Sour Grass Syrup (Wood Sorrel)

This shamrock-shaped plant is easy to find in summer, and is a good plant for beginner foragers to look out for!

Sour grass or wood sorrel tastes tart, similar to lemons. They are an easy snack on while you're out foraging and great for kids to try. It's part of the Oxalidaceae family, which includes about 300 species of plants and flowers. Wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) is native to Europe, North America, and Asia.

The reason that this herb has this delicious tart flavor is because of the oxalic acid for which the genus is named. While there are usually warnings to not consume foods with oxalic acid in high quantities, conventional foods such as sugar spinach and other conventional veggies have oxalic acid as well. Feel free to check with your doctor for any questions.

The heart-shaped leaves of wood sorrel give away its identity, with no known exact look-alikes. Their color varies from greenish-yellow to reddish-purple, depending on where they grow and their age. When eaten raw, these leaves taste very sour due to high levels of oxalic acid—about 10 times more than spinach or rhubarb!

The most common way to find this tasty plant is in disturbed fields and woods. Look for it in spring and summer, when the plants are still young.

• Sour Grass: what's great about Wood sorrel is that the leaves flowers seed pods and stems are all edible. Instead of fully removing plants from the ground, I recommend going out with a pair of scissors and snipping the top third of the plant.
• Sugar: use whatever sugar you have on hand, and feel free to swap out for cane sugar or other sweeteners that you prefer.
• Water: we are making a traditional syrups simple syrup which is a one-to-one ratio of water and sugar

Wash the wood sorrel to remove any dirt or grit that might be clinging to it, then cut it into small pieces so that it will dissolve more readily in hot water. Make sure you don’t include any stems—just leaves!

Put the wood sorrel in a saucepan with 1 cup of water, and 1 cup of sugar then bring it to a boil over medium. Cook for 5 minutes or until leaves has wilted into the liquid. This will help them release their flavor more quickly!

Turn off and remove the pan from heat and let the syrup sit for 30 minutes so wood sorrel can infuse into the water.

Strain out your wood sorrel leaves (you can use a fine-mesh strainer if you don’t want any bits left behind). Pour it into a jar or container with a tight-fitting lid so no air can get inside (this will prevent spoilage).

• You can find wood sorrel while out on a hike, in a local park, or even in your backyard!
• Be mindful as you would with other foraged ingredients to stay away from areas that may have been sprayed with pesticides and other chemicals.
• Store freshly harvested wood sorrel in an airtight container with a moist cloth over the top until ready for use. Clean off dirt and debris from both sides of each leaf before using them.

• Add it to a gimlet or a gin spritz, or your favorite cocktail that calls for simple syrup
• Top a fresh fruit salad with this syrup and mix in some fresh wood sorrel leaves for some extra flavor!
• Make your own granita, sorbet, or other frozen treats

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