Sorrel soup does more than delight the palate and fill belly. It lifts the spirits, envigorates the body, and brightens the mind. It is a tonic. A vitamin pill in a bowl.
Sorrel does not travel well and is rarely seen in markets.
Yesterday evening I went out to our garden, harvested a handful of the sorrel we’d planted earlier in the year, and made a batch of sorrel soup for our dinner.
Now I feel a little better.
Does it grow in winter? The beds are cleared now, and I must think about planting.
It’s a perennial that grows until after a hard frost (and maybe even a bit longer). A good sorrel plant will last ten years or more before it becomes unproductive.
The leaves can be used in soups, salads, stews, or in mashed potatoes.
Ah, so I could put it in the bed beside the greenhouse. I wonder if it will take our heat and humidity?
It grows in southern France and as far into the tropics as Nigeria so I suspect it will.
I pick up this from Wikipedia: “The plant’s sharp taste is due to oxalic acid, which is a poison. In small quantities sorrel is harmless; in large quantities it can be fatal.”
I was trying to identify the leafy ingredient in my wife’s soup on Monday that I couldn’t recall seeing in the grocery store, it was chard.
Sorrel and shad or salmon is a classic combination.
Sorrel does not travel or store well. But sorrel soup — schav — travels quite well. You can often find it on the Kosher aisle in supermarkets.