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Oxalis acetosella - Wood Sorrel

Is a small plant with edible sweet lemony tasting leaves, which are generally used sparingly as a flavouring. It's not recommended that you eat huge quantities of it, because it contains oxalic acid which affects the absorption of nutrients from food.

Culinary use

Excellent in salads or teas, also useful with fish and mushroom dishes.

Finding and identifying.

Wood sorrel is small but easy to identify as it resembles the irish shamrock with 4 symetrical heart shaped leaves. These leaves fold downwards at night and in wet weather. You will tend to find them in woods and at the base of trees in abundance.

Potential crop.

A close relative of wood sorrel is Oxalis tuberosa or Oca. This is grown in the Andes as a food crop and has large edible sweet roots. It's yield is comparable to potato and is said to be more frost tolerant. It contains none of the poisonous solanine which potatoes have and actually has less oxalic acid than the potato too.

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