when I was homeless for the first time in Asheville North Carolina, 2005-2009, not able to work due to mental, emotional problems (for which I now receive a disability check which is what got me off the streets), I use the knowledge I had of wood sorrel and dandelion. I was drinking from a creek that emptied into the French Broad River, play some miracle I never got sick. before I became homeless I learned that combining dandelions and sorrel tastes like green plums. the dandelions are slightly bitter and the sorrel sourness offsets them wonderfully. so I was eating a lot of that along with a few other wild edibles I found. I survived for 2 weeks straight eating off the land and drinking creek and rainwater I gathered. now I'm in an apartment in Alabama. I've got a huge patch of pink sorrel to the right of my door surrounded by other flowers I bought. I'm growing italian dandelions, stinging nettles, bunching onions, tomatoes, eggplant, purslane, russian red kale, and jerusalem artichokes around my place in pots and raised beds I made. trying to grow extra food for the economic collapse coming, honing my green thumb. 99% finished compost pile in the woods, making my own free fertilizer. life is pretty good now...except for my literally clinically insane, irritatingly elderly and criminal neighbors. sometimes they make me feel like I want to be homeless again lol. but I'm positive the catastrophic economic collapse just around the corner will rid me of them soon! 😉
I'm not sure what world you live in, but there's absolutely no comparison. Wood sorrel is nice and if you get it with the pods on it it's like pop rocks in your mouth, but Skittles I mean come on man.
The violet wood Sorrel is so common here in Taiwan, since I was a kid I have been eating them and convincing my friends to eat them as well. I will be trying the yellow ones this summer in America. Thank you for this amazing video!
Purple Oxalis (purple leaves) is my favorite plant. It goes to sleep at night, closing its leaves and then opens them hours later as it wakes up with the sunrise. 💜☘️
I have a giant Purple Oxalis. It was on clearance at the grocery store floral department after St. Patrick's Day. It's beautiful and it's finally getting more leaves, albeit slowly.
@@EnergeticSloths4 OHMYGOSHNESS!! You remind me of when I brought my personal plants into a local bakery/cafe where I worked on the Big Island. I took great care of all of my plants and because the purple oxalis were edible, we had two of them on a long "family table" (I mean, come on, they look like dancing butterflies and a baby might grab one and put it in their mouth and we knew they were edible and safe on the table). But after a few weeks had passed I noticed they were looking sparse and saw their stems were broken off in several places. I couldn't figure it out and kept looking for a hidden slug or an insect culprit, but come to find out...some young woman had been eating them! She had the audacity to approach the barista who was on shift one day and asked her, "Can you wash these off for me"? The barista told her that the "plant lady" was very upset with her and asked her to not please come back. The mystery was solved! A pest had indeed been grazing on my lovely, huge, purple oxalis...but it was not an insect 😆
I've made some 'lemon bars' with wood sorrel leaves and buds. I ground them to a paste in a mortar and pestle and then replaced about half the lemon juice in the recipe with the pulp. they don't look very pretty, but they taste great!
I agree, flecks of herbs and flowers look delicious to me😊 I made a salsa last night but was out of cilantro. I subbed spicy nasturtium flowers and young leaves, chopped fine. Mmmm😊
Long time ago, back in the early 1970s, as a young girl, I had a small wildflower patch that I called my flower garden. My Mama & Daddy, mowed over my beautiful flowers, telling me that all they were was weeds. I never forgot that small plant with the pretty little yellow flowers. Now, I know that was Wood Sorrell. ❤
Thats so sad! I hate how any plant on a lawn that isn't monotone grass is somehow a 'weed'...lawns are also pretty bad for the environment and strips away plant biodiversity too! If/when i get a house im not going to bother maintaining a 'lawn'...wild plant/flower patches seem way more appealing to me both appearance and maintenance wise.... The only "garden maintenance" i will be doing is for any shrubs or vegetables/plants i might want to grow! 😂
@Chris47368 I'll keep a strip of grass 4 ft wide X 10 ft long, for my little dog to do her business on, but the rest will have to be regulated to garden space, with short fencing around it...to keep my little dog out of it. I'll have to put winding pathways throughout my garden.
Finally someone refers to it as “sour grass”. I think you’re the first person I’ve seen use that term. That’s what my grandfather called it when he taught me about it in Alabama. We ate quite a lot as children, and my favorite are the “tiny okra” seed pods.
This was the first green I ''foraged'' in childhood...such a refreshing treat on hot summer days. My nibbling was brought on by curiosity as I noticed the resemblance to clover and wanted to know how it was different...flowers, color, scent, ...taste as the obvious next step. It may be a wonder that we live to grow up but I don't seem to have killed my self yet at 74.
Wood sorrel! One of my favorites! I've been eating it since I was 3 so more than 50 years. I also taught all 4 of my kids and both my grands. I didn't know it came in purple or pink. Thank you for that.
Thank you so much for combating the misinformation surrounding oxalic acid. As usual, the fear response is NOT proportional to risk and is rather proportional to people's irrational fear of foraged food.
In Poland, we have a traditional spring /summer dish - soup from wild field sorrel. We serve it with hard-boiled eggs. I'm not sure is it true, but egg is supposed to neutralise oxalates. I've eaten this soup hundreds of times and I love it.
@@wmluna381 It's called "szczawiowa zupa" literally "sorrel soup". There is a good recipe on polishfoodies site. It's close to the most common / traditional version. You can use any broth base you wish if pork doesn't suit your taste or diet. Even vegetable one is a great choice.
I love making Iced white clover and wood sorrel tea. Soooooo refreshing on these 90 degree days. 1 cup of white clover tops 1/2 - 1 cup wood sorrel Add to 1 quart mason jar. Add boiling water and fill jar. Cap and let cool. Leave the jar in the refrigerator overnight. Work in the yard. Come in abd strain your cold tea into a glass and love it! ❤
That is the first wild plant that my Grandfather taught me in 1961 and it is usually the first one that I will show someone else. I'm still eating it mostly because of its abundance and flavor.
I didn't know this was a thing. As a small child I would eat these when no one was looking, or as a gag if others were around(well pretending it was a gag anyway since that was less embarrassing than just admitting to enjoying eating random plants) I clicked on this video excited to see a new thing only to be hit with the nostalgia of one of my guilty pleasures growing up that I had completely forgotten about. Recovering lost memories is always interesting.
@@TaLeng2023 I did! They're much larger than most of the ones I see in the wild. I don't think I've bred the most sour and sweet flavor though. Mine taste somewhat milder. Maybe I'll integrate some more flavorful ones back in!
This channel had such a small subscriber count not very long ago, glad to see it taking off so quick 🚀 People like quality content, this stuff is undeniable, well done! 👏
I learned about this plant when I was a young kid, over 60 years ago. I learned it from old timers, all my friends and myself would grab a bunch while out playing to eat. I still do so as well as having showed my children when they were young and now my grandchildren. It has always amazed people how flavorful they are when I show people. Glad to see this video and it's detail explaining the safety in eating it. Another great video, thanks.
Man I’ve been looking for this plant for over a decade. We would forge for it in Mexico but I was 4 so I couldn’t remember what it looked like or its name but I could remember how good it was
When I was in elementary school at recess someone showed me "the clovers with the yellow flowers are tasty". We went around and looked for them and ate a few and then when I was older I was confused to see clovers with ball-like white flowers. Now I get it lol
I put sourgrass into some fish soup for a sour component this week and it worked great! Sadly ive only been snacking on them and could have been putting them in my dished
oh, i love woodsorrel. i have encouraged them in my orchard and enjoy them often. their flowers are so beautiful also. it is one of the most happy plants around 🙂 i also cook with it. gives a nice tangy taste to my stew.
I was literally just in the yard a week or two ago going ‘huh, that’s a funny looking clover’. XD. It was totally these leaves! I’ll have to see if I can find where that was at.
I avoid oxialates to whatever extent possible. I used to love baby spinach in my salads, using little or no other greens. However, three rounds of kidney stones surgeries later I finally learned my lesson. I've been stone free for over ten years since I dropped baby spinach salads.
I taught my boys about wood sorrel this spring, my 14 year old loves how tart it is I am gonna show him this and we will make the tea together and try it. Thanks!
10:38 Lol. Me too. And shepards purse. But i was a little kid in nebraska. Didnt know not to eat them. Tried a green ground cherry on a dare but spit it out (toxic when unripe) Had my first psychadelic experience eating a handfull of unripened mullberries... again on a dare...
I guess the good side of the fear-mongering over the oxalic acid, the morel mushrooms, etc is that the less # ppl eating these items, the more there is for the rest of us! Yay!
Good for you. My mother's constantly feeding us this baloney was probably part of why I had so much anemia even before puberty. And then she constantly made me feel bad for having health issues she caused in me. I hope you only gorge yourself on these and don't abuse your kids with malnutrition. Edit: and yes, this was more common than similar high oxalic stuff for my childhood than stuff like spinach, rhubarb, and even parsley.
@@ReapingTheHarvest She deserves it, so that's fine (literal abuse, physical, mental, medical neglect, etc). Homeopathy and DIY herbal treatments are not a valid replacement for professional medical attention, and in my country medical costs had zero to do with it because it was free for kids. She even got pissed off at me if making me drink herbal tea or similar didn't rapidly cure me from being sick, as if I was intentionally being sick despite me fearing being at home and loving being at kindergarten and later school.
I was just thinking that we used to nibble on something similar looking when I was a kid, but we were told it was called sheep showers, or at least that's what it sounded like.
I ate this a lot growing up hiking and I did get bad calcium oxalate kidney stones in my 30s requiring surgery.... Your mileage will vary of course, and I suspect dehydration played as big a role too. Not everyone is as susceptible but if you're prone to stones stay away or be careful to eat dairy with it.
I have very fond memories of eating these whenever I visited my grandma's rural property as a kid. There'd always be plenty, and we'd gather them on the way to the pond where we'd sit for hours watching the tadpoles, looking for their frog parents and eating these. I wholeheartedly agree, everyone should try them at some point. They're delicious!
I ate these all the time as a kid. Didn't even know what the plant was, just know I loved the tart flavor. Moved a few years ago, and found some growing in my yard. Decided to look it up to see if it was something that was actually considered edible and was pleasantly surprised with what I found! Went out into the yard, and picked a few leaves to munch in celebration of my new knowledge.
I literally put the phone down and walked into the yard, picked a bunch, washed and chowed down. They are delicious. I had just one timidly once and I thought it was abrasive. Eating a mouthful makes for such a bright flavor! I know what you mean by “skittles” now.
I am so happy to know that sourgrass's proper name is Wood Sorrel. 50 years ago, I turned my whole elementary school class onto the joy of sourgrass. It grew under the fence of our playground, where the lawnmowers couldn't reach it. We called the seed pods "super sours." The teachers became a bit concerned about the number of youngsters wandering around eating 'grass.' As for the prior video which linked over to this one, I had no idea that the white clovers we used to make flower chains were also edible. At 61 years of age, I'm still learning.
New Zealander here! I found a good chunk of the purpurea variety of it growing in a large plant pot here and used that. Wouldn't say it was like lemonade per sé but it had a nice taste and the colour was really neat, like strained rhubarb maybe!
I loved foraging these as a kid, but for some reason I haven't been able to find any since then. I remember on a camp trip the tutor told us those plants would give you the runs, but I was confused because I consumed them in mass with no issues. Also, I recommend cooking wood sorrel, I used to put them on the outside of a fireplace to brown them and they tasted like sour apples!
This grew all over the place where I grew up in Kentucky. I've been munching on it since I was a kid. I was also surprised to find it growing wild here in Hawaii. I got to show it to a friend and explain what it was.
I grow it in my garden, along with dandelions, plantain, field sorel, thistles, comfry, and many more wild forage foods. They are not only delicious and nutritious for eating, but also aid the health of the soil. Domesticated plants are highly demanding, so blending wild plants into the garden is a great way to maintain soil health.
It's so cool to hear someone talking about this! My brother and I called them Sour Grass growing up and I loved to snack on it. Now I encourage it to grow in my lawn and garden. It's so tasty!
We have tones of the yellow ones around where I live and my grandma would always say "oh those are sour flowers eat as many as you like" and they were like candy for me as a kid we'd also suck on Purple Dead Nettle and Henbit flowers for their nectar and my sister liked Clover flowers we'd also collect wild Blackberries and Pawpaws with our dad(grandmas son) it's so awesome seeing you covering things I always knew were edible but in school they'd always say eating wild plants of any kind would make you sick or kill you thank you so very much for teaching people about foraging especially the local and easy to find plants most just think are weeds
The etymology lesson instantly made me crack up at the thought that the Asuras in Vedism are just sour and the devas are just dramatic. Thanks for that.
When I was about 6 or 7, a kid younger than me attempted to teach to eat this plant. I never trusted her. Now I know what most likely happened. Thanks! The diversity of plants we have in our lawn is really surprising. I need to make a herbarium!
Good Morning from the UK, I want to thank you for clearing up the mystery of wood sorrel and clover, I have many foraging books and have a little knowledge, but that was one thing that I was never quite clear on. As you have shown if you google you get pictures of both. Your video and explanation was perfect. Thanks :)
Check your title :) I think you meant to say 'this plant' Also you timed this nicely with Ze Frank he just had a video about exploding seeds and mentioned wood sorrel. Happy little accident.
I first tried this as a child, left to play feral in the yard the whole day. Was never told not to eat plants without checking if they were poisonous! Luckily I never tried anything harmful, but was delighted with this wonderfully sour treat! The pods were especially good. Love your content - thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!
This is one of my favorites, and i look forward to this plant coming up every year. I haven't tried to make a tea from it yet. I'll have to gather some soon to try it
Big patch of these in the yard before I had to move. Big juicy pink flowered ones. Ate so much as a kid. Called them juicies. Was fortunately able to take some with me.
In some of my travels and campouts and cross-country walks I would use the sour grass in the belly of my fish to give it that slight lemon flavor. It works really good you should try it
I remember as a young child nibbling on some and taking an instant liking to the plant. Not knowing if it was safe to eat or not, I would guiltily sneak a few nibbles off and on for a few years in my youth. It's nice to know now that I wasn't poisoning myself - lol.
One should also be aware that Wood Sorrel (Oxalis sp) contain a fair amount of Oxalates, which in excess can damage kidneys. But then too may regular foods contain varying amounts of Oxalates as well. But it is tasty, and is something you can use to settle an upset stomach many times too. Funny thing this year, Lamb's quarter and Plantain have been far more productive than the greens I planted, so they got dehydrated.. Thistle too, but I try tyo not let it get too large before pulling it out so I do not have large enough Thistle stalks for dehydrating, and the Thistle leaves jsut seem to be too much work.
I was introduced to sorrel 40 years ago and am apt to eat it as long as it's not growing right next to a much traveled road... Vehicular exhaust and other pollutants transferable via drive-by baptisms after a rain can make things unpalatable.
Been waiting for this video since you mentioned it in the clover video! Glad to see it's finally here! Awesome plant, awesome video, and i can't wait to try that drink
Thank you!!! There is so much bad info about this wonderful plant. I do get kidney stones so I'm mindful of my Oxalic acid intake and consume plenty of Magnesium and Calcium contemporaneously. There are high levels in MANY foods but I'll happily spend my budget on Wood Sorrel when available. BUT I'M IN THE MINORITY, most people should never have to think about it. Thanks again for encouraging people to go try this one, I agree that everyone should at least once but we know they'll be back for more.
I grew up nibbling on both sorrel and wood sorrel. The flavor is strong enough that I don't think many people would be able to eat a lot. Both sorrels are great in salads.
You can also use dandelion leaves for salad and they have a sweet taste! The flowers you can use for tea as well and has amazing health benefits as well! I love plants 😁
I love wood sorrel and learned about it a couple of years ago and my first taste of it was when I noticed some growing in an outside flower pot as an invasive weed at town hall. I do have them in my yard now so I will be making the tea probably tomorrow. Thanks for this information as I did not know about the tea. Also, I watched your video about black locus flowers a few weeks back. never knew about that. I looked up that they are in my state so I found some trees and the flowers are yummy! big thanks for that info also.❤
Love the video and can’t wait to give it a try! This isn’t a criticism but I felt like in the into you should have included preservatives when listing the bad ingredients in ultra processed foods like skittles.
We always called this sourgrass or billy goat grass growing up. Me and my sister also thought the little pods looked a lot like okra, so we started called them "tiny okra."
Oxalates are only one compound that can form kidney stones. The formation of stones occurs due to supersaturation, or the increase and subsequent decrease of the saturation point. As temperatures increase, more and more of a compound can dissolve in a solvent, like certain minerals in the water in your kidneys. But when they decrease, those compounds are forced out of solution by means of crystallization. The answer? Meter your intake, and drink lots of water. You would have to eat an inordinate amount of oxalate-containing foods while relatively dehydrated to be in danger of kidney stones. Oxalate kidney stones are the most common because it's the most prevalent compound in foods we eat a lot of, like potatoes. But you're never going to eat enough wood sorrel to come even remotely close to that point, unless you're spending an entire day foraging like mad and consuming your entire bounty at once while drinking no water.
My grandma showed me this stuff when i was a kid. She called it sheep-sour though. I used to eat it all the time when i was playing in the yard, just because of the sour taste.
Wood sorrel is one of those plants that I refuse to pull out of the garden (whenever I can avoid it) because it's good for the soil (and the fairies like it). I had no idea it was edible.
I definitely have some of these in my garden. It's been confusing me for years why my garden smells like fresh salad after I trim it back. I though they were the poisonous ones but the leaf definitely looks like the edible one. Still inedible for me as I don't know if they've been pissed on by a cat.
On the way to some relatives in the sandy country when I was little, we would stop for sourgrass to chew on -- on a long and hot drive to the country. It is true. It is quite tasty.
As kids in the 70s, we used to flick the seed pods to watch the seeds fly out. Didn’t know it was edible until watching Les Stroud’s Survivorman episodes.
I like to use wood sores in combination with lemon grass. I let all the wood sorrel I can grow in my garden because it’s edible and it doesn’t root deeply so it provides ground cover without competing and pulls up easily.
Who is going to forage for wood sorrel now? 🙋♂ Seriously, try out that wood sorrel tea. It tastes amazing!
when I was homeless for the first time in Asheville North Carolina, 2005-2009, not able to work due to mental, emotional problems (for which I now receive a disability check which is what got me off the streets), I use the knowledge I had of wood sorrel and dandelion. I was drinking from a creek that emptied into the French Broad River, play some miracle I never got sick. before I became homeless I learned that combining dandelions and sorrel tastes like green plums. the dandelions are slightly bitter and the sorrel sourness offsets them wonderfully. so I was eating a lot of that along with a few other wild edibles I found. I survived for 2 weeks straight eating off the land and drinking creek and rainwater I gathered. now I'm in an apartment in Alabama. I've got a huge patch of pink sorrel to the right of my door surrounded by other flowers I bought. I'm growing italian dandelions, stinging nettles, bunching onions, tomatoes, eggplant, purslane, russian red kale, and jerusalem artichokes around my place in pots and raised beds I made. trying to grow extra food for the economic collapse coming, honing my green thumb. 99% finished compost pile in the woods, making my own free fertilizer. life is pretty good now...except for my literally clinically insane, irritatingly elderly and criminal neighbors. sometimes they make me feel like I want to be homeless again lol. but I'm positive the catastrophic economic collapse just around the corner will rid me of them soon! 😉
So glad to learn I can make bit into tea! I have returned to replay how you made the fresh tea. Thanks!
@@oculartremorssourgrass is ridiculously easy to identify.
I just ate some at my daughters house n I grew up eating sour grass. LOVE it!!!
I'm not sure what world you live in, but there's absolutely no comparison. Wood sorrel is nice and if you get it with the pods on it it's like pop rocks in your mouth, but Skittles I mean come on man.
The violet wood Sorrel is so common here in Taiwan, since I was a kid I have been eating them and convincing my friends to eat them as well. I will be trying the yellow ones this summer in America. Thank you for this amazing video!
Purple Oxalis (purple leaves) is my favorite plant. It goes to sleep at night, closing its leaves and then opens them hours later as it wakes up with the sunrise. 💜☘️
I have a giant Purple Oxalis. It was on clearance at the grocery store floral department after St. Patrick's Day. It's beautiful and it's finally getting more leaves, albeit slowly.
@@CricketsBay the flowers on mine are a light lavender color. So pretty. I'm glad you got one; they're much larger than the wood sorrel.
I grow Oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and it does the same.
My stepmother has some growing and I love to joke about how I can eat them all away lol
@@EnergeticSloths4 OHMYGOSHNESS!! You remind me of when I brought my personal plants into a local bakery/cafe where I worked on the Big Island. I took great care of all of my plants and because the purple oxalis were edible, we had two of them on a long "family table" (I mean, come on, they look like dancing butterflies and a baby might grab one and put it in their mouth and we knew they were edible and safe on the table). But after a few weeks had passed I noticed they were looking sparse and saw their stems were broken off in several places. I couldn't figure it out and kept looking for a hidden slug or an insect culprit, but come to find out...some young woman had been eating them! She had the audacity to approach the barista who was on shift one day and asked her, "Can you wash these off for me"? The barista told her that the "plant lady" was very upset with her and asked her to not please come back. The mystery was solved! A pest had indeed been grazing on my lovely, huge, purple oxalis...but it was not an insect 😆
I've made some 'lemon bars' with wood sorrel leaves and buds. I ground them to a paste in a mortar and pestle and then replaced about half the lemon juice in the recipe with the pulp. they don't look very pretty, but they taste great!
I wonder if there's a way to make use of wood sorrel that is more appetizing.
@@acbeaumo Probably just find a way to normalize the look of wood sorrel in food? I think it looks good
I agree, flecks of herbs and flowers look delicious to me😊 I made a salsa last night but was out of cilantro. I subbed spicy nasturtium flowers and young leaves, chopped fine. Mmmm😊
Long time ago, back in the early 1970s, as a young girl, I had a small wildflower patch that I called my flower garden.
My Mama & Daddy, mowed over my beautiful flowers, telling me that all they were was weeds. I never forgot that small plant with the pretty little yellow flowers.
Now, I know that was Wood Sorrell. ❤
Thats so sad! I hate how any plant on a lawn that isn't monotone grass is somehow a 'weed'...lawns are also pretty bad for the environment and strips away plant biodiversity too!
If/when i get a house im not going to bother maintaining a 'lawn'...wild plant/flower patches seem way more appealing to me both appearance and maintenance wise....
The only "garden maintenance" i will be doing is for any shrubs or vegetables/plants i might want to grow! 😂
@Chris47368 I'll keep a strip of grass 4 ft wide X 10 ft long, for my little dog to do her business on, but the rest will have to be regulated to garden space, with short fencing around it...to keep my little dog out of it.
I'll have to put winding pathways throughout my garden.
@@marybillups4822 Fair enough! And sounds a good layout!
I think the winding pathways are a great idea! 👍
@@Chris47368💚🍀🌱
Finally someone refers to it as “sour grass”. I think you’re the first person I’ve seen use that term. That’s what my grandfather called it when he taught me about it in Alabama. We ate quite a lot as children, and my favorite are the “tiny okra” seed pods.
I grew up in Minnesota, calling it sour grass
We call Wood sorrel "sour clover" here in Wisco. Taught to eat it in the 1970s.
This was the first green I ''foraged'' in childhood...such a refreshing treat on hot summer days. My nibbling was brought on by curiosity as I noticed the resemblance to clover and wanted to know how it was different...flowers, color, scent, ...taste as the obvious next step. It may be a wonder that we live to grow up but I don't seem to have killed my self yet at 74.
Wood sorrel! One of my favorites! I've been eating it since I was 3 so more than 50 years. I also taught all 4 of my kids and both my grands.
I didn't know it came in purple or pink. Thank you for that.
White too.
@DraftingandCrafting oooh! I'll have to watch for that one too
All I've ever had were the purple ones.
lol, but did you ever teach them the sour dance?, big wad of the yellow flower ones just the stems folded up, lol
Thank you so much for combating the misinformation surrounding oxalic acid. As usual, the fear response is NOT proportional to risk and is rather proportional to people's irrational fear of foraged food.
In Poland, we have a traditional spring /summer dish - soup from wild field sorrel. We serve it with hard-boiled eggs. I'm not sure is it true, but egg is supposed to neutralise oxalates. I've eaten this soup hundreds of times and I love it.
What is the name of the soup?
@@wmluna381 It's called "szczawiowa zupa" literally "sorrel soup". There is a good recipe on polishfoodies site. It's close to the most common / traditional version.
You can use any broth base you wish if pork doesn't suit your taste or diet. Even vegetable one is a great choice.
O jakiej roslinie mowisz? Szczaw?
I love making Iced white clover and wood sorrel tea. Soooooo refreshing on these 90 degree days.
1 cup of white clover tops
1/2 - 1 cup wood sorrel
Add to 1 quart mason jar.
Add boiling water and fill jar.
Cap and let cool. Leave the jar in the refrigerator overnight.
Work in the yard. Come in abd strain your cold tea into a glass and love it! ❤
My parents showed me wood sorrel when I was a child, and since then I've been unable to resist picking a few whenever I see them. They're so tasty!
That is the first wild plant that my Grandfather taught me in 1961 and it is usually the first one that I will show someone else. I'm still eating it mostly because of its abundance and flavor.
I didn't know this was a thing. As a small child I would eat these when no one was looking, or as a gag if others were around(well pretending it was a gag anyway since that was less embarrassing than just admitting to enjoying eating random plants) I clicked on this video excited to see a new thing only to be hit with the nostalgia of one of my guilty pleasures growing up that I had completely forgotten about. Recovering lost memories is always interesting.
SAME I did this is camp and I got called a cow for the rest of the week
I've been cultivating wood sorrel that I domesticated for about 6 years and it is one of my favorite herbs!!!
How do you use it besides snacking?
@@averykempf9164 in a spice mix for sauteed meats; though I add it on right at the end so I don't burn it!
@@samrappl9011Thank you!
How do you mean domesticated? Did you start breeding them?
@@TaLeng2023 I did! They're much larger than most of the ones I see in the wild. I don't think I've bred the most sour and sweet flavor though. Mine taste somewhat milder. Maybe I'll integrate some more flavorful ones back in!
We used to eat this as children. We called it pickle grass
Yes! Pickle grass was everywhere in my neighborhood (West Riverside in Jacksonville) when I grew up in the early 80s.
@@ThisGuy76 early 80s south west Missouri for me
We called it Pickel weed.
@danaclear5630 we did too!
This channel had such a small subscriber count not very long ago, glad to see it taking off so quick 🚀
People like quality content, this stuff is undeniable, well done! 👏
I learned about this plant when I was a young kid, over 60 years ago. I learned it from old timers, all my friends and myself would grab a bunch while out playing to eat. I still do so as well as having showed my children when they were young and now my grandchildren. It has always amazed people how flavorful they are when I show people. Glad to see this video and it's detail explaining the safety in eating it. Another great video, thanks.
Man I’ve been looking for this plant for over a decade. We would forge for it in Mexico but I was 4 so I couldn’t remember what it looked like or its name but I could remember how good it was
All over my yard and my chickens love it. Ive always compared to shamrocks. ☘️
When I was in elementary school at recess someone showed me "the clovers with the yellow flowers are tasty". We went around and looked for them and ate a few and then when I was older I was confused to see clovers with ball-like white flowers. Now I get it lol
I put sourgrass into some fish soup for a sour component this week and it worked great! Sadly ive only been snacking on them and could have been putting them in my dished
oh, i love woodsorrel. i have encouraged them in my orchard and enjoy them often. their flowers are so beautiful also. it is one of the most happy plants around 🙂 i also cook with it. gives a nice tangy taste to my stew.
I was literally just in the yard a week or two ago going ‘huh, that’s a funny looking clover’. XD. It was totally these leaves! I’ll have to see if I can find where that was at.
I avoid oxialates to whatever extent possible. I used to love baby spinach in my salads, using little or no other greens. However, three rounds of kidney stones surgeries later I finally learned my lesson. I've been stone free for over ten years since I dropped baby spinach salads.
We called it sour grass n chew on it regularly since I was a child.
I used to eat them as a kid. We called them pickle flowers.
They're delicious, and the kids love snacking on them. The violet ones are great as well (we usually only see them in the forest).
Loved this. I do indeed have a bunch of this stuff in my yard. Calling it "nature's skittles" makes sense. 🤔😉🤣
I taught my boys about wood sorrel this spring, my 14 year old loves how tart it is I am gonna show him this and we will make the tea together and try it. Thanks!
I grow woodsorrel in my flowerbed and at it often.
*eat* it often
Oh my goodness!!! I was just telling my bf the other day about eating this as a kid, but I couldn't remember the name of it. Thanks!
Is it really as nice tasting as he says in the video?
Same here! We would eat it in Mexico but I couldn’t remember anything but the flavor
@GazB85 It absolutely is, it's sour but in a really nice way
Oh! Those weeds that the seed pods explode when touched! Now I have a reason to harvest them; thank you Jesse.
10:38 Lol. Me too. And shepards purse. But i was a little kid in nebraska. Didnt know not to eat them.
Tried a green ground cherry on a dare but spit it out (toxic when unripe)
Had my first psychadelic experience eating a handfull of unripened mullberries... again on a dare...
I think the best name is lemon clover!
That's what I called as a kid
Oxalic acid looks like a balloon dog
😂 right?!
I love this... 😂
Reading this comment before seeing the molecule was very confusing. It very much does 😂
Has the LD50 for balloon dogs been established?
I read this as the graphic came up and it was perfect 😂
I guess the good side of the fear-mongering over the oxalic acid, the morel mushrooms, etc is that the less # ppl eating these items, the more there is for the rest of us! Yay!
Good for you. My mother's constantly feeding us this baloney was probably part of why I had so much anemia even before puberty. And then she constantly made me feel bad for having health issues she caused in me. I hope you only gorge yourself on these and don't abuse your kids with malnutrition.
Edit: and yes, this was more common than similar high oxalic stuff for my childhood than stuff like spinach, rhubarb, and even parsley.
@@Call-me-Al You're just assuming and blaming your mom. Not cool.
@@ReapingTheHarvest She deserves it, so that's fine (literal abuse, physical, mental, medical neglect, etc). Homeopathy and DIY herbal treatments are not a valid replacement for professional medical attention, and in my country medical costs had zero to do with it because it was free for kids. She even got pissed off at me if making me drink herbal tea or similar didn't rapidly cure me from being sick, as if I was intentionally being sick despite me fearing being at home and loving being at kindergarten and later school.
@@ReapingTheHarvestMHMH!! YOU ARE BUGS, LET YOUR KIDS ROT ITS YOUR FAULT, FEED THE KID THE VITAMINS AND **COOKED** SPINACH
@@Call-me-Al... Wow. You sound like you are a very miserable human. I wish better for you.
When I was a kid, my aunts called them sheep sorrel. I was confused when I saw sheep sorrel in a book and it was completely different.
I was just thinking that we used to nibble on something similar looking when I was a kid, but we were told it was called sheep showers, or at least that's what it sounded like.
Common Yellow Wood Sorrel (Oxalis stricta) and Common Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella) are totally different edible plants with similar taste.
I ate this a lot growing up hiking and I did get bad calcium oxalate kidney stones in my 30s requiring surgery.... Your mileage will vary of course, and I suspect dehydration played as big a role too. Not everyone is as susceptible but if you're prone to stones stay away or be careful to eat dairy with it.
I have very fond memories of eating these whenever I visited my grandma's rural property as a kid. There'd always be plenty, and we'd gather them on the way to the pond where we'd sit for hours watching the tadpoles, looking for their frog parents and eating these. I wholeheartedly agree, everyone should try them at some point. They're delicious!
I ate these all the time as a kid. Didn't even know what the plant was, just know I loved the tart flavor. Moved a few years ago, and found some growing in my yard. Decided to look it up to see if it was something that was actually considered edible and was pleasantly surprised with what I found! Went out into the yard, and picked a few leaves to munch in celebration of my new knowledge.
Dad showed us that when we were kids. Nice lemon flavor
I literally put the phone down and walked into the yard, picked a bunch, washed and chowed down. They are delicious. I had just one timidly once and I thought it was abrasive. Eating a mouthful makes for such a bright flavor! I know what you mean by “skittles” now.
I am so happy to know that sourgrass's proper name is Wood Sorrel. 50 years ago, I turned my whole elementary school class onto the joy of sourgrass. It grew under the fence of our playground, where the lawnmowers couldn't reach it. We called the seed pods "super sours." The teachers became a bit concerned about the number of youngsters wandering around eating 'grass.'
As for the prior video which linked over to this one, I had no idea that the white clovers we used to make flower chains were also edible. At 61 years of age, I'm still learning.
We called it Chaw Chaw Grass… loved it as kids😂
Oh man, this was taught to me as the "edible clover" as a kid. I remember being blown away tasting it!
One of my favs! I thought of Trix or Fruit Loops 3 years ago when I started my journey.
I found a lot of this today around my garden and was so surprised how good is tasted!!
We make sorrel tea all the time here in the Caribbean. It's super popular among the Rastas like my stepdad.
New Zealander here! I found a good chunk of the purpurea variety of it growing in a large plant pot here and used that. Wouldn't say it was like lemonade per sé but it had a nice taste and the colour was really neat, like strained rhubarb maybe!
If you liked it, you'd probably also like roselle (another plant that is also called sorrel sometimes). It makes a red tea.
@@TaLeng2023 That's the hibiscus plant right?
I loved foraging these as a kid, but for some reason I haven't been able to find any since then. I remember on a camp trip the tutor told us those plants would give you the runs, but I was confused because I consumed them in mass with no issues. Also, I recommend cooking wood sorrel, I used to put them on the outside of a fireplace to brown them and they tasted like sour apples!
This is great news! I want foraging to be a treat, and not just a survival thing, nutritional, or a budget thing. Thanks.
This grew all over the place where I grew up in Kentucky. I've been munching on it since I was a kid. I was also surprised to find it growing wild here in Hawaii. I got to show it to a friend and explain what it was.
Yes, my grandfather taught me edibles in the woods and grass....sour grass is what we called it....great!
I grow it in my garden, along with dandelions, plantain, field sorel, thistles, comfry, and many more wild forage foods. They are not only delicious and nutritious for eating, but also aid the health of the soil. Domesticated plants are highly demanding, so blending wild plants into the garden is a great way to maintain soil health.
I have been eating this plant and many others with no bad problems. Hell, no problems at all. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me.😊
It's so cool to hear someone talking about this! My brother and I called them Sour Grass growing up and I loved to snack on it. Now I encourage it to grow in my lawn and garden. It's so tasty!
We have tones of the yellow ones around where I live and my grandma would always say "oh those are sour flowers eat as many as you like" and they were like candy for me as a kid we'd also suck on Purple Dead Nettle and Henbit flowers for their nectar and my sister liked Clover flowers we'd also collect wild Blackberries and Pawpaws with our dad(grandmas son) it's so awesome seeing you covering things I always knew were edible but in school they'd always say eating wild plants of any kind would make you sick or kill you thank you so very much for teaching people about foraging especially the local and easy to find plants most just think are weeds
You know what? I do need to eat plant.
The etymology lesson instantly made me crack up at the thought that the Asuras in Vedism are just sour and the devas are just dramatic. Thanks for that.
When I was about 6 or 7, a kid younger than me attempted to teach to eat this plant. I never trusted her. Now I know what most likely happened. Thanks!
The diversity of plants we have in our lawn is really surprising. I need to make a herbarium!
I use wood sorrel by drying it out for on my fish seasoning. And in my salads.
Good Morning from the UK, I want to thank you for clearing up the mystery of wood sorrel and clover, I have many foraging books and have a little knowledge, but that was one thing that I was never quite clear on. As you have shown if you google you get pictures of both. Your video and explanation was perfect. Thanks :)
We loved these as kids! We called them sweethearts and felt very cool for "foraging" ❤
I remember making salads of these, dandelion leaves and wild strawberries with my mom as a kid.
Check your title :) I think you meant to say 'this plant'
Also you timed this nicely with Ze Frank he just had a video about exploding seeds and mentioned wood sorrel. Happy little accident.
You know what's funny, all those comments about plant and I still didn't notice until you said that! 😂
Born in 55. Siblings and I ate this plant ALL the time. So much fun feeling your face scrunch up from the fun sour!
I first tried this as a child, left to play feral in the yard the whole day. Was never told not to eat plants without checking if they were poisonous! Luckily I never tried anything harmful, but was delighted with this wonderfully sour treat! The pods were especially good.
Love your content - thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!
This is one of my favorites, and i look forward to this plant coming up every year. I haven't tried to make a tea from it yet. I'll have to gather some soon to try it
Big patch of these in the yard before I had to move. Big juicy pink flowered ones. Ate so much as a kid. Called them juicies. Was fortunately able to take some with me.
grew up eating "sour flowers", Grandma taught us to identify and eat them, and we sought them out as a tart, refreshing treat.
In some of my travels and campouts and cross-country walks I would use the sour grass in the belly of my fish to give it that slight lemon flavor. It works really good you should try it
I remember as a young child nibbling on some and taking an instant liking to the plant. Not knowing if it was safe to eat or not, I would guiltily sneak a few nibbles off and on for a few years in my youth. It's nice to know now that I wasn't poisoning myself - lol.
One should also be aware that Wood Sorrel (Oxalis sp) contain a fair amount of Oxalates, which in excess can damage kidneys. But then too may regular foods contain varying amounts of Oxalates as well. But it is tasty, and is something you can use to settle an upset stomach many times too.
Funny thing this year, Lamb's quarter and Plantain have been far more productive than the greens I planted, so they got dehydrated.. Thistle too, but I try tyo not let it get too large before pulling it out so I do not have large enough Thistle stalks for dehydrating, and the Thistle leaves jsut seem to be too much work.
I was introduced to sorrel 40 years ago and am apt to eat it as long as it's not growing right next to a much traveled road... Vehicular exhaust and other pollutants transferable via drive-by baptisms after a rain can make things unpalatable.
Been waiting for this video since you mentioned it in the clover video! Glad to see it's finally here! Awesome plant, awesome video, and i can't wait to try that drink
My dad introduced me to the blue wood sorrel when I was about 6 or 7. It is a lot more sour than the yellow.
I ate these all the time growing up! Love it!
Thank you!!! There is so much bad info about this wonderful plant.
I do get kidney stones so I'm mindful of my Oxalic acid intake and consume plenty of Magnesium and Calcium contemporaneously. There are high levels in MANY foods but I'll happily spend my budget on Wood Sorrel when available.
BUT I'M IN THE MINORITY, most people should never have to think about it.
Thanks again for encouraging people to go try this one, I agree that everyone should at least once but we know they'll be back for more.
Grew up eating that plant. When it goes to seed, the pods look like little green bananas. Never got sick.
I grew up nibbling on both sorrel and wood sorrel. The flavor is strong enough that I don't think many people would be able to eat a lot. Both sorrels are great in salads.
You can also use dandelion leaves for salad and they have a sweet taste! The flowers you can use for tea as well and has amazing health benefits as well! I love plants 😁
Here, in Israel, we call it Hamtsitsim (commonly pronounced Hamtsutsim) and children commonly eat them all the time.
I love wood sorrel and learned about it a couple of years ago and my first taste of it was when I noticed some growing in an outside flower pot as an invasive weed at town hall. I do have them in my yard now so I will be making the tea probably tomorrow. Thanks for this information as I did not know about the tea.
Also, I watched your video about black locus flowers a few weeks back. never knew about that. I looked up that they are in my state so I found some trees and the flowers are yummy! big thanks for that info also.❤
I felt so accomplished as a forager, when I immediately recognized the wood sorrel he was holding. It does have a bright lemony taste.
Love the video and can’t wait to give it a try!
This isn’t a criticism but I felt like in the into you should have included preservatives when listing the bad ingredients in ultra processed foods like skittles.
We always called this sourgrass or billy goat grass growing up. Me and my sister also thought the little pods looked a lot like okra, so we started called them "tiny okra."
Oxalates are only one compound that can form kidney stones. The formation of stones occurs due to supersaturation, or the increase and subsequent decrease of the saturation point. As temperatures increase, more and more of a compound can dissolve in a solvent, like certain minerals in the water in your kidneys. But when they decrease, those compounds are forced out of solution by means of crystallization. The answer? Meter your intake, and drink lots of water. You would have to eat an inordinate amount of oxalate-containing foods while relatively dehydrated to be in danger of kidney stones. Oxalate kidney stones are the most common because it's the most prevalent compound in foods we eat a lot of, like potatoes. But you're never going to eat enough wood sorrel to come even remotely close to that point, unless you're spending an entire day foraging like mad and consuming your entire bounty at once while drinking no water.
My grandma showed me this stuff when i was a kid. She called it sheep-sour though. I used to eat it all the time when i was playing in the yard, just because of the sour taste.
oxalis crassipes (pink wood sorrel) is one I've seen for sale, a nice addition to your shade garden.
My chickens love the stuff. If I don't have any greens for them, I go through the garden and pick a bunch. I never thought of eating it myself.
Wood sorrel is one of those plants that I refuse to pull out of the garden (whenever I can avoid it) because it's good for the soil (and the fairies like it). I had no idea it was edible.
So happy to see plants I recognize 😊 thanks very much
Grape vine leaves are pretty heart like, too.
Thanks.
I grew up eating Wood Sorrel as a kid (still do), and I have shown my young ones how to recognize them as well.
I definitely have some of these in my garden. It's been confusing me for years why my garden smells like fresh salad after I trim it back. I though they were the poisonous ones but the leaf definitely looks like the edible one. Still inedible for me as I don't know if they've been pissed on by a cat.
I love these they taste so good. I chew them all the time in my yard and they’re so sour and they’re so tasty.
On the way to some relatives in the sandy country when I was little, we would stop for sourgrass to chew on -- on a long and hot drive to the country. It is true. It is quite tasty.
As kids in the 70s, we used to flick the seed pods to watch the seeds fly out. Didn’t know it was edible until watching Les Stroud’s Survivorman episodes.
I like to use wood sores in combination with lemon grass. I let all the wood sorrel I can grow in my garden because it’s edible and it doesn’t root deeply so it provides ground cover without competing and pulls up easily.