Eating Wild Greens

From the Illustrated London News, 29th June 1918. 

 LADIES' PAGE.

We generally neglect several accessible green foods that are perfectly wholesome, and that are habitually eaten by the poor—and even by the wealthy—in France.  Sorrel, for instance, is abundant in our meadows, and is not used here, but is constantly served on French tables.  It is the characteristc ingredient of the excellent soup that the French call "Bonne Femme."  This begins with one or two fine-cut onions fried (not browned) in butter, to which is added chopped sorrel (as much by measure as the fluid used) and a little finely shredded lettuce and then some stock, boiled till all is done; the soup is then rubbed through a sieve (this need not be done, if preferred), thickened with milk with flour boiled in it, or, if possible, cream or beaten egg-yolks, seasoned with a little sugar and salt and pepper, and poured into a tureen on thin strips of bread dried in the oven, not toasted. Sorrel also makes a good dish as a vegetable at dinner. boiled in water with a little carbonate of soda and salt till soft, drained, and rubbed through a sieve (it ought to be a hair, not a wire, sieve for refined tastes); put back into the saucepan with a little butter or margarine. in which a spoonful or two of flour is mixed, and a spoonful or so of milk, just to be moist, stirred till very hot again, then served with very thin sippets of bread fried in butter to crispness stuck round the sorrel.  The French use this purée of sorrel mostly as a bed for a little veal cutlet, or serve it with stewed veal; but it is very satisfactory (made not too thin by adequate flour) with hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters or with poached eggs—or as a dish to itself. 

Very young dandelion-leaves are a good addition to salad, and many French peasants cultivate it for this purpose, letting it grow full size, but blanching it by tying it up to keep the centre tender; big tough leaves, naturally growing, are unsuitable.  I once heard the Japanese Ambassador say that very young fronds of the common brake-fern, just springing through the earth in their curly way, are eaten as a vegetable in his country; he said they should be boiled with a good deal of carbonate of soda in the water, squeezed dry, chopped, and finished with butter.  Young nettles can also be used as a green vegetable; and. in the present scarcity of anything fizzy to drink, we might look up our great-grandmothers' cookery-books and brew some nettle-beer for the hot days.  A mixture of spinach. sorrel, watercress, and lettuce makes a good purée, which becomes a soup if put in sufficient milk or stock, still keeping it quite thick.