Sorrel cold soup: A refreshing and tangy summer delight

Brown seeds can be sown in the garden even until fall, but wild sorrel is best harvested between May and June when the leaves have the best flavor. Later, the plant will produce flower stems, making the leaves tough and stringy. Once you've gathered a basket of delicious leaves, try this recipe. Sorrel cold soup will steal your heart.

If you want to gather sorrel yourself, choose a place far from busy roads (due to pollution from car exhaust). The best choices will be meadows, pastures, and wetland areas (where common sorrel likes to thrive; in general, there are several species of sorrel).

Sorrel can be used in many different ways in the kitchen, although it is traditionally thought that the best use is in making sorrel soup. Instead of the typical brown soup, I prepare a slightly different soup that is easier to make and perfect for hot weather. The recipe I am referring to is a sorrel cold soup with kefir. This version serves both as a first course and a second course.

The presence of kefir (or buttermilk or cream) is essential not only for its taste. It is worth remembering that sorrel contains oxalic acid, which negatively affects calcium levels in the body, and adding products rich in this element helps neutralize the undesirable effect to some extent. This is why brown soup is often served with an egg or a dollop of cream. It is recommended not to exceed a portion of 3.5 ounces of sorrel per day.

Ingredients:

• a bunch of sorrel,
• 2 cloves of garlic,
• parsley, dill,
• zest from one lemon,
• 2 cups of kefir,
• salt and pepper,
• optional: 2 eggs, 6 new potatoes

Preparation:

1. Wash and dry the sorrel and herbs thoroughly. Scald the lemon with boiling water. Peel the garlic.
2. Blend the garlic, sorrel, and kefir until smooth—season with salt, pepper, and lemon zest.
3. Add the finely chopped herbs to the cold soup and mix again, this time by hand—with a spoon.
4. Serve the prepared cold soup with boiled new potatoes and hard-boiled eggs.