Chef Klaus
Ahle Wurst
North Hesse's old sausage is cured, not cooked: coarse pork, pepper, garlic, and cold weeks in a chamber until the slice turns firm enough for rye and cider.
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Frankfurter Grüne Kräutersuppe
Created by
Frankfurt's seven sauce herbs turn into a warm spring soup here, thickened with potato, sharpened with sorrel and cress, and kept green by one rule: herbs in last, heat off.
Soups & Stews
German
Easter
Weeknight
Dinner Party
25 min
Active Time
30 min cook•55 min total
Yield4 servings
Frankfurter Grüne Kräutersuppe is what happens when Frankfurt's cold Grüne Soße, green sauce, gets a soup pot for spring. It belongs to Hesse, to Gründonnerstag, Maundy Thursday, and Easter week, when the first soft herbs are worth more than another cellar root. I make it when the bundle of seven herbs is bright and damp from the market, not when January herbs taste of plastic. The old larder had its months, and this is not a winter trick.
Frankfurt is strict about the seven: borage, chervil, cress, parsley, salad burnet, sorrel, and chives. Elsewhere in Hesse the arguments start over egg, quark, sour cream, and how fine the herbs should be chopped; in the south a spring herb soup may go toward chervil or wild garlic, and the north has its own green pots. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. This one stays in Frankfurt.
The rule is simple: build the body first, then the herbs last. The floury potato simmers until it collapses, because potato gives the soup its thickness without flour, then the herbs go in off the boil and are puréed at once. Boil them hard and the green goes dull, the sorrel turns harsh, and you've punished the very thing you waited all spring to eat. Erst verstehen, dann kochen.
The cream softens it, then the acid and salt wake it up at the end. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss. A chopped egg on top nods to Grüne Soße, and stale rye fried into crumbs gives the spoon something to meet. Weggeworfen wird nichts, even in a light soup.
Frankfurter Grüne Soße, locally Frankfurter Grie Soß, was entered in the EU register as a protected geographical indication in 2016, and the protection names the seven-herb mixture grown in and around Frankfurt: borage, chervil, cress, parsley, salad burnet, sorrel, and chives. Its spring habit sits beside Gründonnerstag, Maundy Thursday, when green foods fit both the church calendar before Easter and the first garden herbs after winter. The soup is a household variation of the cold sauce's herb basket, while the regional argument in Hesse stays old-fashioned: which dairy, how much egg, and whether the herbs are chopped by knife or made smooth.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
mixed Frankfurter Grüne-Soße herbs
Quantity
200g
borage, chervil, cress, parsley, salad burnet, sorrel, and chives
unsalted butter for the soup
Quantity
30g
unsalted butter for rye crumbs
Quantity
20g
leek
Quantity
1 small
white and pale green parts, sliced and rinsed
onion
Quantity
1 small
finely chopped
floury potatoes
Quantity
500g
peeled and diced
light vegetable stock or light chicken stock
Quantity
900ml
cream (Sahne)
Quantity
150ml
lemon juice or mild white wine vinegar
Quantity
1-2 teaspoons
fine salt and white pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly grated nutmeg
Quantity
1 small pinch
hard-boiled eggs
Quantity
2
chopped
day-old dark rye bread (optional)
Quantity
2 slices
cut into small cubes
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| mixed Frankfurter Grüne-Soße herbsborage, chervil, cress, parsley, salad burnet, sorrel, and chives | 200g |
| unsalted butter for the soup | 30g |
| unsalted butter for rye crumbs | 20g |
| leekwhite and pale green parts, sliced and rinsed | 1 small |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 small |
| floury potatoespeeled and diced | 500g |
| light vegetable stock or light chicken stock | 900ml |
| cream (Sahne) | 150ml |
| lemon juice or mild white wine vinegar | 1-2 teaspoons |
| fine salt and white pepper | to taste |
| freshly grated nutmeg | 1 small pinch |
| hard-boiled eggschopped | 2 |
| day-old dark rye bread (optional)cut into small cubes | 2 slices |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 3-liter soup pot
- •Stick blender or countertop blender
- •Salad spinner or clean kitchen towel
- •Small frying pan for rye crumbs
Instructions
- 1
Sort the herbs
Wash the herbs in a bowl of cold water, lift them out, and spin or pat them dry. Lifting matters because the grit stays at the bottom of the bowl; pour everything through a sieve and you wash the dirt back over the leaves. Strip only the tough stems. Tender stems carry flavour and disappear under the blender.
Reserve a spoonful of chives and cress for the bowls. They give the finished soup a fresh bite, and they show the cook what is in the pot. - 2
Brown the rye
If you're using rye crumbs, melt the 20g butter in a small pan and fry the diced rye over medium heat until the edges are dry and browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Salt it lightly. Day-old bread becomes garnish instead of bin food. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
- 3
Sweat the base
Melt the 30g butter in a heavy soup pot, add the leek, onion, and a pinch of salt, and cook gently for about 8 minutes until glossy and soft but not browned. Browning gives sweetness and muddies the green, so runter mit der Temperatur, down with the temperature, and let the vegetables soften without colour.
- 4
Simmer the potatoes
Add the diced floury potatoes and the stock, bring to a steady simmer, and cook 18 to 20 minutes until a potato cube breaks apart against the spoon. Floury potato is the thickener here; it has to collapse so the starch spreads through the soup. A waxy potato stays neat and gives you a thin broth with little lumps. That's not the dish.
- 5
Blend the body
Take the pot off the heat and blend the potato base until smooth. Stir in the cream, then let the bubbling stop for 2 minutes. The soup should be hot enough to wilt the herbs but not boiling, because the next minute decides the colour.
If you use a countertop blender, work in batches and vent the lid. Hot soup trapped under a tight lid climbs, and the ceiling does not need lunch. - 6
Add the herbs
Add the herbs all at once, keeping back the reserved chives and cress, and purée just until the soup turns bright green and smooth, 30 to 60 seconds. Do not boil it again. Hard heat dulls the chlorophyll and makes the sorrel taste sharp instead of fresh. Thin with a little more stock if needed, then season with salt, white pepper, nutmeg, and lemon juice or vinegar. Acid goes in late so it brightens the cream rather than curdling it.
- 7
Serve at once
Ladle the soup into bowls and finish with chopped egg, the reserved herbs, and rye crumbs if you made them. Serve it now, while the green is still alive. A finished herb soup waits badly because the leaves keep cooking in the heat of the pot. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Chef Tips
- •Buy the true seven-herb bundle when you can. Parsley and chives alone make green potato soup, not a Frankfurt soup. If one herb is missing, build out with parsley, chervil, or cress, but don't double the borage.
- •Borage is traditional, but keep it to the small amount in the bundle. It contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, so don't concentrate it, don't make a daily habit of it, and leave it out for pregnant cooks or very small children.
- •Use a floury potato, the kind that falls apart when boiled. That loose starch gives the soup body without flour, so the herbs stay the main thing.
- •Keep the stock light. A dark roast stock bullies the herbs. Use a clear vegetable stock from leek tops, parsley stems, and onion skins, or a mild chicken stock. Nicht aus dem Glas.
- •This is spring cooking. When the herbs are tired and mean, cook a proper potato-leek soup and wait for the market to turn green again.
Advance Preparation
- •Cook the potato base up to 24 hours ahead and chill it. Reheat it gently, then add the cream and herbs just before serving, because the finished green soup loses colour as it waits.
- •Wash and dry the herbs up to 6 hours ahead, then wrap them in a barely damp towel and refrigerate. Wet herbs thin the soup and make the blender fight.
- •Boil and chop the eggs a day ahead. Rye crumbs can also be made a day ahead and kept uncovered at room temperature so they stay dry.
- •Leftover finished soup keeps 1 day in the refrigerator. Reheat it gently and do not boil it; the flavour will still be good, but the green will be quieter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 445g)
Calories
365 calories
Total Fat
21 g
Saturated Fat
12 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
150 mg
Sodium
790 mg
Total Carbohydrates
37 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
10 g
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