Rumex acetosa – known as souries, field sorrel, and narrow-leaved dock among many other names. A clue to its sour, tangy taste is in the botanical name; acetosa comes from the Latin word “acetum,” meaning vinegar! Part of this flavour comes from oxalic acid, which is why caution is advised for excessive consumption, or anyone with gout or kidney stones, however cooking does lessen the amount present.

Calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, sodium, vitamin A and C can all be found in Sorrel, along with over 60 other compounds, including resveratrol, rutin, hyproside, quercetin, ferulic acid, gallic acid, epicatechin and p-coumaric acid. This likely gives sorrel it’s historic worldwide and wide ranging therapeutic benefits, which include constipation and diarrhoea, stomach ulcers, hypertension, gallstones, skin disorders and general inflammation. It also has a specific effect on Porphyromonas gingivalis – one of the main bacterial agents of periodontitis.

Water and ethanol extracts have both shown good efficacy, so adding some of the leaves to your soup, or a quick ‘folk tincture’ spring tonic, is a good way to access these benefits in the early colder months of the year, where the leaves grow in tight rosettes on the ground. You can identify them by their inward pointing ‘forked tail’, the tall reddish flower stem doesn’t appear until summer.

 

Written by Jenny Carden-Porrett