Have you ever loved something that hurt you? I’m not referring to a bad relationship — rather, a dish that you love, but your body hates? Maybe it’s something that gives you a headache, or makes your tummy uncomfortable. For me, it’s this sweet and sour Hungarian cabbage soup which aggravated my reflux so severely that I know I can never have it again.

But this soup, man, this soup. I wish this soup worked for me because it was really delicious. It was sweet from brown sugar, it was sour from apple cider vinegar. The green cabbage was soft. I cooked some farro in a saucepan with some Better than Bouillon right alongside the Dutch oven of soup.

First there was coughing. Then there was choking and gasping for air. I knew that I could never eat this soup again. And my husband had his wisdom teeth out the next day, so with neither of us able to eat it, I gave it away on Buy Nothing.

That wasn’t before at least a half a dozen folks asked for the recipe — this actually tasted as good as it looked — and a promise is a promise.

I was sharing the story of the sweet and sour soup that destroyed me to my gastroenterologist this week who I was seeing for other issues. On top of my reflux there were some other concerns. He listened carefully to me and suggested I start on the FODMAP diet for a few weeks to figure out what exactly is going on in my body.

“No beans? No cauliflower? No garlic? No pickled onions? No wheat? No grains? But these are the building blocks of my diet!” I said as I panicked in his office. He assured me that it would all be OK. “This diet is meat, fish and potatoes! I write a vegetarian seasonal food column for the Gazette!”

“Well it will make for a good article” he replied with a smile. .

The past few days have been OK. We had a delicious piece of roasted salmon and peanut butter noodles that even my daughters enjoyed for Shabbat dinner. I took a deep dive into my cookbook collection on Saturday afternoon and I have some ideas.

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With Passover upcoming I’ll end up with a gluten-free kitchen regardless, and maybe I’ll have some new recipes for the holiday. In fact this soup, minus the farro, would be great for the holiday!

Ingredients:

Oil for the pot

One half a yellow onion, diced

One carrot, diced

One stalk celery, diced

One teaspoon caraway seeds, if you have them

One half head green cabbage, shredded

One 14 ounce can diced tomatoes

Water

Bouillon (I use Better Than Bouillon)

Brown sugar

Apple Cider Vinegar

Kosher salt

For the farro:

1 cup farro

3 cups water

Bouillon, if using

Directions:

In a medium-sized Dutch oven, heat oil on medium heat. Once a piece of onion sizzles in the oil, add onion, carrot and celery. Add the caraway seeds, if using, and more salt and have the vegetables soften. Once they have softened and not browned, about seven to nine minutes, add the cabbage, another pinch of salt and give a stir.

Let the cabbage soften; this will take at least 15 minutes. Once it has shrunk considerably in the pot, add the can of diced tomatoes, three cans of water, more salt, and bring to boil. Add the bouillon, two to three tablespoons of brown sugar, and two to three tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. You will need to season to taste, making sure to add more salt into the mix. Once it has boiled for a few minutes, reduce to simmer. The soup will take about 45 to 50 minutes to cook, the same time as the pot of farro which you will put on as you start the soup.

For the farro: Bring three cups of water to boil. Add the Better Than Bouillon, and the farro. Bring to boil then reduce to rumbling simmer for about 40 to 45 minutes.

When it is time to serve the soup, add a scoop of farro to the bottom of the bowl.

Molly Parr lives in Florence with her husband and two young daughters. She’s been writing her food blog, Cheap Beets, since 2010. Send questions or comments to molly.parr@gmail.com.