Sheep's Sorrel Tea
"Probably the most significant aspect of this beverage is that it's not made from the Sheep's Sorrel Plant -- this is just a name that it has acquired all over Appalachia, due to the use and misuse of common names of plants. This tea is actually made from the Violet Wood Sorrel plant, Oxalis violacea. In any case, Sheep's Sorrel Tea tastes like the best tropical fruit punch you ever had. I consider it a delicacy and few people have ever tasted it. You can identify the Violet Wood Sorrel plant fairly easily as the leaf looks like a clover-leaf, typically growing in the eastern United States in bunches on dry soils, and the underside of each leaf/leaflet is dark purple in color. If you chew one of the small leaves, it will taste very sour. My dad, a locally renowned naturalist, taught me how to make this tea, and now, I am sharing it with you folks. I especially like to make this when I'm out camping and when I'm lucky enough to come across a nice crop of Violet Wood Sorrel. It really is a liquid delicacy. Enjoy!"
- Ready In:
- 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 3
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
directions
- Boil the water in a 3-quart pan. Toss in the Violet Wood Sorrel and allow the blend to boil really hard until the brew turns deep purple in color.
- Strain out all the leaves and stems and return the liquid to a slow boil, dissolving the honey until the desired sweetness is achieved. (Sugar or sorghum molasses can also be used as a sweetener).
- Remove from the heat, pour the liquid into a clean jar and refrigerate until it is very cold.
- Serve ice cold with no ice cubes.
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Reviews
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Thanks for sharing this folk recipe and giving a good description of its origins! and how to identify the plant!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I am a retired State Park Resort Manager/Ranger. <br /><br />Anyway, as to my years in the State Park System (retired now), I was responsible for 4 restaurants/dining rooms on my park and my boss at Central Headquarters said I should spend less time in my kitchens and more time tending to my park budget. I spent 25 years in those kitchens and worked with some really great chefs over those years, (and some really awful ones too!) <br /><br />I spent THOUSANDS of hours on every inch of that park and adjacent state forest (60,000 acres) and sometimes I miss it. But mostly I miss being in that big beautiful resort lodge kitchen. I miss my little marina restaurant down on the Ohio River too. I served the best Reuben Sandwich (my own recipe -- posted on 'Zaar as The Shawnee Marina Reuben Sandwich) in both the State of Ohio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky down there and sold it for $2.95. Best deal on the river! <br /><br />They (friends and neighbors) call my kitchen The Ospidillo Cafe. Don't ask me why because it takes about a case of beer, time-wise, to explain the name. Anyway, it's a small galley kitchen with a Mexican motif (until my wife catches me gone for a week or so), and it's a very BUSY kitchen as well. We cook at all hours of the day and night. You are as likely to see one of my neighbors munching down over here as you are my wife or daughter. I do a lot of recipe experimentation and development. It has become a really fun post-retirement hobby -- and, yes, I wash my own dishes. <br /><br />Also, I'm the Cincinnati Chili Emperor around here, or so they say. (Check out my Ospidillo Cafe Cincinnati Chili recipe). SKYLINE CHILI is one of my four favorite chilis, and the others include: Gold Star Chili, Empress Chili and, my VERY favorite, Dixie. All in and around Cincinnati. Great stuff for cheap and I make it at home too. <br /><br />I also collect menus and keep them in my kitchen -- I have about a hundred or so. People go through them and when they see something that they want, I make it the next day. That presents some real challenges! <br /><br />http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/shawnee.htm</p>
