria. Served, as per tradition, with hard-boiled eggs and new potatoes, it also becomes quite nutritious and can make for a complete meal.

There’s just one catch – even though the soup is included on the List of Traditional Products (submitted by Poland’s Podlaskie Voivodeship) and maintained by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, its name literally means 'Lithuanian cold soup' because it is Lithuania's national dish.

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Still from Andrzej Wajda's 'Pan Tadeusz', photo: Canal+ / ITI / promotional materials

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Šaltibarščiai is part of a shared culinary tradition dating back to the times of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the union between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which existed between 1569 and 1795. The Polish national epic poem Pan Tadeusz even begins with the words' O Lithuania, my homeland’, which is because Mickiewicz was born in the Lithuanian part of the commonwealth and considered it part of Poland. There are plenty of culinary references in the book – from mushroom picking to a baroque recipe for pike, taken from Compendium Ferculorum, the oldest Polish cookbook written by Stanisław Czerniecki – chłodnik also appears in its pages: ‘I chołodziec litewski milczkiem żwawo jedli’. Curiously, the name of the dish was translated into English as ‘the Litvin cholodziec’ (Maude Ashurst Biggs, 1885), ‘cold Lithuanian salad of beet leaves’ (George Rapall Noyes, 1917), and ‘cold beet salad’ (Leonard Kress, 2006). In 2018, Bill Johnston finally translated the words correctly: that the guests at the feast ‘ate their chilled soup with gusto, wordlessly’.

Does that mean previous translators were wrong? Kind of, but not completely. Even though chłodnik litewski is made with just a few ingredients, there are many variations: it can be made with either cooked or marinated beets, with or without radish and cucumbers, and it can be soupy or thick, almost like a salad with kefir poured over it. While nowadays it is always pink – the city of Vilnius even organises an annual Pink Soup Fest – in 19^th-century Lithuania, the soup was white, as only young beet leaves and stalks were added, not the roots, nor, as we often do now, sweet or fermented beet juice. Sometimes it was prepared with white fodder beets, and the sour taste came from the addition of fermented rye, which we would now use to make żur. Then there were the additions: from herring to crayfish, from veal to capon.

Chłodnik for the ages

Lithuanian historian Rimvydas Laužikas from Vilnius University explains that, historically, the recipes for chłodnik were much more varied in both Lithuania and Poland.

Let’s start with a recipe by Paul Tremo (1733-1810), the royal cook of the last king of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski:

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Take three quarts of sour cream, and half a quart of pickle brine (if the cream be thick, add somewhat more brine; if thin, somewhat less). Squeeze therein the juice of two lemons.

Take next the tails of boiled crayfish, neatly shelled and cut into small dice. Add thereto the breast of a roasted capon or hen, or else a piece of roast veal, provided the veal be tender; this flesh shall likewise be cut into dice, in the same manner as the crayfish tails.

Furthermore, take five pickled cucumbers and five fresh cucumbers. Peel them, cut them into dice, and sprinkle them with a little salt.

Then take some beet leaves and several young beet stalks. Having washed them well in cold water, chop them forthwith and cast them into warm water, letting them come briefly to the boil. Thereafter, remove them from the water, pour off the water, let them cool, and mix them with the aforementioned ingredients.

Or, in place of the beet leaves, one may employ sorrel, and if the beet leaves are old, take the green tops of young onions. To rid them of their bitterness, rub them with salt and rinse them in cold water. Take also some garden dill and chives; cleanse them well, chop them finely, and add them to the rest.

At the end, season the whole with a little white pepper and sufficient salt. Mix everything together thoroughly, set it on ice, and let it remain there until serving time.

'Kucharz dobrze usposobiony' by Jan Szyttler, 1830, photo: Polona National Library

Paul Tremo’s student Jan Szyttler (1763-1850), a prominent cook and cookbook author in the times Mickiewicz described, used the word chłodnik as a general term for cold soup – just as we do now when we say gazpacho is a ‘Spanish tomato chłodnik’ – which is evident in the title of his book Kuchnia postna podająca najoszczędniejsze sposoby sporządzania potraw rybnych oraz zup, chłodników, pieczystego, marynat, jarzyn, melszpeizów, ciast, itp. (Lenten Cookery: The Most Economical Methods for Preparing Fish Dishes, Soups, Cold Soups, Roasts, Marinades, Vegetables, Desserts, Cakes, and Other Dishes). Chłodnik postny Ruski (the word ‘ruski’ meant Ruthenian, originating from the territories of Lithuania, present-day Belarus, and Ukraine) had a base of sour rye and included a variety of vegetables:

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Cook finely chopped young beet greens until tender. Add peeled cucumbers cut into small cubes; if desired or available, also add boiled asparagus, cauliflower, finely chopped green onions, and a little fresh dill. Pour over a good, fermented rye sour, prepared in the Russian manner. Then add crayfish tails and boiled sturgeon. Season with salt to taste, simmer for about fifteen minutes, allow to cool, and serve in a soup tureen.

In another of his books, Kucharz dobrze usposobiony (A Good-Natured Cook), he includes a recipe for chłodnik ruski, this time made with beets, cucumbers, tarragon, dill and chervil and the addition of fish stock along with pieces of cooked sturgeon, while in Skrzętna gospodyni (The Thrifty Housewife), which is dedicated to cheaper recipes, he proposes a version made with sorrel instead of beets with soured milk, cream, and a lot of dill and chives with optional eggs, crayfish, or veal. Wincentyna Zawadzka (c. 1824-1894), one of the most prominent Polish 19^th-century cookbook authors, in her bestselling Kucharka Litewska (Lithuanian Cook; she lived in Vilnius) published in 1854, also proposes a version of chłodnik: she combines broth with sour cream, cucumbers and dill and gives a choice of either beetroot, beet leaves or sorrel.

The version we most often eat now has a base of dairy – a combination of sour cream with either kefir, soured milk or buttermilk – to which cooked young beets are added (the roots along with the stalks and the leaves) along with chopped cucumbers, radishes, dill and chives; for the soup to be thinner, a little bit of vegetable broth can be added, but also beet juice which also helps achieve the perfect colour. The soup is served with hard-boiled eggs and – quite often – with a portion of new potatoes (the Lithuanians even have special plates to fit the soup and the spuds).

Modern Polish chefs make their own variations of the cold soup. Aleksander Baron’s famous Multum Fermentum chłodnik uses not only fermented dairy, but also beets and radishes, which is fitting, as he is known as the Polish king of fermentation. In the new Warsaw hot spot Warszawski Tygrys, which combines traditional Polish flavours with Asian influences, you can sample a Lithuanian-style chłodnik infused with yuzu and lemongrass.

There is one more chłodnik worth mentioning: wicyński barszcz chrzanowy (Vitsynia horseradish borscht, included on the List of Traditional Products, submitted by the Opolskie voivodeship) is a dish unique to expatriates from Vitsynia (modern-day Smerekivka) in Ukraine who were displaced after World War II and had to move to Nowa Wieś Głubczycka in Western Poland. It is served for Easter and takes a long time to prepare, as the whole process starts with fermenting beetroots. A few days later, when the zakwas is ready, it is added to a smoky broth made with bacon and vegetables. The mixture is thickened with eggs, sour cream and flour; finally, the most important ingredient is added: copious amounts of grated horseradish. It is then chilled and served for breakfast, either as a thick soup or as a dip eaten with eggs, meats, and bread.

A fruity affair

While undoubtedly the most popular, Lithuanian chłodnik is not the only cold soup out there.

There is a whole category that, albeit controversial, forms an important part of our culinary heritage: fruit soups, some of which were (and still are) served cold. In Jan Szyttler’s Kucharz dobrze usposobiony, we find a recipe for a chłodnik made with raspberries or wild strawberries, which are mashed and mixed with sour cream and wine previously cooked with sugar, and served with a soft meringue (as in a floating island). Wincentyna Zawadzka has a similar recipe for fruit chłodnik – made with raspberries, strawberries, red currants, or wild strawberries – with cream and meringues, as well as a separate bilberry chłodnik made with red wine and served with croutons.

Today, bilberry soup remains a traditional dish in the Podkarpacie region: the berries are cooked with sugar, and the juice is thickened with flour; the soup can be served hot or cold with wide homemade noodles. Cherry soup – which can also be served hot or cold, often with mashed potatoes – was the summertime favourite of factory workers and seamstresses from Łódź, in the Mazowsze region. Strawberry chłodnik used to be popular on hot days. Today, most people will approach the idea of a sweet, fruity soup served with noodles or potatoes with a touch of disgust. These dishes may no longer be in vogue; however, they are worth preserving as an original part of our culinary history as well as an inspiration. Take the recipe for Jagodnik – a savoury bilberry chłodnik – published a few years ago by cook and influencer Tomek Czajkowski, known online as Magiczny Składnik (Magic Ingredient), who added bilberry puree and a handful of baked bilberries to a traditional beetroot chłodnik, creating a dish which is surprisingly delicious, beautiful to look at, and coincidentally combines two major traditions of Polish cold soups.

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Jagodnik, photo: Magiczny Składnik / fb.com/magiczny.skladnik

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Jagodnik, photo: Magiczny Składnik / fb.com/magiczny.skladnik

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Jagodnik or Savoury Bilberry Chłodnik

Ingredients:
1.5 litres of yoghurt
500 ml of beetroot zakwas (fermented beetroot juice)
2–3 bunches of beetroot leaves (small beetroots and stalks)
2 shallots
4 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of spring onions (white parts)
3–4 tablespoons of butter
1 litre of wild berries
juice of half a lemon
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 level teaspoon of pepper

Preparation:
1. Heat the butter in a frying pan. Fry the shallots, spring onion and garlic. After a few minutes, add the diced beetroot leaves and fry until lightly caramelised. Leave the mixture to cool.
2. Bake the berries for 15 minutes at 200 degrees. This is mainly to pasteurise the fruit, as eating it raw can be a source of echinococcosis disease which is transmitted by foxes.
3. Next, transfer the contents of the frying pan to a blender, add the beetroot starter, salt, sugar, lemon juice and pepper, and blend as thoroughly as possible to form a purée.
4. Pour the yoghurt and the purée into a bowl and mix together. Towards the end, add almost all the berries along with their juice, but set some aside for decoration. Mix thoroughly and leave in the fridge for a few hours to allow the cold soup to chill and the flavours to blend.
5. Serve with herbs. Flavoured oils work very well with this dish as well.

All that’s left is to do is stock your fridge and get cooking (preferably with the AC on)!

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