Meatless Monday: Market Find of the Week — Portulaca olearacea

“Never buy it at the farmer’s market,” my master gardening mentor had told me. But I did it anyway. Yup, I paid $3.00 for a rubber-banded handful of “weeds” at CitySeed on Saturday. Advertised as “Gandhi’s favorite food,” the bunch of fat-stemmed greens I bought was purslane, which you’ve most likely seen growing in the cracks of sidewalks, near a foundation wall, or along the borders of your garden. If you are like me, you’ve pulled it out many times without ever a thought of eating it. 

50¢ worth of purslane

In my defense, how could I resist? I had wanted to give purslane more than a nibble, which is about all I would give any random purslane I pulled downtown (even after a few good washings), without knowing the lead content of the soil (most likely high) or whether Chester, the small dog next door, had used it for a pit stop. The purslane was being sold by the organic vendor from whom I often purchase kale. It came from their fields, I was told. I considered this $3.00 well spent.

Purslane’s scientific name is Portulaca olearacea, or portulaca “of the vegetable garden,” according to Peter Del Tredici in his tome Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast. Purslane has a prominent tap root; its shoots grow outwards in the shape of a circle. Like the flowers of its close relative, Portulaca grandiflora (Moss rose), its yellow blooms open only when the sun is bright. 

Note the tap root.

Purslane grows throughout much of the world, including most of the continent of North America. Its geographical origins are unclear, [Del Tredeci calls it a “cosmopolitan weed of Eurasian origin.”] but it seems to proliferate in almost any clime where it can get enough sun. It grows best in the heat, in nutrient-rich sandy soil, but it can also tolerate compacted ground of lesser quality. Its time in the New World pre-dates Columbus, and Del Tredici states that purslane was cultivated in Plymouth colony.

Purlslane’s praises have been sung by everyone from “Wildman” Steve Brill to the New York Times. The Cornell University Department of Animal Science devotes a page to the medicinal merits of this drought-resistant succulent. Purslane is packed with nutrients, including Vitamin C, and Omega-3 fatty acids, and protein. The site contains a lengthy list of purslane's medicinal uses, garnered from the world over; many of these pertain to reducing inflammation.

How did I prepare my prize purchase? First, I triple washed it. [It was very dirty and likes sandy soil, remember?] I then chopped up some of the leaves and tender shoots and used them to top a salad, dressed with a homemade lemon vinaigrette. They were somewhat chewy and had a slightly bitter taste; I wouldn’t suggest a salad of purslane by itself. I have read that the stems can be used to thicken soups. Steve Brill turns the stems into mini-pickles. 

Once the purslane is picked (or pulled), it is best to stick it in a pitcher of cold water and to use it in the next day or two.

Not so perky purslane.

I’m fairly certain the bunch I bought was “weeded” from the field in which it simply grew. But I do believe I’ve seen a hydroponically-grown version at CitySeed, sold by by Two Guys from Woodbridge. 

If you are interested in cultivating your own, you can purchase seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. 

By all accounts, it should be fairly simple to yield a good crop from plants harvested from the wild. Each seed capsule on the plant contains numerous tiny seeds which are purported to be able to survive buried in the soil for up to 40 years. Plants that have been uprooted and set aside in a heap can use the water in their stems and leaves to develop a new root system — more purslane! 

But be warned: It may be difficult to contain this crop once you get it going. Unless you aspire to be a one crop farmer, and unless your plot is very far from your property border, you might want to grow purslane in a container. 

Happy Monday. Thanks for reading. 

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: The Wonderful Arctic Char

Fish? On Meatless Monday? I know some of you at least may consider meat without feet not meat. And many others of you are flexitarians. All I promise on Monday is a post on food or a food issue. This post covers both, so here goes.

In October I wrote about attending a talk by Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food. Greenberg proposes that there are better, more sustainable choices to fill the need for each of the fish he follows in his book — salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna. His choice for salmon is the arctic char. He writes, “The arctic char is from the same taxonomic family as salmon, has pretty good feed conversion ratios, rich flesh, and most interestingly of all, because it frequently finds itself crammed into close quarters when its natural arctic lakes freeze, it has high disease resistance and takes extremely well to high stocking densities—densities that are necessary to make out-of-ocean aquaculture operations profitable. And this is exactly what’s happening with char. Most are grown in re-circulating, above ground tanks in Iceland and Canada.”

A couple of weekends ago I spotted a small package of Arctic Char, “farmed in Iceland” in my store’s frozen food section. The footprint seemed a little large, but I knew Monterey Bay Aquarium had listed Arctic Char as a Best Choice in its newest Seafood Watch© guides, and any fish I choose to eat has to travel from somewhere. I brought some home. I wasn’t quite sure how to cook it, but I knew I’d be able to find out more online. Icelandic USA did not disappoint. Here is a link to an entire page of Arctic Char recipes. And here is a page with species and nutrition information. 

While many Super Bowl viewers were chowing down on wings, we were dining on Roasted Provencal Arctic Char served over orzo [instead of polenta]. The ingredients were not difficult to assemble, the recipe called for the fish to be cooked from frozen with skin on making things incredibly easy, and the directions were totally accurate. Seventeen minutes after I put this dish into my oven in a cast iron skillet, we had a delicious feast. The char flaked like salmon. The flesh was slightly milder in taste and peeled away easily from the skin. It took so little effort for such a wonderful meal that I’ll be keeping a package or two of Arctic Char in my freezer from now on.

Roasted Provencal Arctic Char

Now that I've had such great success with Arctic Char,  I’m keeping my eye out for Barramundi, Greenberg’s sustainable sea bass alternative and also a Seafood Watch© Best Choice when farmed in the US in fully recirculating systems. It’s being raised not far from here in Turner’s Falls, Massachusetts. Stay tuned…

Have a great week. “See” you next Monday.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal  health and the health of our planet.”