Spring Tonic

Finally! Spring has arrived. The welcomed sun, the warm breezes, the heady scent of trees in bloom coupled with smell of the freshly-mowed pasture grass, which is my lawn, trigger so many memories.

It was at this time of year Mum would go out to her garden to see whether any of her perennial herbs had come up. She returned to her kitchen with large sorrel leaves somewhat resembling spinach in appearance. After carefully washing the leaves and chopping them up, she would cook them in their own moisture until tender. Then, she made a paste of about a tablespoon of flour, some water, a little sour cream and added it to the cooked sorrel, along with a bit of sugar and salt. It was all brought to a boil and was done. In Hungarian, it is called soska matas, and is served, lukewarm, a dab on your plate, with roast beef or pork. It was considered a spring tonic--a little went a long way! Being one of the first things to come up in the Spring, it was an acquired taste, but something that was anticipated each year. I tried to transplant it to my own garden with no success. I'll have to try to find seeds, somewhere.  If I'm desperate for some, I can pick the wild variety in my lawn, as we did when we lived in Europe. They are arrow-shaped leaves, and when tasted, are very sour, with almost a lemony-sour flavor. but it takes a lot more time to gather the wild sorrel leaves, because they are so small.

Another plant we always watched for, in her garden was the Lovage. It came back faithfully, year after year, the size of a 3' bush. The leaves had a very strong celery scent and flavor, and were used to flavor soups and stews. Again, a little went a long way. On several occasions, I took root cuttings and attempted to grow it in my own garden with no success. Such simple plants that are becoming rare and are difficult to find.

These days, I forage my own garden for a spring tonic for my goats. When the comfrey is up, I pick bouquets of leaves for them and take it to the barn where they voraciously devour every last one offered. The kids aren't sure of this new flavor, but watching the adults, they soon learn it is a delicacy not to be missed!

Some people have their secret ramp patches, the French have their truffles. I think our primordial instincts come alive in the spring as we hunt and gather our various "tonics"...or maybe, the true tonic is getting out into the fresh air and breathing the new life rising up from the earth.