I found a patch of sheep sour in the yard today, and was showing my children that you can eat it. My late grandfather, who was a farmer, showed me the same thing probably 25 years ago. Then it occurred to me to wonder whether anyone else called it "sheep sour." Turns out that there are only a few webpages that use the term. A much more common name for the plant is
creeping wood sorrel. That said, my grandfather's folksy term is closer to the official botanical term:
Oxalis Corniculata. ("Oxalis" means "sour," and "corniculata" means "horned," as a sheep might be.)
I've done the same with purselane, which grows wild around here. It really startled my sister when I yanked a weed out of the garden, and made a salad of it, but she had to admit it was tasty.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to my 81 year old mother and she told me her grandmother used to make pies out of Sheep Sour, and I said "WHAT"?? I had to look it up on the internet and was glad to see your page. She wasn't even sure she was saying it correctly! Thanks for the info!!
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