אַמעריקאַנער מאַלװע Mallow Soup Caldo de Alaches

 

 

I had lots of greens already, but could I walk past these beauties from Grandpa Farm?  They are called alaches. They have beautiful purple flowers, arrow-shaped leaves and woody stems.  The farmer suggested cooking and blending them to make a green soup.

 

Alaches are Malva Alcea (Moose Mallow, hollyhock, cut-leaf mallow) or אַמעריקאַנער מאַלװע

The name "mallow" rang a bell. They are from the same family as Jew's mallow and the original marshmallow.  They do not have the familiar round leaves of those mallows, but arrow-shaped leaves.

I found some recipes in Spanish and tried as best as I could to follow this one. The recipe calls for Alaches leaves, green squash, corn, and an herb with long skinny leaves called pipicha.

I went tearing back to the market for corn and squash.  I did not imagine I would find pipicha, but thought I could make do with a bunch of cilantro.  I went to the farmstand and caught sight of these:

 

"Is this pichipa?" I asked breathlessly.

"Pipicha" she answered, with kindness and patience I hope to deserve. 

The leaves are very fragrant with flavors of cilantro, caraway, pine cone, parsley, and freshly mown grass.

Pipicha is Porophyllum linaria. It is not listed in Plant Names in Yiddish, so for now I will call it פּיפּיטשע

The flavor of the soup is a little herbal and a little mineral, but for me, the strongest taste and the greatest surprise was  a very big potato kind of energy.  For folks who can't or won't eat potatoes for various reasons, this soup could be a deeply satisfying and comforting dish. In fact, it will be deeply satisfying and comforting even to folks who eat potatoes all the time, like me.

Alaches Soup

1 bunch Alaches (mallow), about 1 pound

2 medium zucchini, about 1 pound

1 small onion, peeled

1 clove garlic, peeled

2 ears sweet corn, cut into 1-inch disks

1 small bunch pipicha or cilantro

Remove the alaches leaves and flowers from the stems. It is nice to have some company to do this.  I got about 9 ounces of leaves from a 14-ounce bunch. cover the leaves with water and soak and wash until they are clean. Keep the flowers cool and dry.

Add about two quarts of water to a soup pot or large saucepan. drop in  the zucchini, onion,  garlic, and corn disks, and bring to a simmer.  Add the leaves and two teaspoons salt.  Pull the leaves off the pipicha, and add leaves and stems to the pot. Cook for about another twenty minutes or until everything is quite tender.  The cook to whom I linked above cooke thw soup in a tall clay pot and purees the greens with a long wooden pestle.  This is beautiful, but I felt just removed the corn and stems and blended everything in a blender.  Taste for salt and add more water as needed. Serve with corn and flowers.