Garden Journal 2010 {Purslane}

Haven’t heard of it?  I am not surprised.  I have never seen it in a store.  A friend of mine found it growing in her yard and said that she used to buy it in Mexico.  I read up on it some, but it wasn’t; until I read Michael Pollan’s “In Defense of Food” that I became really interested in growing it myself.  Who wouldn’t want something that tastes good, is super healthy and grows easily?

I did some of my favorite shopping in the whole world at Pinetree Garden Seeds and came across purslane seeds.  I grew it in my herb bed, which has just crummy AZ soil that my basil and rosemary thrive in.  It grows super quickly, is hardy and stands up to the terrible heat without a problem, which is saying a lot.  The flavor reminds me of baby spinach, and both the leaves and stems are edible, though the thicker, more mature stems are not as appealing.  I have learned that there is also ornamental purslane that has really pretty flowers, but does not taste as good, so make sure to buy from the vegetable section at the nursery rather than the flower section.  I got “red grunner” 95 cents for 200 seeds.

So I have been experimenting with the super food/weed in salads, stir fry’s and snacks.  I have even just had it plain with a veggie dip.  Tonight we are trying it on pizza and in a few months in soups.  The leaves are pretty tiny, I strip them from the bottom stems and pull of the top where they cluster.  In the picture I just put a dab of roasted red pepper hummus on a cracker and pressed it in a bowl of purslane.

This post was shared on The Nourishing Gourmet.