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Good Eats - Purslane

© Barbara Hall

Oh dear, there you go again, pulling out the stuff you should be eating for dinner. Yes, THAT stuff...all over your garden...the stuff that looks like a runaway jade plant. Tiny yellow flowers, reddish stems, fleshy oval leaves, that's it. Never occurred to you to take a bite, eh? Well, go ahead, take a taste...not bad, kind of lemony, a little slippery, but definitely not bad.

On the menu today is PURSLANE, Portulaca oleracea. Records show that wise folks in the East Indies and in Persia were chowing down on this glorious weed 2,000 years ago. Folks in China and Mexico, in Europe and Africa were all getting into Purslane munching long before it was ever introduced to the good old U.S of A.. In England a number of varieties were raised just for nutritious eating. While Euell Gibbons called it "India's gift to the world" the 19th century essayist Charles Dudley Warner referred to it as "a fat, ground-clinging, spreading, greasy thing, and the most propagatious plant I know." (Now, now, Charles old boy, try some steamed with a little vinegar, you just might change your mind.)

And propagatious? Yes, you might say so. Not only will it grow just about ANYWHERE from rich vegetable garden soil to a gravel driveway, you can cut off a rootless branch and throw it on the ground and it will finish out the scene by completing its flowering and tossing seeds anyway. It is quite amazing.

I actually allow it to run pretty rampant as a ground cover in the flowerbeds as it does a decent job of keeping other less attractive creatures at bay. It will rather crump out by the end of summer and then I haul out whatever hasn't been eaten and toss it in the compost. Trust me, it will be baaaaaaaack next summer.

So just HOW and WHY would we eat this garden gem? The tips, either in or out of flower are cute enough for garnish and add a definite zip to fresh salads. You can also steam it, stems and all and serve it with oil and vinegar or butter and soy sauce or most people need nothing on it at all. When you have a bumper crop you can start steaming PILES of Purslane and popping it in the freezer as a blessed addition to soups. It does a nice job of thickening the soup, too. The WHY has to do with excellent nourishment. Heavy-duty WEEDY nourishment, often FAR superior to store bought veggies. Purslane is high in vitamins A and C, iron, phosphorus and calcium, and for those of you who aren't members of the Fish Liver Oil Fan Club, it is a great vegetative source of Omega-3 fatty acids! Curious about the nutritional properties of a whole bushel basket of edible wild plants? Check this out. And here areyour official Purslane Recipes!!!