296 THE VEGETABLE CULTIVATOR. 



caprice of fashion, which extends even to our vege- 

 table food ; rarity being more frequently coveted 

 than excellence. 



The use of sorrel is of great antiquity, as are its 

 medicinal properties, which, from its nature, are acid 

 and cooling. It is grateful to the stomach ; quenches 

 thirst ; allays the heat of the choler ; and is an ex- 

 cellent antiscorbutic. A handful of the leaves, boiled 

 in a pint of whey, is an excellent medicine in April. 

 In short it is one of the most effectual remedies 

 against the scurvy, if the leaves are eaten green, or 

 their juice drunk, at the time above mentioned. 



The leaves of the wood-sorrel are said to excel 

 common sorrel in all physical virtues. In France 

 there are few soups or sauces made without a por- 

 tion of sorrel; and in the vegetable markets in 

 Paris the picking of it is as common as the shelling 

 of peas in London. 



In England it is sometimes boiled as a sauce for 

 roast meat, particularly veal and pork ; and it is an 

 excellent substitute for apple-sauce with winter 

 geese. It should, like spinach, be put into a sauce- 

 pan without water, except the little which remains 

 on the leaves, after being washed. It should be 

 boiled slowly, and then be beat up with a small 

 piece of butter, and served at table as spinach.. But 

 to form a superior dish, the yolks of eggs and cream 

 should be added to the butter. This is certainly an 

 expensive way of dressing sorrel ; but in the early 

 part of the author's life it was very frequent, eggs 

 and butter being cheaper at that time than at pre- 

 sent. 



The Laplanders boil the leaves of sorrel in water, 



