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Black cabbage soup, a winter staple across Türkiye’s Black Sea region, continues to stand out as one of the most preferred local flavors, with residents commonly cooking it in a copper pot with butter and serving it alongside cornbread. Built around black cabbage grown in household gardens across the area, the soup is prepared with a mix of grains, legumes, vegetables and a butter-based finish that is seen as central to its taste.
The soup is made by using black cabbage as the main ingredient and then building it up with corn flour and cracked corn (a coarsely crushed corn grain), as well as beans, onion, pumpkin, garlic, hot peppers and butter. While the ingredient set can vary from one Black Sea province to another, the core profile remains tied to cabbage, corn-based components and a rich fat, with cornbread often placed at the center of the serving ritual.
Sevinc Civelek, a master instructor in the food and beverage cooking department at the Ortahisar Public Education Center, described the soup as an indispensable taste of the Black Sea. She also underlined that recipes can shift across the region, while pointing to corn flour, butter and the use of a copper pot as key elements that help bring out the soup’s character and depth.
The recipe presented is sized for 10 people and is based on black cabbage combined with beans, corn flour, pumpkin, onions, garlic, hot peppers, tomato paste, salt and hot water, with butter and onions cooked separately before being poured over the pot to finish it off.
Ingredients (10 servings)
Preparation
Water is first brought to a boil in a copper pot, after which peeled and medium-sliced pumpkin is added.
Pre-soaked barbunya beans and cracked corn are then put in, and once the pumpkin softens it is taken out and mashed with a fork before being returned to the pot.
The mixture is simmered for about an hour until it thickens, then finely chopped black cabbage is stirred in.
Corn flour is added gradually while whisking to prevent lumps, and hot peppers are added as it comes back up to a boil.
In a separate pot, butter and onions are cooked until the onions turn pink, then tomato paste and garlic are worked in briefly, before this mixture and a bit of salt are poured over the soup.
It is then served with cornbread.
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3 min read
