Herb Of The Week - Purslane

[Guest guest]

A woman in Saskatchewan markets a powdered form

of purslane in Health Food stores!

She claims for it all the benefits you would expect from the right essential

fatty acids.

Anti-inflammatory, good brain food, that sort of thing.

 

I like just rinsing a chunk of it under the garden hose

and eat it as a snack right there, raw.

 

It is so much fun to see the overlap between food

and herbs.

 

Ien in the Kootenays

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See my smiling face:

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[Guest guest]

Enjoy!

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

Madagascar Vanilla Bean Goodies!

Special Sale - Limited Time Only

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http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MV118

 

 

Purslane -- Portulaca oleracea L.1

<http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MV118#FOOTNOTE_1>

 

 

James M. Stephens2 <http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MV118#FOOTNOTE_2>

 

Purslane is another of the weed plants commonly found in Florida that

are eaten occasionally as a vegetable, although it is not grown in

gardens or collected as frequently as pokeweed and amaranthus pigweed.

Purslane <http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/images/304348367> derives from the

Latin " portulacca " and the old French " pourcelaine. " It sometimes is

confused with a different common weed called Florida pusley (Richardia

scabra). In fact, purslane is often called pusley and pussly, in

addition to kitchen purslane, garden purslane, and fatweed.

 

 

 

 

DESCRIPTION

 

 

Indeed, fatweed may be the best name for this vegetable weed, since its

leaves and stems are very fleshy and succulent. Common purslane is a

summer annual with smooth purplish red prostrate stems arising from a

single taproot. The small oval juicy leaves are clustered at the ends of

the branches. Small yellow leaves are formed in the leaf axils.

Cultivated forms are more upright and vigorous than those growing in the

wild.

 

Purslane is a native of Persia where it was used over 2,000 years ago.

It was introduced into the United States from southern Europe. Now it is

most abundant in the eastern states, including Florida, and least common

in the Pacific Northwest.

 

 

 

 

USE

 

 

Whole young plants, and especially young leaves and tender stem tips can

be used as a potherb, or eaten raw in salads. The taste is similar to

watercress or spinach. Protein content is 2 to 2.5%. Seeds also have

been eaten either raw or ground and made into bread.

 

 

 

CULTURE

 

 

Purslane reproduces from seeds and stem fragments. The tiny seeds are

nearly oval, wrinkled, and black with a whitish scar at one end. When

planted in the spring, the plant flowers and fruits about May or June.

It is a tender plant susceptible to frost injury. Whereas wild forms are

plentiful throughout Florida, seeds of cultivated varieties of purslane

are seldom listed in vegetable seed catalogs. French seed houses are

reported to list purslane varieties.

 

 

 

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Footnotes

 

 

1. This document is Fact Sheet HS-651, a series of the Horticultural

Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of

Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Revised for

CD-ROM: May 1994.

 

2. James M. Stephens, Professor, Horticultural Sciences Department,

Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural

Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611.

 

 

 

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information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your

county Cooperative Extension Service office.

 

Florida Cooperative Extension Service / Institute of Food and

Agricultural Sciences / University of Florida / Larry R. Arrington,

Interim Dean

 

 

 

 

_____

 

 

Copyright Information

 

 

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