This week saw the first major cutting of a new leaf we are trialing on our Clissold site – red veined sorrel. We thought we would give it a try this year after reading about it in Charles Dowding’s Salad Leaves for All Seasons – he calls it blood-veined sorrel. It turns out, as he said it would, to be less vigorous than the broad-leaved sorrel that we normally grow. And to be honest, both Ru and I are not terribly impressed with its flavour, nor its texture. However, it is a rather fine looking leaf…
…and, thrown in amongst the other leaves in our salad bag, I think it does rather well. Annie, one of last year’s apprentices who turned up this week for the packing (thank-you Annie!), singled it out from the trough as ’such a beautiful leaf.’
To quote Dowding, it has ‘powerful citric acid bite’ and so its rather low yields turns into a bit of a benefit, as you don’t need too large a quantity in your salad bowl. Like all sorrels, it is perennial, so if you are growing it at home, you won’t have to sow it every year, unless you want new tender plants…
Tags: Charles Dowding, red veined sorrel
July 4, 2009 at 5:07 pm |
Ah, I’ve been away this week so I’ve missed the red-veined sorrel. I’m a sorrel fan, so I’ll look out for it in next week’s veg bag. Thanks Sarah!
July 13, 2009 at 12:24 pm |
Oh, this is one of the leaves in the beautiful salad leaf section in our local supermarket in Paju. I wondered what it was. They sell about 20 different types of salad by the leaf so you get to make up a lovely salad bag yourself – and there’s even a lady standing by spraying cold water on them to add to the gentle mist constantly wafting over the display… And yet, it still doesn’t compare at all to your mum’s garden!
September 20, 2009 at 9:16 pm |
[...] red-veined sorrel is one such tough call. We’ve got the corn salad hardening off at Springfield, champing at [...]