The University of the Virgin Islands School of Agriculture unveiled two new varieties of sorrel to the public on Thursday, April 8, via Facebook Live. Sorrel varieties ‘Festival’ and ‘Midnite’ are a combination of Caribbean and African varieties (from Nigeria and Ghana), crossed with a Trinidad variety of Black Sorrel.
For 11 years, Dr. Thomas Zimmerman, Assistant Director UVI SOA Agricultural Experiment Station, and Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Agroforestry, worked with the Biotechnology and Agroforestry team –Haroon Ali, Henry Harris, Louis Hilgemann, Raheem Smart, Milan Philbert, and Daryl Richards. Dr. Zimmerman shared their accomplishment after years of sorrel breeding and selections. Usually, sorrel is produced during the fall/winter months, as the day lengths get shorter. According to Dr. Zimmerman, they were able to develop “better and more productive sorrel varieties that extend the growing season and production to 10 months of the year.”
More information is available in a news release on the Media Section of the UVI Website-www.uvi.edu/ - and from this direct link