Sorrel Soup?

For the last 4 seasons of growing I've been enchanted and annoyed at this huge green and abundant plant in my herb garden known as Sorrel. It was there when I moved in and for a while I had no idea what it was until my mother tasted it and excitedly pronounced that it was "Schevel". In Russia it turns out, this is a popular plant used to make a cold soup. So now I pick the leaves and take to my mother and let her have her fun making this soup. In the summer a good Sorrel plant will grow to be quite large and will bolt and flower. The best time to pick is in cooler weather when the leaves are younger and not as sour. Garden Sorrel is almost impossible to find in stores (just like another Russian favorite Black Radishes...more on those later) and so growing it is about the only option. The soup itself is an acquired taste and there are variations on the recipe depending on if you are in Russia, Ukraine, Poland or other parts of Eastern Europe. Below is my mother's recipe to try if one dares on a hot day.



In other news...lettuce bed is growing great. Too much rain for tomatoes (yellow leaves) and I've planted 6 different varieties. Seems like another late growing season for Portland. As of beginning of June there are no open roses which has Portlanders freaking out. My rose trellis had two roses on it last week that were open. SUN SUN where are you? I am hearing that the Portland rose gardens normally filled with freshly opened roses are bare and only buds abound. Horrible for the Rose Festival season. What is worse is that because of all the rain...cherry pickers across the NW are having a difficult time and worried that they will not have ripe cherries for peak 4th of July holiday. Even my strawberries are only flowering!!!

I cannot keep Jacob (my son) out of the garden. He has decided that he would like to remove the marigolds that were planted in the tomato beds and that dirt is very fun. If he could sit in it all day he would. Very excited about exposing him to how food grows and having him pick berries from our yard.

Revekka's simple Sorrel Soup (Scha-vel)

Ingredients:
Water
salt
bunch of fresh Sorrel leaves (you can combine with fresh spinach as well)
green onions
hard boiled eggs
fresh cucumber
sour cream

bring pot of water to a boil.
chop a bunch of fresh sorrel (you can also do 1/2 sorrel and 1/2 fresh spinach)
throw in boiling water, sprinkle a little salt into water.
boil for 5 minutes. Take off stove and let soup cool
Separately boil a few eggs till they are hard boiled (cool)
Once soup is cool (at least room temp), ladle it into a bowl,
add a Tblsp. of cold sour cream (or more if you want it more creamy)
chop 1 hard boiled egg, green onion, fresh cucumber all into the bowl and serve.
If you want the soup to be super cold them cool it in the fridge first.