Sour Grass

You may not have ever given it a thought or even realized just how many weeds in your yard are actually edible. Such as dandelions, chickweed, wild spinach and so many more. You may remember as a young child exploring your yard and tasting the green grass or other plants and flowers that grew there. You may have tried eating or just tasting dirt!

If you answered yes then you may have discovered “sour grass” which is better known as wood sorrel. It’s one of my favorite edible weeds. And it will grow almost anywhere there is dirt. It has a tart but delicious flavor, hence the reason it’s nicknamed, sour grass. Unlike many other plants in the yard wood sorrel is very easy to identify because of its three heart-shaped leaves, little bright yellow flowers with five petals and seed pods that look like okra. We always called the seedpods pickles. Not only does it taste yummy, but every part of wood sorrel is edible. It also has many benefits too, such as high values of vitamin C, calcium and iron. There are many ways to incorporate this tasty treat raw or cooked into your diet, such as adding it to a salad, soup or putting it on a sandwich. Like most greens when cooked they reduce tremendously. Also, like other clover, when cut the leaves and flowers tend to close up, but that is ok, you’ll still reap the benefits.

Here on the farm we have a ton of it. Last year I tried to cultivate it. That did not work out very well. However, we have so much of it growing around wildly, I really see no need in doing that again. I am excited to teach my children what wood sorrel is and let them experience the joys of edible wild plants like I did as a child.

So…if you never got out and explored your yard as a kid, now is the time to do so! Enjoy the outdoors and looking for wood sorrel.

I would love to learn about your experiences on eating wild flowers/weeds.

Salad recipe (click here)

One of my favorite books on edible weeds is called Edible Wild Plants Wild Food from Dirt to Plate by John Kallas, PhD. Check it out

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