Sheep Sorrel
(growing season: spring, summer, fall)
Sorrel is one of my absolute favorite wild foods to forage. Similar to arugula, sorrel packs a powerful zesty lemon punch to salad mixes or atop sandwiches. It is relatively easy to find and grows abundantly in and around gardens, lawns and fields.
Sheep sorrel is a perennial plant that is in the buckwheat family. It reproduces by seed and by spreading horizontal roots. It is well recognized within the alternative cancer treatment community as one of the ingredients in Essiac tea.
Sorrel Identification
Hairless leaves grow alternate (1 per node), variable in size and shape; lower leaves are long-stalked, arrowhead-shaped with a pair of slender lobes near the base of the blade, but occasionally can be slender and without lobes; middle leaves are short-stalked and nearly always have a lateral lobe on each side; upper leaves are stalkless.
Habitat
Open disturbed areas, pastures, meadows, yards, roadsides. It prefers sandy or gravelly soils and does not tolerate shade.
Sorrel Recipes
The leaves have a lemony, tangy or nicely tart flavor. Leaves can be eaten raw or cooked; used as thickeners in soups, dried and ground into a powder to use a flour or make into noodles. Seeds, which are red and appear in the late spring/early summer, can be eaten raw, cooked, or used to make a refreshing lemonade-like drink.
1. Salad (just throw in some raw leaves!)
2. Sorrel Soup
