Uses of Sorrel

Raw Ingredient

• With its bright green, spade-like leaves, you can add visual interest to a salad by adding sorrel leaves. Sorrel will also enhance the flavor palette of a salad due to its distinctive citrus flavor. Younger leaves are normally used in salads because immature leaves have less of a bitter taste than more mature leaves do. Or, you can mash the leaves to create sorrel pesto or add them to aioli mayonnaise for enhanced flavor and color. As a garnish, use whole leaves or entire stems to add an aesthetic appeal to fish and meat dishes.

Cooked Ingredient

• Sorrel is a commonly used as an ingredient in French and European recipes. It is used in soups as well as in green sauces served with fish. Similar to spinach or chard leaves, you can saute young sorrel leaves and serve them as a vegetable side dish. Or, finely chop the leaves and add a bright green aspect to risotto and other rice dishes.

Medicinal

• Like many herbs, sorrel has medicinal properties that are used to remedy certain health problems. For example, sorrel contains tannins so it aids in lessening mucous buildup due to its drying effects. Therefore, sorrel can reduce nasal passage inflammation and, taken orally, treats sinusitis when used in combination with several other herbs. Largely due to its citrusy qualities, it can help prevent scurvy and other bacterial infections, and it has a cooling effect when prepared as an infusion for ailments, such as fevers. Sorrel pastes are also helpful when treating topical wounds and sores because of its antiseptic characteristics. In addition, sorrel is a diuretic, so it is used to treat upset stomachs and to increase urine flow.

  Despite the many benefits of sorrel, it can cause gastrointestinal problems as well as skin rashes. Talk to your doctor if you plan on using sorrel and have any medical problems involving your brain, kidney, heart and liver functions.

Nutritional

• Similar to many green vegetables and herbs, sorrel has beneficial nutritional properties. It contains high levels of vitamins A and C and has potassium, calcium, and magnesium elements in it, so it can be used to supplement health-conscious diets.