Lemony, wild, and free! Sheep sorrel makes a tangy sauce for eggs, fish, or chicken!
When I lived in my Folk Victorian Farmhouse - Heartsease Cottage - I grew garden-domestic French sorrel.
Now, living in a condo (Heartsease Haven) in Northern Idaho, I forage for the same tangy, lemony flavor, but in its wild versions of sheep sorrel and wood sorrel.
From left to right...French sorrel, sheep sorrel, and the clover-like wood sorrel.
All three of these "sorrels" have the same lemony flavor and make a delicious sauce. While I no longer grow French sorrel - it doesn't seem to like growing in a pot on my balcony - I now forage for both sheep and wood sorrel.
Sheep sorrel leaves, stems removed, and washed, are ready to use. The small, heart-shaped clover-like leaves of wood sorrel are similarly removed from their stalks.
Saute one cup sorrel, one teaspoon minced shallot, in one or two teaspoons of butter in a small skillet until the sorrel changes from bright green to dark green,"melting" into the butter/shallot mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Sorrel, regardless of variety, reduces significantly when cooked. So gather four times, or more, than you'll end up with after cooked.
After cooking this simple mixture, I freeze it in small containers for use throughout the winter.
I freeze many of these small containers of sauteed sorrel. Each one contains about two servings...more when mixed with cream.
To use the stored, frozen sorrel, I thaw it out and add a splash of cream and stir it in. The sauce is ready to serve alongside fish, omelets, or chicken.
Of course the sauce may used without adding cream for a more tangy version.
There are many wonderful, free, and delicious foods to be found in Nature!
Sheep sorrel is usually found in semi-shaded areas growing near the base of trees and logs in early to mid-summer.
Both French and sheep sorrels tend to die out as Summer's heat comes on. Wood sorrel persists and can be gathered until Fall.
Look for clusters of three heart-shaped leaves - as in the photo above - and a lemony taste, otherwise you might be "saucing" up several varieties of oxalis minus the lemon flavor! Yuck!
Nature's free and delicious bounty is part of the Natural Abundance Lifestyle.
Always be sure that what you're collecting is safe to eat!!!
For wonderful tutorials on foraging visit Learn Your Land on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcbf8wnyVJl631LAmAbo7nw
Bon appetit!
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Natural Abundance is realizing, utilizing, and being grateful for the beauty and bounty that surrounds us.
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