Canned sorrel for winter

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you put up sorrel for the winter? The amounts here make one serving (that is, enough to make green borscht or a sorrel salad once in winter). Thanks to its natural oxalic acid, sorrel keeps beautifully for a whole year without preservatives like vinegar, sugar, or salt. But I like my sorrel preserve salted, so I add it; you can leave the salt out.

2. Step 2:

   

   Sorrel is best put up in April or May, while it's young. Sorrel that grows in after May is already coarse and not at all good for you. Carefully sort the sorrel leaves and wash them under running water. Put them in a colander and let the water drain off a little and the leaves dry.

3. Step 3:

   

   Cut the sorrel leaves as fine as you can.

4. Step 4:

   

   In a small saucepan, pot, or basin (depending on how much sorrel you're putting up), bring water to a boil.

5. Step 5:

   

   Drop the chopped leaves into the boiling water. Cover the pot and steam the greens over very low heat. Warm them through, but don't boil them! This takes about 4 minutes.

6. Step 6:

   

   Sterilize the jars and lids. There are many ways to sterilize. Here I simply boiled the jars and lids briefly in a pot of water. Some recipes say not to sterilize the jars, but for extra safety I always sterilize both the jars and the lids.

7. Step 7:

   

   Stir the sorrel with a wooden spoon — the leaves will change color as you do. Cover the pot again and leave it on the heat for another 2 to 3 minutes. Pack the steamed greens into the sterilized jars, fill them to the shoulder with the liquid the sorrel cooked in, and seal them with the lids.

8. Step 8:

   

   Turn the jars upside down, cover them with something warm, and keep them inverted until they've cooled completely. Store the finished sorrel in a cool, dry place. In winter, open a jar of sorrel and make an excellent, vitamin-rich green borscht. Add the preserve to the borscht right along with its liquid. Just don't forget there's salt in the canned sorrel — salt the borscht less than usual, or not at all. Enjoy!