At what age can you give sorrel to a child and how to cook sorrel soup for it?

Sorrel is very healthy and tasty. His noble sourness is very popular with children, all moms and dads certainly remember this from their own childhood. But like any plant with numerous medicinal properties, sorrel has its own contraindications. That is why parents often wonder at what age they can offer sorrel as food to a child and how it is unusual to cook it. We will tell about it in this material.

The plain grass herb sorrel has been known for a very long time. In addition to taste, because of which the grass has found wide application in cooking, sorrel is considered medicinal, because it effectively “adjusts” the human gastrointestinal tract to a normal rhythm of work. Sorrel is a storehouse of vitamin C. In addition, it is rich in potassium, contains a large amount of magnesium and phosphorus. It is rich in vitamin A and folic acid. There are more than 150 species of sorrel, but only two have become known - ordinary and horse.

The plant is considered an excellent antioxidant, it promotes metabolism, digestion, normal blood circulation, the chemical composition of sorrel leaves is valued by hematologists - weed when used in food helps prevent bleeding in people prone to them. Useful sorrel and constipation. However, he also has an unpleasant feature - oxalic acid changes the chemical composition of urine, which can adversely affect the functioning of the urinary organs, therefore The question of the use of plants by children is quite controversial. On the one hand, whole generations have grown up, pinching sorrel in the grandmother's garden and eating it for a sweet soul. On the other hand, the health problems of these generations is not enough.

Pediatricians do not agree on the use of sorrel in the children's diet. Some doctors recommend, others - do not advise. Dr. Komarovsky, whose opinion is respected by mothers, believes that you can eat sorrel, but only from a certain age and in small quantities, and certainly only when the child has no contraindications to eating it. The main contraindication are any problems with the kidneys and their functioning. You should also abandon this product if your child is diagnosed with gastritis with high acidity or there are chronic diseases that may be complicated by kidney problems.

Sorrel is not recommended for children with kidney and urinary system diseases at any age.

This does not mean that a three-year-old mother can run to the nearest green market or to a supermarket, grab a bag of sorrel and feed her child. For the first food intake, only young shoots of the plant are used, in which the concentration of oxalic acid is extremely low. Such shoots are in early spring.

Before giving the child, they should heat treated - rinse with boiling water and boil for at least 5 minutes. The older the plant becomes, the more sour it is, and therefore great sorrel is suitable for borscht adults, but not a child, even if he was already three years old.

With fresh leaves, we more or less figured out. But quite often parents are interested in whether it is possible to give boiled leaves of sorrel, for example, sorrel soup to a one-year-old child or to a child in 2 years. Even in boiled form, the plant is not recommended for baby food until the baby is 3 years old.

When fresh, adding sliced ​​leaves to salads, cold appetizers, side dishes, and oxalic leaves can be given to a child in very limited quantities only when they are 8 years old. Until this time, the leaves of greens must be cooked. In addition to boiling and scalding, it is recommended to combine a vegetable with fermented milk products - lactic acid helps to partially neutralize oxalic acid. At the same time, the beneficial properties of sorrel are lost to a lesser extent than when it is boiled.

A great option - sorrel with sour cream, but for kids aged 3+ this dish is not suitable. The best way to give sorrel to a child is sorrel soup. Let's learn how to cook it properly.

There are many recipes for oxalic soup, but let's consider one of them, in which, in our opinion, the beneficial properties of sorrel are preserved more. You can treat a child with a hot soup, or you can give it cold. In any case, the dish turns out delicious. The soup is cooked quickly, so it does not require special culinary knowledge and talents from the mother. We will need:

• lean meat broth (without meat, boiled meat can be used for cooking other dishes);
• medium sized potatoes - 2 pieces;
• chicken egg - 2 pieces;
• sorrel - 5-6 leaves.

Salt is added to the boiling broth to taste, after which the peeled and sliced ​​potatoes are laid. Cooking potatoes in the soup will be about a quarter of an hour, if chopped it is not too large. For baby soup is better to cut the potatoes into small cubes.

Two eggs should be broken, shaken and poured into boiling broth and immediately mix well. Sorrel leaves wash, pour boiling water, but do not cook. Finely chop them, for this you can use both a knife and kitchen scissors. A couple of minutes until cooked, add a tablespoon of sour cream to the chopped greens, mix, wait a bit and add the mixture to the ready-made potato soup with egg.

Hold the soup on the fire for another minute, turn it off and pour into plates. Additionally, it is recommended that the child add another spoonful of sour cream to the plate.

If desired, mother can add onions, carrots, parsley to the soup. With a great love of soups after cooking, you can grind the soup with a blender, only in this case do not forget to add a teaspoon of butter to it.

The recipe for the soup of sorrel, see below.