Grybų Sriuba is Lithuania's forest mushroom soup — the prize of the autumn mushroom hunt, made with wild mushrooms (boletus, chanterelles) gathered in Lithuania's vast forests, simmered with onions, carrots, and sour cream into a deeply earthy, intensely mushroom-flavored soup. Mushroom foraging is a national obsession in Lithuania, and this soup is its reward.
Grybų Sriuba (mushroom soup) is the reward of Lithuania's national obsession: mushroom foraging. Over 40% of Lithuania is forest, and Lithuanians are among the most passionate mushroom foragers in the world — every autumn, families walk the forests with baskets, gathering boletus (baravykai, considered the king of mushrooms), chanterelles (voveraitės), and dozens of other edible species. The soup is made from these wild mushrooms (cultivated button mushrooms are considered a poor substitute), simmered simply to let the forest flavor shine. Dried mushrooms (saved from the autumn harvest) are used in winter. The sour cream addition at the end is distinctly Eastern European.
A bowl of dark, earthy, intensely mushroom-flavored broth with chunks of wild mushroom, soft carrots, and a glossy swirl of sour cream. The taste is pure forest — deep, earthy, slightly nutty, with a richness that only wild mushrooms can give. Dip dark rye bread into it. It is the taste of the Lithuanian autumn.
The mushrooms are the star — wild mushrooms (boletus, chanterelles) have a depth of flavor that cultivated mushrooms cannot match. They are sautéed first (to develop their flavor and drive off moisture), then simmered in broth. Dried mushrooms (rehydrated) are added in winter for intensity; their soaking liquid is strained and added too (it's full of flavor). The sour cream is stirred in at the end (off the heat — boiling splits it), giving the soup its characteristic tang and creaminess.
Variations
Some add barley or potatoes; some use dried mushrooms only; some add cream instead of sour cream; the mushroom mix varies by what was foraged.
On the Palate
Where Grybų Sriuba sits in the Lithuanian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 35 min active + 40 min waiting
- 15 min
Clean 500 g mixed wild mushrooms (boletus, chanterelles, or dried rehydrated); slice.
- 25 min
In a pot, sauté 1 diced onion and 1 diced carrot in 30 g butter 5 minutes.
- 38 min
Add the mushrooms; cook 8 minutes until they release their liquid and it evaporates.
Watch outCook the mushrooms until they release their liquid and it fully evaporates — that concentrating step deepens the flavor before broth goes in.
- 43 min
Add 1.2 liters water (or broth); add 1 bay leaf, 5 peppercorns, and salt.
- 530 min
Simmer 30 minutes.
- 62 min
Off the heat, stir in 200 g sour cream.
Watch outStir the sour cream in off the heat — let it boil and it splits into grainy curds.
- 71 min
Season with salt and pepper.
- 81 min
Serve with dark rye bread and chopped dill.
