Happy Memorial Day to all you intrepid gardeners out there, welcome back to another installment of the Forage Foods series on Lost In The Farmer’s Market. As you might already know the current Geo-Political situation coupled with inflation and supply shortages has prompted a series on foods you can forage for just in case things go sideways. Even if they don’t, forage foods may have added nutritional benefits and may also have medicinal benefits that can help you out.
In terms of nearly-invasive weeds at least all of Yellow Woodsorrel is completely edible. 
They say that not all that glitters if gold...I say not all that has a clover leaf is a clover.
Common Name: Common Yellow Woodsorrel
Other Common Names: Lemon Clover, Upright Yellow-Sorrel, Common Yellow Oxalis
Botanical Family: Oxalidaceae (The X/X Family)
Botanical Latin Name: Oxalis stricta
Season to Harvest: Yellow Woodsorrel can be harvested in the mid to late spring and during summer where possible.
Habitat: Yellow Oxalis can be found in gardens and sites with disturbed soil or where topsoil has been dumped. In the test gardens I find these plants in large planters because the seed pods have a ‘exploding’ mechanism that flings seeds quite a distance. It has to be said that Yellow Wood Sorrel is not actually related to the actual Sorrel Family (Polygonaceae).
Parts to Harvest: All parts of the plant with exception to the root are edible so leaves, seed pods, flowers and stems are all viable.
Poisonous Lookalikes: Yellow Woodsorrel looks like a lot of members of the clover family due to its leaves, verify identification before consumption.
Related Edible Species: Creeping Woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata) and, Florida Yellow Woodsorrel (Oxalis florida).
Description: Yellow wood sorrel is a upright herbaceous perennial with hairy stems. The leaves are alternate and are divided into three partly folded, deeply cut heart shaped lobes resembling a clover. The flowers are a bright cheery yellow coloration and have five petals while seed pods resemble miniature okra pods and may be up to an inch long.
How to Harvest: Individual leaves, flowers and seed pods can simply be picked off the plant as needed.
Recipe: Given that all parts of a Yellow Woodsorrel are edible and bear a distinct tangy flavor thanks to the Oxalic acid content it should still only be eaten in small quantities. This is because Oxalic acid is an anti-nutrient that interferes with your body’s ability to absorb and use calcium. However the leaves and flowers of Yellow Woodsorrel can be added to salads, or eaten raw as a thirst quencher. The seed pods are edible raw and have a juicy-crisp flavor that some liken to true Green Sorrel or Rhubarb.
The leaves can be used to make a refreshing drink and here is how.
1. 1.Gather a handful of Yellow Woodsorrel leaves (about 1/4 cup)
2. 2. Steep the leaves in 4 cups of hot water for about ten minutes.
3. 3. Sweeten the concoction if needed and then chill.
4. The resulting beverage will help with hangovers, calm nausea and soothe an upset stomach, but it is also refreshing. Do not drink this too often or if you have kidney problems.
I do need to mention you can drink it as a warm herbal tea too so you do not need to cool it. Many sources liken the scent of the herbal tea version of this beverage as similar to green beans. There are also ways to extract the juices of this plant so they can be used in place of traditional vinegar. The one major survival benefit of this herb is that it contains a LOT of vitamin C which can prevent a host of health issues; the catch is that blocking of calcium absorption. As a final note for this post, an orange dye can be extracted from boiling the whole plant, so that gives us two confirmed dye plants Pokeweed for purple and Yellow Wood Sorrel for orange.
With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.
For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.
Garden Stuff: ($3.00)
Tomato – Sungold
Tomato – Chocolate Cherry
Tomato – Glacier
Tomato – Mountain Pride
Tomato – Paul Robeson (Almost out!)
Tomato – Purple Cherokee
Tomato – Black Krim
Peppers – Carolina Reaper (limited item)
Peppers – Trinidad Scorpion (limited item)
Peppers – Ghost
Peppers – Cayenne
Peppers – Anaheim
Peppers – Bell
Okra – Red Burgundy
Okra – Jing Orange
Basil – Rutgers DMR Devotion
Sage – White (VERY limited Item, $9.00)
Marigolds – Strawberry Blonde
Amaranth – Early Splendor
Cock’s Comb – Scarlet
Castor Bean – Zanzibar
Roselle
Marshmallow
Wonderberry
Coming Soon:
More TBA!
How to stay in Contact with Us!
Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.
Also please take a gander at the Youtube version of this blog:
The Videos: Look Here
>Newest videos (1): White Sage
Meetings still going on! We now meet at LeClairs General Store on the First and Third Thursday of every month. Our next meeting is on April 21st between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.
