How to Make Sorrel Soup

After the cold dark days of winter there is no better sight in early spring than the fresh green leaves of sorrel pushing their way up from the earth – even under the snow! Before the days of year round availability of vegetables, fruit and leaves, sorrel must have been welcomed with its high concentrations of vitamins A and C, and its lemony, bitter leaves would have been added to stews and broths.

Common sorrel (rumex acetosa), buckler leaved sorrel (rumex scutatus) with its shield shaped leaves, and sheep’s sorrel (rumex acetosella) are commonly found growing wild. They all share the same sharp flavour that adds bites to salads, makes a spiky sauce to accompany meats and fish or a traditional spring soup.

Sorrel is amazingly easy to grow and once established in a pot or the garden the only other thing to do is eat it. It is worth adding that sorrel, like rhubarb and spinach, is fairly high in oxalic acid and it’s not recommended for people with gout or kidney stones to consume this crop in large quantities.

Sorrel Soup

Serves 4

Drizzle of oil
1 onion
1 or 2 garlic cloves
½ leek
4 small potatoes
40-60 medium sorrel leaves, washed
Vegetable stock cube or bouillon powder
2 tablespoons single cream

1. Chop the onion and leek roughly, crush the garlic and sauté them in the oil in a pan.
2. Add the peeled chopped potatoes and the sorrel leaves.
3. Put in enough water to cover, plus a vegetable stock cube or bouillon powder.
4. Place a lid on the pan and simmer gently until the potatoes are soft.
5. Turn the heat off, liquidize the soup and add the cream.

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