The oldest recipe for Christmas Eve borscht comes from the 16th Century and it is very similar to this recipe except it calls for soured beetroot juice. This is not a soup you can eat on its own, as it’s more of a drink, that you use to wash down other, solid foods, and can even be served in a cup. It is most commonly eaten with uszka but it would also work well with other dumplings, such as crispy pierogi.
If you cannot get hold of dried boletus mushrooms, you can use any other dried mushrooms.