Shchav

They picked sour “shchav,” hunted for mushrooms and searched for possibly edible roots to supplement the barley-water of the general soup kitchen.

We often picked shchav, little green leaves that were smaller and lighter in color than spinach, which Mother would later cook into a borscht.

He took us into the field and taught us which grass was edible: clover, wild shchav, and mint.

Among my early recollections are going past a mill to the meadow with Olga to pick shchav (sorrel) for borscht […]