Blood sorrel
Rumex acetosa
Similar veggies
Green sorrel, wood sorrel
Other names
Dock
A quick introduction
Blood sorrel is a beautiful green with dark red veins. This green has a very particular taste that is tart and lemony and it is a great addition to salads and sauces. Sorrel is a perennial and keeps on growing back (a gardener's dream!)
Storage
As with all leafy greens we recommend washing sorrel in cold water (we do pre-wash it at the farm), then dry it and store in a closed container in the fridge. This way it will keep for almost a week.
Season
Spring to winter
Suggestions for preparation
Sorrel might be one of the most unfamiliar vegetables we grow to many of our members and cooking with it might feel like a daunting adventure. We find that sorrel isn't that difficult to cook with once you get the hang of it. We like to use sorrel in a classic soup with potatoes but also find that it can give a good kick to salads when used raw (it should be used sparingly though as its taste can be overpowering). In salads where you would normally use lots of lemon juice, such as tabbouleh, you could replace some of the lemon with sorrel.
Recipes
This sorrel and yogurt dressing can be used for all kinds of salads
Ottolenghi’s fried beans with sorrel and feta
Polish sorrel soup
Sorrel sauce with vermouth