Hideg meggyleves

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Hideg meggyleves is a cold, cream-based cherry soup. The name is formed from hideg meaning 'cold', meggy meaning 'sour-cherries' / morellos, and leves being 'soup'. Traditionally served as a dinner course--usually as either the appetizer, soup or dessert--on warm summer nights or hot summer luncheons. The dish is inspired by the sour cherry tree which are so numerous in Hungary, and is a good example of the quintessentially Hungarian fusion of eastern/Asian influences and traditional continental European cuisine. It is customary that the soup contain fresh sour cherries, fresh cream, and sometimes cloves and cinnamon or allspice. Canned regular cherries are sometimes added, and sour cream is often substituted for fresh cream. A small amount of sweet white or dry red wine is also sometimes added before serving. Packets of dried meggyleves powder, as from the Knorr company, are also sold in Hungary. The dish has been adopted by the Austrians, Poles, Slovaks and Germans. Hungarian-Americans and Hungarian-Canadians brought the soup to the New World. Other famous Hungarian soups are Jókai bableves (a bean soup named after Mór Jókai; bab means bean), halászlé (a paprika-spiced fish soup), vadgombaleves (wild mushroom soup), borleves (wine soup), Palócleves (named after the Palóc, an ethnic group of Northeastern Hungary), and köménymagleves (coriander / cumin soup).