Blood-veined sorrel is a stylish perennial salad leaf plant.
I’ve been growing blood-veined sorrel for a few years now, purely as an ornamental. But now that I’m growing all my salads on my small balcony, everything has to earn its keep. This plant more than manages that, with its long, stylishly-patterned leaves and crunchy texture.
Week 22
I made myself an abundant, perhaps slightly too-large salad garnish for my lunch today. The tatsoi has started thinking about bolting, so I’ve been pulling up the plants and replacing them with younger seedlings while the weather is cool. That formed the base of the salad, with peashoots and apple mint leaves adding the flavour, and blood-veined sorrel bringing the colour and the texture.
The amazing spine-and-ribs pattern on the leaves of the sorrel are enough to earn the plant its keep in your garden on its own. It doesn’t have a particularly spectacular flavour – a little lemony and reasonably juicy – but it’s a fab salad plant to grow, coming back as it does year after year and seeding itself around if you’ll allow it.
This week I sowed
Tatsoi and peas
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LINDA
lovely post must look out for some to try
Jane
I grew some of this sorrel in a pot last year and it was never really happy. Because of the drought earlier, I decided to put all my herbs directly into the garden and the sorrel has been thriving! As have the sage and oregano, incidentally.