Sorrel, cultivation and use

1. Wild sorrel is a true native plant, which is commonly found on roadsides and meadows. Especially on wet, poor soils, the flowering and seed-bearing sorrel plants can appear reddish brown in summer. There are many wild species, especially sorrel and sheep sorrel are very edible. The leaf of the sheep sorrel is small, the sorrel is larger and so it is easier to pick a portion.

Cultivation of sorrel

1. Sorrel makes few demands on the soil and can be cultivated both under glass and outside. Under glass it is usually sown in rows and young leaves, similar to spinach. When sown in winter under heated glass, a thin crop is often obtained with long, limp petioles and a small leaf blade due to lack of light. In summer sorrel under glass quickly grows too wild. Sow in the garden from March to September. When sown in the spring, sorrel quickly shoots through in the summer and starts to flower. Best results are obtained when sowing in late summer, for example in August.

Medicinal effect described in old herbal books

1. Petrus Nijlandt and others about the medicinal properties of sorrel: against inflammation of the stomach, liver and bile and excessive thirst with hot fevers. Boil three handfuls of sorrel in enough barley water to a pint, when it is strained add three ounces of syrup made from sorrel juice and drink it often. Against this, the juice that has been pressed from the sorrel can be useful or the distilled water that is made from it. Dodonaeus, Fuchsius, Durantus: against swelling of the eyes. For some time, put sorrel leaves under the hot ashes and tie them to the eyes. Ravelingius: against scabies. Take sorrel and fumitory juice from half a cap each and let it sober for several days in a row. John Stocker: against kidney stones, boil the sorrel root in wine and drink it.

2. Petrus Nijlandt and others about the medicinal properties of sorrel: against inflammation of the stomach, liver and bile and excessive thirst with hot fevers. Boil three handfuls of sorrel in enough barley water to a pint, when it is strained add three ounces of syrup made from sorrel juice and drink it often. Against this, the juice that is squeezed from the sorrel or the distilled water made from it can be useful. Dodonaeus, Fuchsius, Durantus: against swelling of the eyes. For some time, put sorrel leaves under the hot ashes and tie them to the eyes. Ravelingius: against scabies. Take sorrel and fumitory juice from half a cap each and let it sober for several days in a row. John Stocker: against kidney stones, boil the sorrel root in wine and drink it.