Gourmets appreciate horseradish soup made with whey, preferably the kind that comes from making rustic quark from milk ‘straight from the cow’. In local communities, the soup was sometimes considered an aphrodisiac. The recipe for ‘Lanckoronian horseradish soup’ comes from the area around the historic town of Lanckorona near Kraków. Apart from high-quality whey, it requires freshly grated horseradish root, smoked meat, a piece of sausage, hard-boiled eggs, cream, garlic, salt, pepper, lovage, parsley and dill. The soup is served with separately boiled potatoes cut into cubes.
In other local varieties of horseradish soup, the role of whey is played by sourdough starter, sauerkraut brine, smoked meat stock, buttermilk, cream or soured milk. This warming, one-pot dish may contain trimmings of holiday hams, smoked meats, sausages, potatoes, pieces of quark, hard-boiled eggs, onions, garlic and, of course, freshly grated horseradish. The aroma of the soup is enriched by the addition of local herbs: curly chives (lat. Allium montanum), marjoram, rosemary, caraway or wild thyme.
In some regions, it is common to eat previously prepared cold horseradish soup for Easter. This is related to the previously mentioned tradition according to which it was not proper to cook on the holiday – food that was consecrated or previously prepared would be eaten. The simplest example of such a cold soup is horseradish with soured milk. Grated horseradish should be added to this milk, then salted, sweetened, mixed and served with bread. Some recipes indicate that preparation should be taken up on Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday). First, the peeled horseradish roots should be grated on a grater or in a food processor. The grated horseradish is then poured into curdled milk (or sometimes buttermilk), carefully stirred in, covered and left to marinate for a few days so that it gently sours. Other ingredients typical of horseradish soup are added to this base on Easter Sunday – namely, homemade ham, smoked sausage and hard-boiled eggs. This version of horseradish soup is seasoned only with salt and pepper without other herbs or seasonings.