German Batter Fried Sage Leaves: Salbei Mäuse

More plainly known in German as "Salbeiküchlein" (little sage cakes), but popularly known to many in German as "Salbei Mäuse," literally "sage mice," with some dialect forms also (hey, this is German!), with the name coming from the batter fried leaves with stems looking like mice and their tails. These leaves are known in many of the German cultural and language areas. Try to use the largest sage leaves you can get. Good along with tea or coffee, as a snack, or as an appetizer. 

 

Serve with plum, cherry or apricot jam. 

Ingredients (2 to 3 servings): 

8 to 12 large fresh sage leaves with their stems

1/2 cup flour

3 tablespoons sparkling mineral water or club soda

3 tablespoons dry white wine

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt 

oil for frying

 

Over medium heat, heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a skillet with about 1/4 inch of oil. Rinse the sage leaves and pat them dry with paper towels. In a bowl, mix together the flour, mineral water, dry white wine, sugar and salt (the batter should be thick enough to hold to the sage leaves, so adjust the amount of liquid/flour to achieve that outcome). Drop a few of the sage leaves into the batter and coat them and carefully place them into the hot oil. Turn the leaves to brown them on both sides, then add some new leaves, and do the same (you can then say, "I'm turning over a new leaf"). Drain any excess oil from the leaves on paper towels. 

 

 

I made these a couple of times recently, but the first time, I couldn't find really good size sage leaves, which are shown in the top two photos. By the second time I made them, the warm weather helped my own sage plant to produce some nice leaves, which are shown in the bottom two photos. 

 

 

WORD HISTORY: 

Dwarf-The ultimate origin of this word is unclear, and it seems to only be present in the Germanic languages. It is likely related to an Indo European form "dhwergwhos," with a meaning of "something small, something tiny," which had a related form "dhvarás," which referred to "spirits and demons." Old Germanic had "dwergaz," meaning, "an atypically small being with special powers," and this gave Old English "dweorh" and "dweorg" (dialectal forms) meaning, "uncommonly short person." The original ending sounds in English were guttural, and words with these sounds have proven to be problematic in English, as English speakers seem to have searched for smoother, less guttural, sounds; thus, we have seen changes in pronunciation like "enough" going from a guttural ending to being as if "enuf(f)," "through" being as if "threw," "draught" being as if "draft" (with this spelling even being adopted, especially in American English) and "cough" being pronounced as if "coff." The Middle Ages saw "dweorh" and "dweorg" go to "dwerth," "dwergh," "dwerke" and others. The Old English plural was "dweorgas" which then morphed into "dwarrows" in the Middle Ages, and it then came to be pronounced as if "dwarrevs/dwarves," which seemingly brought about the singular pronunciation as "dwarf," with the spelling also following suit. The early 1600s saw the development of the verb form, with the meaning, "to be or appear to be smaller in comparison." Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Zwerg" (once spelled "twerg/twerc," and the German 'z' is pronounced 'ts'), Low German "Dwarg," West Frisian "dwerch," Dutch "dwerg," Danish "dværg," Norwegian "dverg," Icelandic "dvergur" and Swedish "dvärg." All of the Germanic forms mean "dwarf," a meaning that goes back to the mythology of the Germanic tribes.