Small, clover-shaped plant with three heart-shaped leaflets. Bright, lemon-sour flavor from malic and oxalic acid. Edible leaves, stems, flowers, and seed pods. Per 100g: 100mg+ vitamin C (extraordinary for a small green herb — comparable to citrus), beta-carotene, oxalic acid, malic acid, and flavonoids including vitexin. Grows prolifically as a 'weed' in lawns and gardens — available free through foraging year-round in warmer climates.
Available free through foraging everywhere it grows — lawns, gardens, parks, roadsides. No purchase required. Foraging knowledge transfers directly to a free wild food source.
Wood sorrel's vitamin C density exceeds most cultivated vegetables: approximately 100-170mg vitamin C per 100g fresh leaves — comparable to orange juice (50mg/100ml) or kiwi (93mg/100g). For communities with limited access to fresh produce, the fact that wood sorrel grows as a common lawn weed offers a zero-cost, perennial vitamin C source available through simple foraging knowledge. The sour acids (oxalic + malic acid) stimulate salivary amylase, gastric acid secretion, and bile production — acting as digestive stimulants that improve the absorption of the meal consumed alongside them (explaining the traditional use of sour wild herbs as condiments and garnishes in foraging cultures worldwide). The traditional Black Southern use of 'sour grass' as a children's trailside snack — the lemon-flavored clover chewed in the field — encodes significant vitamin C delivery knowledge.
CAUTION with amounts: small quantities (as a salad green, garnish, or snack) are safe and provide vitamin C. LARGE quantities daily are not recommended due to oxalic acid — which binds calcium and may contribute to kidney stone formation in susceptible individuals and at very high doses. Culinary use: as a garnish on salads, soups, and seafood dishes (the lemon-sour flavor brightens any dish). In compound butters. In sauces where lemon flavor is desired. Raw is fine in small amounts. Young leaves are mildest. Available as a cultivated salad green ('garden sorrel' is a larger cultivated relative — use at larger amounts).
Free, no account needed to ask.