The highlanders' sauerkraut soup, sour and smoky, cooked on pork ribs with potatoes, allspice and bay.
What makes it kwaśnica
Sauerkraut and its brine, so it's properly sour.
Smoked pork ribs cooked in it for hours.
Allspice, bay and caraway; potatoes in or alongside.
Where it comes from
It's the soup of Podhale, the mountain country around Zakopane beneath the Tatras. Its sourness comes from sauerkraut and its brine — the name is from kwas, sour — and it's cooked long on smoked ribs.
Mountain inns serve it with boiled potatoes in it or on the side, or with bread, and every family has its own idea of how sour is sour enough.
How it varies
Kapuśniak
The lowland cabbage soup — milder, often with fresh cabbage as well.