Thursday, August 19, 2010

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.

5 comments:

  1. I think I've seen my mom use this in some of her Filipino cooking, but I didn't know what it was called. Thanks! I just may get some and try it out on my own! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you read my friend's blog, she just posted about purslane a couple weeks ago. You HAVE to try this recipe. I made it too...it's amazing! I want to grow this stuff now too, thanks for the tips.
    here's the recipe she posted:
    http://www.perrysplate.com/2010/08/everyone-meet-purslane.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hadn't come across that blog, I will have to look around more. That recipe looks awesome. I always appreciate when people pass on good recipes. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Kara,

    I tried to go to the pinetreeseeds.com site and can't seem to find any seeds. Any selection I make (for example: Seed Catalog) just gives me: "Sponsored Listings for...Seed Catalog" and a blank area where you would expect to see the content. What am I doing wrong?

    I would love to get some purslane seeds. Purslane grows in my gardens all the time. As kids we would pull it out of the garden as a weed. I have told people for years now that it is good for you. Funny thing is, I don't eat it because I don't know where the seeds came from that produced the plant.(A little crazy.. I know) I have never found purslane seeds until I read your blog. So I am super excited to get some so I can finally eat the purslane I grow.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I swear I was just there, copied and pasted the address. Strange, but I found what you need; https://www.superseeds.com/products.php?cat=2. Purslane is in the around the world-continental section. Happy seed shopping :)

    ReplyDelete

It's rude to eat and run. Humor me with conversation please!

Related Posts with Thumbnails