A friend of mine planted sorrel last summer so she could make a recipe she has for sorrel soup. The soup is delicious, and I'm thinking of planting sorrel this suimmer so I can make the soup whenever I want.
My concern is that I read that sorrel is poisonous. Does anyone know if this is true?? And if it is, how much sorrel would a person have to eat to be affected by the poison??
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'cause my mom grows it and I grab a leaf or two every time I walk by....
I used to grow it in my little veggie garden when I had one.
The leaves are definitely cooked -- they're like spinach, a huge amount of raw sorrel turns into a limp little pile of cooked sorrel!! I love the lemony flavour..... I'm looking forward to making more sorrel soup this summer :)
Sorrel contains oxalic acid in its leaves. This is what gives it the lemony taste. Concentrated oxalic acid is toxic. However, you would have to eat a very large amount of sorrel for it to have a toxic effect. Having said that, the oxalic acid is destroyed by heating the leaves, so having it as a cooked vegetable or soup would be fine (and yummy!). The benefits of sorrel make it worthwhile -- it is a good anti-oxidant. Another place to find oxalic acid is rhubarb leaves -- they have a higher concentration than sorrel leaves, and are not recommended for eating, although the stems are fine.