Purslane is a bit of a mystery to me. It’s a weed, and it grows all over around here. But just the other day at Eastern Market I saw it for sale for a whopping $9 per pound. It’s edible and apparently very nutritious, high in Omega-3’s and vitamin C. It was billed as a salad green, but the stems are so thick that it seems like it would be better chopped up and stir-fried. The leaves themselves are small, but they’re thick, almost like the type of succulent ground cover you’d find in a desert environment.
Does anyone have suggestions about what to do with purslane? It’s the one weed in my garden that I’ve been allowing to keep growing, and just this week I decided there was enough to harvest. But now I’m not sure how to make the best use of it.
I was surprised to find a few years ago that the recipe for tabouleh in the Joy of Cooking calls for purslane — chop it up and mix it in along with the parsley. I’ve never tried it stir fried; I like the fresh succulence of it too much.
I agree, I like it fresh too. I do use it as a salad. I only use the more tender parts of the stem (if it’s older, it’s kinda hard and the only tender parts are the ones directly near the leaves).
A little lemon juice & olive oil & it’ll be the best darn weed you’ve ever tasted! 😉
It is so crunchy and juicy and a bit… Mmmm… Not peppery, but something like that. It has a small bite, but it’s so good in a salad with some blue cheese etc.
I eat it all–but then, I also eat bean leaves.
I heard it’s supposed to taste like spinach. Though the kind they are selling is likely a cultivated variety which has larger leaves – and better taste. Supposedly.
By coincidence, another Toronto-area blogger wrote about purslane just this week, and included a link to some recipes. Here it is, for your eating pleasure:
http://torontogardening.blogspot.com/2009/08/portulaca-oleracea-foliage.html
I was just noticing some by my pepper today and thought that maybe I’d give it a try too. I almost ordered some seeds last spring 🙂
These are all excellent suggestions! Thanks, all. It sounds like purslane is best raw, so I’ll avoid the stir-fry idea for now. I like the purslane tabbouleh concept!
I have been eating purslane about once or twice a week all summer. It makes a kickin’ tuna salad in place of lettuce, and my favorite way is to spread a whole wheat tortilla with hummus and then put in cut up bell pepper, some tomato chunks, and several pieces of purslane. It is very crisp and has fantastic flavor. I still haven’t tried cooking it, it is so good raw.
purslane is definitely and acquired taste. awful cooked. the only way I use it is raw in a salad.
[…] 12, 2009 by Amelia After several excellent answers to my question about what to do with purslane, I took people’s advice and decided to keep the purslane raw. But what to do? I liked the […]
Just rinse it off and eat it raw, that’s what I do. I can’t believe it’s selling for that much a pound!
The Mexicans call these “verdolagas,” and they’re wonderful.
Cook them up in water or a little olive oil with garlic, onion, tomatoes, and jalapeno, serrano, or piquin chiles. Serve them with hot tortillas, grilled meat, cheese, what have you.
[…] Image Source: Gradually Greener […]