After posting yesterday's article one of our Trinidadian readers asked about sorrel…and gave me my research project for the day.
Sorrel is popular in many other places, too, including: Nigeria, Romania, Russia, Hungary, Belgium, and Greece…so hopefully this will put some on more than a few island plates!
Because sorrel is so popular in the Caribbean, it's been studied by the Scientific Research Council of Jamaica and they've found out some interesting things:
-The leaves are high in flavonoids, which means there are antioxidants there! (It's those flavonoids that give sorrel those beautiful red veins you see in the photo.)
-There is some thought that sorrel leaves may have some potent cancer-fighting ability.
-Sorrel tea, popular in many cultures, may help to reduce triglycerides.
I've never even seen it in a store or farmer's market in my part of the world so I've never had an opportunity to experiment with it. Apparently the leaves taste a little bit like strawberry or kiwi fruit. I may have to schedule a reseach trip for this one! In the recipes I've found it's a green that is available primarily in the spring, so I'm a little late in that respect. But I wanted to answer the question while it was being discussed.
Here's a recipe from the Two Small Farms blog that uses a popular favorite, pesto, as a place to include sorrel. Enjoy!
Sorrel Pesto: great as an interesting pasta coating or a thick sauce for fish.
2 cups coarsely chopped fresh sorrel, ribs removed
1/3 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil
In a food processor or blender puree the sorrel, the parsley, the garlic, the parmesan, the pine nuts and the oil, transfer the pesto to a jar with a tight fitting lid and chill it, covered. The pesto keeps, covered and chilled, for 2 weeks. Makes about 1 cup.
To use the pesto: For every pound of dried pasta cooking in a kettle of boiling water, stir together in a heated serving bowl 3/4 cup of the pesto and 2/3 cup of the hot cooking water. When the pasta is al dente, drain it in a colander, add it to the pesto mixture, and toss the mixture until the pasta is coated well. Vermicelli works very well with this recipe.