Sorrel soup is made from

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

broth Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups, ...

sorrel Sorrel (''Rumex acetosa''), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ('dock' being a common name for the genus '' ...

leaves, and

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

.Екатерина Авдеева. Ручная книга русской опытной хозяйки. СПб, 1842 Елена Молоховец. ''Подарок молодым хозяйкам''. 1-е издание, 1861, с. 65 Varieties of the same soup include spinach, garden orache, chard,

nettle {{redirect, Nettle Nettle refers to plants with stinging hairs, particularly those of the genus '' Urtica''. It can also refer to plants which resemble ''Urtica'' species in appearance but do not have stinging hairs. Plants called "nettle" includ ...

, and occasionally

dandelion ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...

, goutweed or

ramsons ''Allium ursinum'', known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows's leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear's garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amary ...

, together with or instead of sorrel. It is known in Ashkenazi Jewish, Belarusian, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian,

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

cuisines. Its other English names, spelled variously schav, shchav, shav, or shtshav, are borrowed from the

Yiddish language Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

, which in turn derives from Slavic languages, like for example Belarusian шчаўе,

and

щавель, ''shchavel'',

''szczaw''. The soups name comes ultimately from the Proto-Slavic ''ščаvь'' for sorrel. Due to its commonness as a soup in Eastern European cuisines, it is often called green borscht, as a cousin of the standard, reddish-purple beetroot

borscht Borscht () is a sour soup common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. In English, the word "borscht" is most often associated with the soup's variant of Ukrainian origin, made with red beetroots as one of the main ingredients, which g ...

. In Russia, where shchi (along with or rather than borscht) has been the staple soup, sorrel soup is also called green shchi.Щи
/ref>Щи
/ref> In old Russian cookbooks it was called simply green soup. Sorrel soup usually includes further ingredients such as egg yolks or whole

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

(hard-boiled or scrambled),

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es, carrots, parsley root, and rice.Sorrel and Pork Soup (Green Borscht) Recipe
/ref> A variety of Ukrainian green borscht also includes beetroot. In Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian cuisines, sorrel soup may be prepared using any kind of

instead of water. It is usually garnished with smetana, an Eastern European variety of

sour cream Sour cream (in North American English, Australian English and New Zealand English) or soured cream (British English) is a dairy product obtained by fermenting regular cream with certain kinds of lactic acid bacteria. The bacterial culture, ...

. It may be served either hot or chilled. Sorrel soup is characterized by its sour taste due to oxalic acid (called "sorrel acid" in

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...

) present in sorrel. The "sorrel-sour" taste may disappear when sour cream is added, as the oxalic acid reacts with

calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar t ...

and

casein Casein ( , from Latin ''caseus'' "cheese") is a family of related phosphoproteins ( αS1, aS2, β, κ) that are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 60% of the proteins in hum ...

. Some may refer to sorrel flavor as "tannic," as with spinach or walnuts. File:Borscz zelenyj ukr.jpg, Green borscht with egg and sour cream File:Green borscht spinach smetana.jpg, Green borscht made with spinach instead of sorrel and with potatoes File:Борщ зелений.jpeg, Ukrainian green borscht including both sorrel and beetroot

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorrel Soup Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine Cold soups East Slavic cuisine Belarusian cuisine Soviet cuisine Polish soups Russian soups Ukrainian soups Vegetable dishes

See also

References