Purslane

I just saw the wonderful health benefits of eating purslane. I don't know if this is the place to ask. What variety do I want to try to grow for food? Can I grow it in the kitchen window - it gets lots of sunlight.

What a coincidence! I read something also a couple of months ago and just ran into it again. I had an order going for my spring seeds, so I added purslane seeds. I'll be trying it in the spring. It will be interesting to see if anyone here has experience growing it. The online catalog says it is sensitive to frost, so I'll start mine in pots and move it outside in late March. I haven't checked the plantfiles yet, though.

I don't care for it, but it was a major weed for me in Virginia. Really a pain with long season summer vegetables like cantaloupes. The wild form is quite edible, but an acquired taste. I have never acquired it. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/242/

Farmerdill - I just looked it up on plantfiles... it does have that "noxious weed" description! I'll try it in a pot, for sure.

Here's the link to the seed type I ordered.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55149/

wild purslane....my most persistant weed. It bears thousands of tiny seeds. It also is a succulent which means it lays on top of the ground for days and some rain brings it back again!

I grew the golden from seeds from Pinetree Garden. It grew larger leaves than the wild form around here. It has a lemony taste. I wasn't that crazy about it. I'm not that big a fan of lemon either. I would nibble few in the garden. I don't know how well it will do on a windowsill. I'm guessing easy to sprout since its such a bad weed.

Oh boy... Indy and Sallyg - thanks for the info. I think it's supposed to have all kinds of omega 3's and vitamins kind of like flax seeds.
It'll go in a pot for sure. I already have enough weeds.

I read a study about purslane being used as a living mulch with tomatoes. I tried this, because I had a lot of wild purslane growing in my plot, and it worked really well. It crowded out all the other weeds and didn't bother the tomatoes, plus it attracted bugs to itself instead of them getting on the tomatoes. It also helped to preserve the ground's moisture (we had a drought that year). I've heard it is somewhat like okra in consistency, but I don't like okra, so I didn't eat it.

I suppose that purslane can be a living mulch for taller veggies. Still 10 zillion seeds released for next years crop on some shorter crop scares me.

Weirdly enough, I didn't get any purslane to speak of in that same plot the following year. I don't know why. It is pretty easy to hoe out, though.

This has been very interesting. I will have to find some seeds and try them in the kitchen window. And then use it as a mulch next summer - maybe.

Paraclesus - what variety did you plant as a mulch? I might try that with next year's tomatoes.

Elsie - I'd be happy to share some seeds with you. They should be on their way from Johnny's in a few days. If you want some, just dmail me your addy!

bookworm28, it must have been just the species. It came up in the plot by itself, which had a lot of herb seeds in it from the previous owner.

I discover Purslane in all kinds of places here. It shows up in some of my potted plants, in the cracks in the walk, and just about any other cranny or cultivated area! I have surprised a few folks by pulling it and eating it and offering samples; this gets some interesting reactions. lol "Perhaps the 'ole man is loosing it!" I must say it is persistant!
Gary

I just got my seeds in the mail - the variety is Goldberg Golden Purslane and the packet says the seed is a product of France. The description says "relative of the common garden purslane. Grows upright with large 1 to 1-1/2" succulent green leaves and orange-gold stems. Crisp and mild. Much larger than the wild form."

That's funny, Gary! Same could go for dandelion greens! Eating weeds...

Lots of weeds are edible, in fact most of them, but whether you want to eat them is the question. Only one I eat is poke salet (well I have been known to make dandelion wine). But dandelions, lambsquarters, kudzu, wild onion, etc have their advocates. Nice article in the American Vegetable Grower about a Hmong farmer in California growing black nightshade and shocking the county agent. Seems the Hmong make a tonic from the berries an that it is highly prized in their culture.

Wild purslane usually doesn't get large here....because I pull it out, but I have seen so very huge specimins and if the tame gets bigger than that.............

Alton Brown lists purslane as an item from the original Pilgrm diet, in his Romancing the Turkey episode.

Ahhh...now that's interesting. Alton always knows the most interesting things.

Speaking of eating weeds. I remember a border plant in a neighbor's yard when I was growing up. It kind of looked like a bunch clover with pink flowers. My mom called it sheepshire. We used to pick it and eat it. Goofy children we were. (of course, my mom never knew...) Anyone know about sheepshire?

Maybe its a sorrel, related to wood sorrel. I don't think I've read about it.

Love when Alton has the nutritional anthroplogist, or Shirley Corriher, on.

Wood sorrel is an oxalis and is used in herbal remedies. It is acidic and the blossom does not resemble clovers. sorrels are related to docks and resemble common docks in appearance but have a high acidity. A common name is sour dock. Common sorrel, French sorrel, Sheep sorrel, are prevalent types of sorrel. Edible but mostly used as a potherb. If it had pink clover like blossoms and leaves, it was probably a clever, clovers are also edible, by the way, as are most of the grasses.

Great info Farmerdill. The leaves were really tangy.

When growing up in the MidWest, there was a weed that we kids called
"sheepshire", it had a tart lemony taste. Now I am not sure what it was...not sheep sorrel, it had three very tiny light green leaves Anyone ever hear of "sheepshire" ? I have not found it since!

I found this on sheepshire.

Indy..... yes, indeed!! I ate "sheepshire" as a kid in OK and still remember it's tart, lemmony taste. Our family also loved Lambsquarter & Poke "sallet". As a matter of fact I still enjoy Poke, Lambsquarter, dandelion (& have made Dandelion wine) and Purslane in my summer salads. I have encouraged a few neighbors here in my neighborhood to eat purslane for the omega-3- fatty acid & antioxidants it contains.
LarryD

Indy - scroll up - I posted about sheepshire! I can almost taste the lemony tart taste. Cottonpicker - you were in OK? That's where I grew up and picked the neighbor's sheepshire - didn't tell my mom how much we ate... and they never caught us.

Have purslane seeds for the spring - will put it in pots. I've been reading about it being a great source of omega 3's.

paracelsus wrote:

I can attest to that. Had 50 tomato plants in earthen raised beds this summer. Took some effort to carve the garden out of the lawn. Beds are two feet high and double dug. A few weeks after setting out plants, purslane showed up. Never seen in it the yard or nearby but there it was. It covered the sides of the beds all summer. Tomatoes did just fine . Had a few tomatoes I let sprawl on the side in a 10 x 20' area--it became a mat of of purslane and tomatoes. Weeds and unruly grasses, which I have all over the place, didn't appear in the garden.

When I did want to pull it up to get to the tomatoes, it yanked right out with no effort at all.





This message was edited Nov 21, 2007 12:29 AM

Ok - so I will throw out some seeds around my tomato plants in the spring! Great info here - as always. Thanks David_Paul.

Purslane is a common weed and traditional edible here in New Mexico. How convenient to be able to eat the weeds. The first time I tasted it, I was a child at a rather fancy restaurant in Mexico. There was a bunch of it in my salad. At first, I thought they had made a mistake -- I knew it was a weed -- but I ate it anyway and decided it was probably not a mistake. I didn't mention it to anyone.
Then I moved to New Mexico where people, traditionally, put it in their beans -- which are a very important dish here. The called it Verdolagas, but when I saw a picture of it, I realized it was a common weed.
I began to see the seeds listed on websites specializing in French foods and decided I should try this weed. Recipes do not abound. I found one in the Georgia O'Keefe cookbook where it was cooked with bacon. I found it very bland and never cooked it again. I think the Mexican salad was probably the best version I have had, but I suspect its flavor -- which there isn't a whole lot of, disappears in a pot of pinto beans leaving only the nutrition.
Anyhow, it is definitely easy to grow. I have grown it from seed and found the purchased seed is a taller more upright version than the weed version. They taste about the same. Anyhow, the plantfiles pictures I saw looked more like what we call Portulaca here. That isn't our weed and I haven't tried eating portulaca, but I can see that they might be related.
One way or the other, I have definitely not suffered harm from this vitamin filled plant but haven't come up with a terrific way to prepare it yet. If you find one, do post it on the recipes forum. Or this one.
Anyhow, what I tasted won't hurt you and doesn't have a bad flavor, but vinegar and oil and salt and pepper help a lot.

I'm surprised to see that folks are having trouble finding recipes for Purslane. It is a staple in many Mediterranean cuisines as well. We grow the golden purslane as the larger leaves are easier to use. It's one of our summer favourites!

Cucumber-purslane-yogurt salad
http://starchefs.com/SJohnson/recipe05.html

Greek Tomato, Potato and Purslane Salad
http://www.gourmet.gr/greek-recipes/show.asp?gid=1&nodeid=17&arid=753

A variety of recipes from a CSA:
http://www.prairienet.org/pcsa/recipes/purslane.htm

Several more from Gourmet:
http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=purslane&x=0&y=0

Purslane was even a featured item on an episode of BBC's Pie in the Sky, where Chief Inspector and Chef Henry Crabbe made a purslane salad with a "rumour of tarragon" in the dressing.