Common Sorrel - Rumex acetosa

The Organic Green Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) is an essential aromatic perennial for both the vegetable garden and the kitchen. Its tender, green, and tangy leaves add a lemony note to soups, sauces, omelettes, and salads. Easy to grow, hardy, and productive, it is suitable for both beginners and lovers of plant-based flavours. Sown in spring, sorrel establishes itself for several years and forms attractive decorative clumps.

Common sorrel belongs to the Polygonaceae family. It is the species Rumex acetosa, known as common sorrel, garden sorrel, or meadow sorrel, as well as by many regional names such as surelle, surette, or vinette. A herbaceous perennial, it is native to the fresh meadows and woodland edges of the temperate zone of Eurasia and northwest Africa; it is found wild in pastures, damp meadows, roadsides, and grassy dunes, and has become naturalized in many temperate countries.
The 'Common Green' variety corresponds to the type with entirely green leaves, close to the wild form but selected for abundant and tasty foliage. Its aromatic leaves, rich in vitamin C and Beta-carotin, are prepared and cooked like spinach. When cooked, it adds a slight tangy touch to fish, tarts, and soups. Its young, tender leaves can be eaten raw in salads.

Harvest: Sorrel is harvested as needed, at the juvenile stage or at ripeness. The harvest is done leaf by leaf, by hand or with a knife.

Storage: Sorrel is best consumed immediately after harvest as it does not keep well. However, it freezes very well once cooked.

The Gardener's Tip: From the end of May, mulch the soil with thin successive layers of grass clippings, if possible mixed with dead leaves. This protection, which helps the soil retain moisture, limits watering and weeding.

The Organic Green Common Sorrel is planted in the vegetable garden, at the edge of a bed or in a square of herbs. It also thrives in a large, well-drained but consistently slightly moist pot, on a balcony or terrace. It pairs well with original varieties of parsley, chives, or chervil. Also pair it with a red-veined sorrel 'Blood Veined' and a purple basil 'Dark Opal'.

Organic or "AB" seeds come from plants grown without phytosanitary products (insecticidal, herbicides). These seeds also do not undergo any post-harvest treatment. They carry the AB label and are certified by Ecocert, which is an independent body.