Sorrel soup is made from water or broth,

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.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 Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...

garden orache ''Atriplex hortensis'', known as garden orache, red orache or simply orache (; also spelled orach), mountain spinach, French spinach, or arrach, is a species of plant in the Amaranthaceae, amaranth family used as a leaf vegetable that was common ...

chard Chard or Swiss chard (; ''Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'', Cicla Group and Flavescens Group) is a green leafy vegetable. In the cultivars of the Flavescens Group, the leaf stalks are large and often prepared separately from the leaf blade; ...

, nettle, and occasionally dandelion,

goutweed ''Aegopodium podagraria'', commonly called ground elder, is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae that grows in shady places. The name "ground elder" comes from the superficial similarity of its leaves and flowers to those o ...

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 Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

, Hungarian, Latvian,

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

, Romanian, Armenian, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian 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 ver ...

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

шчаўе, Russian and Ukrainian щавель, ''shchavel'', Polish ''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. In Russia, where

shchi Shchi ( rus, щи, p=ɕːi, a=Ru-щи.ogg) is a Russian-style cabbage soup. When sauerkraut is used instead, the soup is called sour shchi, while soups based on sorrel, spinach, nettle, and similar plants are called green shchi (russian: зел� ...

(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 yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...

s or whole eggs (hard-boiled or scrambled), potatoes, 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 broth instead of water. It is usually garnished with smetana, an Eastern European variety of sour cream. It may be served either hot or chilled. Sorrel soup is characterized by its sour taste due to

oxalic acid Oxalic acid is an organic acid with the systematic name ethanedioic acid and formula . It is the simplest dicarboxylic acid. It is a white crystalline solid that forms a colorless solution in water. Its name comes from the fact that early inve ...

(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. 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