Frankfurt am Main (Umweltamt) and Regionalpark RheinMain Südwest GmbH – in the Frankfurt/M district Oberrad an unusual monument honors the Frankfurt national specialty »Grüne Soße« (green sauce). In its traditional growing area seven green greenhouses are realized, one for each of the seven traditional herbs used to create the popular sauce. This work symbolize the power of the countryside surrounded by the neighboring metropolis. Within the dusk the objects glow towards evening and emphasize the power of the »Frankfurter Grüne Soße«.
»Frankfurter Grüne Soße«
The Frankfurt »Grüne Soße« is made from hard-boiled eggs, oil (but not olive oil), vinegar, salt, and generous amount of seven fresh herbs, namely borage, sorrel, cress, chervil, chives, parsley, and salad burnet.
Variants, often due to seasonal availability include dill, lovage, lemon balm and even spinach or basil. In more frugal times, daisy leaves, broad plantain leaves, and dandelion leaves were also used. Since the sauce is mainly an emulsion of fat and egg yolk, it may be classified as a kind of mayonnaise (although common mayonnaise uses raw yolks). Today, buttermilk, sour cream (»Saure Sahne« with 10 per cent fat, or »Schmand« with 24 per cent fat), quark, or yogurt is often added in order to reduce the oil content of the sauce.
The sauce is served with peeled boiled potatoes, accompanying either hard-boiled eggs or roasted beef brisket. Hard apple cider is a typical accompanying drink. This was supposedly Goethe’s favourite meal; a legend that his mother invented it is likely apocryphal.