Now that spring is well underway, we have started to use a few of the plants from our gardens that like to get a head start on their leafy neighbours. One of those early risers is sorrel. While sorrel isn’t as common a planting as many of your traditional herb choices, it’s tangy, lemony flavour is a great addition to lighter meals and we look forward to the return of this early spring perennial.
Common sorrel or dock, from the buckwheat family, is a feature of wild grasslands throughout Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Cultivated sorrel has been used for hundreds of years and added to everything from French soups and African peanut stews, to Spanakopita in Greece and battered and fried as an appetizer in Afghanistan. In North America, the use of sorrel has been less enthusiastic and is grown, mostly, as a weed, with relatively little culinary interest.
The name sorrel is derived from the Germanic word sur, meaning sour and once you put a fresh sorrel leaf into your mouth, you’ll know why. Sorrel is full of oxalic acid (named after the woodsorrel family Oxalidaceae), a strong acid that gives the plant its sour, lemon flavour. Sorrel, with a high level of vitamin C, was used to fight scurvy. It’s also a good source of vitamin A, calcium, magnesium and potassium.
Once sorrel starts to seed, cutting it back will produce a full second growth that can carry on well into the fall. Sorrel grows relatively easily in most conditions and doesn’t require much attention. As the plant ages, the flavour becomes increasingly bitter, but new plants can easily be grown by digging out a small portion of the root and replanting every year or so. This will ensure you’re always getting plants with a fresh, clean flavour.
Yellow Lentil and Sorrel Dal
Pan-Seared Trout with white bean salad and sorrel sauce
Sorrel macerated fruit with marshmallow and sorrel shortbread
