There is a lovely sauce that we have just discovered in Frankfurt that heralds the beginning of spring called Grüne Soße (or green sauce for those of us whose German is lacking.) It is very traditional to the Frankfurt area and is made exclusively from seven fresh herbs, namely parsley, chives, chervil, borage, sorrel, garden cress, and salad burnet – also called pimpernel (the herbs are pictured here). These herbs are found in fields and chopped right before serving by hand (no food processors, thank you very much) and added to a thick sour cream base and flavored with salt, lemon juice and pepper. This delicious confection is served cold with hardboiled eggs, boiled peeled potatoes and meats, breaded cutlets (schnitzel) or just dark rye bread. A local schnitzel specialty, called Frankfurter Schnitzel, is always served with green sauce, along with hard apple cider (Apfelwein) as a traditional accompanying drink. We are day one of German food from the Hessen region. We will make our way along the Rhine River Valley , down through the Black Forest and to Bavaria – so stay tuned for other German specialties we discover.
