Sorrel Rumex Seed

LATIN NAME: Rumex acetosa

COMMON NAME: Sorrel

The sorrel is the sharp, green leaf of the cool kitchen, and the slender, reddish spikes of the small flowers rise above the arrow-shaped leaves. The clump-forming, perennial plant carries the soft, arrow-shaped leaves of the bright green and the slender, branched panicles of the small, greenish or reddish flowers through the late spring and the early summer, one of the fine, sharp sights of the herb garden. The leaves have a long record as the sharp, lemony green of the spring table, and the plant is a fine, generous presence of the herb bed. It is a plant of the open, sunny to partly shaded, moist, rich ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The sorrel is a useful subject of the plant science, and the sharp leaves keep showing up in the work on the old pot herbs. The chemistry of the leaves, which carry the sharp oxalic acids of the dock family, has been studied steadily, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the traditional pot herbs, the leafy perennials and the members of the dock family. The arrow-shaped leaves and the clump-forming habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the sorrel is a regular subject of the work on the sharp greens of the cool world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The sorrel is a fine, generous plant of the herb bed and the cool kitchen. The soft, arrow-shaped leaves have a long record as the sharp, lemony green of the spring table, chopped into the salads, the soups and the sauces of the old kitchens, and the sharp taste comes through best in the moderate amounts. The slender, reddish spikes of the small flowers rise through the late spring, and the plant is one of the fine choices for the herb garden, the salad bed and the pot-herb plot. It has been written up in the culinary and the botanical papers for the sharp, lemony leaves and the old ways, and it is a fine, generous plant of the open, sunny to partly shaded, moist, rich garden.

Cut the flowering stems down after the seeds and the fresh, sharp leaves will come again from the crown.

To grow the sorrel from seed, sow the small, brown seeds on the surface of a pot of fine seed compost, without covering them, keep the pot in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings push through within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun or the light shade and the moist, rich ground, the sharp leaves will come through the spring.

Sorrel has a tangy lemon flavor and is great for soups, stews, sandwiches, salads chicken, & fish dishes. Its 8" long leaves can be cooked like spinach. It is very productive and can be harvested from early spring until frost.