![]() Polish sorrel soup with egg and croutons | |
Alternative names | Green borscht, green shchi, green soup |
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Type | Soup |
Region or state | Eastern and Northeastern Europe |
Serving temperature | Hot or cold |
Main ingredients | Water or broth, sorrel leaves, and salt |
Sorrel soup is made from water or broth, sorrel leaves, and salt. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Varieties of the same soup include spinach, garden orache, chard, nettle, and occasionally dandelion, goutweed or ramsons, together with or instead of sorrel. [1] [2] [3] [6] [7] [8] It is known in Ashkenazi Jewish, [4] Belarusian, [7] Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, [9] Lithuanian, Romanian, Armenian, Polish, [5] Russian [1] [3] and Ukrainian [6] [8] cuisines. Its other English names, spelled variously schav, shchav, shav, or shtshav, are borrowed from the Yiddish language, [4] which in turn derives from Slavic languages, like for example Belarusian шчаўе, Russian and Ukrainian щавель, shchavel, Polish szczaw. The soup name comes ultimately from the Proto-Slavic ščаvĭ for sorrel.[ citation needed] 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. [1] [6] [7] [8] In Russia, where shchi (along with or rather than borscht) has been the staple soup, sorrel soup is also called green shchi. [10] [11] In old Russian cookbooks it was called simply green soup. [2] [3]
Sorrel soup usually includes further ingredients such as egg yolks or whole eggs (hard-boiled or scrambled), potatoes, carrots, parsley root, and rice. [1] [3] [12] A variety of Ukrainian green borscht also includes beetroot. [11] In Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian cuisines, sorrel soup may be prepared using any kind of broth instead of water. [1] [3] It is usually garnished with smetana, an Eastern European variety of sour cream. [1] [3] 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) present in sorrel. The "sorrel-sour" taste may disappear when sour cream is added, as the oxalic acid reacts with calcium and casein. Some may refer to sorrel flavor as "tannic," as with spinach or walnuts.
![]() Polish sorrel soup with egg and croutons | |
Alternative names | Green borscht, green shchi, green soup |
---|---|
Type | Soup |
Region or state | Eastern and Northeastern Europe |
Serving temperature | Hot or cold |
Main ingredients | Water or broth, sorrel leaves, and salt |
Sorrel soup is made from water or broth, sorrel leaves, and salt. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Varieties of the same soup include spinach, garden orache, chard, nettle, and occasionally dandelion, goutweed or ramsons, together with or instead of sorrel. [1] [2] [3] [6] [7] [8] It is known in Ashkenazi Jewish, [4] Belarusian, [7] Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, [9] Lithuanian, Romanian, Armenian, Polish, [5] Russian [1] [3] and Ukrainian [6] [8] cuisines. Its other English names, spelled variously schav, shchav, shav, or shtshav, are borrowed from the Yiddish language, [4] which in turn derives from Slavic languages, like for example Belarusian шчаўе, Russian and Ukrainian щавель, shchavel, Polish szczaw. The soup name comes ultimately from the Proto-Slavic ščаvĭ for sorrel.[ citation needed] 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. [1] [6] [7] [8] In Russia, where shchi (along with or rather than borscht) has been the staple soup, sorrel soup is also called green shchi. [10] [11] In old Russian cookbooks it was called simply green soup. [2] [3]
Sorrel soup usually includes further ingredients such as egg yolks or whole eggs (hard-boiled or scrambled), potatoes, carrots, parsley root, and rice. [1] [3] [12] A variety of Ukrainian green borscht also includes beetroot. [11] In Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian cuisines, sorrel soup may be prepared using any kind of broth instead of water. [1] [3] It is usually garnished with smetana, an Eastern European variety of sour cream. [1] [3] 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) present in sorrel. The "sorrel-sour" taste may disappear when sour cream is added, as the oxalic acid reacts with calcium and casein. Some may refer to sorrel flavor as "tannic," as with spinach or walnuts.