Lisa's Purslane Pickles
- 4 cups-ish purslane, washed and reduced to smaller sprigs to pack into jars
- 2 pint jars, sterilized with fresh lids
- Vinegar -- organic white, balsamic, or apple cider can be used (at least 5% acidity)
- Kosher salt - 1 tsp per jar
- Herbs -- 4 cloves garlic, 4 dry red chilis (optional if you want to have spicy pickles)
Pack sterilized jars with purslane, herbs, salt. Cold-pack the herbs 2/3rd's full with vinegar of your choice then top off with cold, filtered water. Let pickle on the counter (with a loose lid) for 2-3 days, then refrigerate and consume within the next few weeks.
And don't waste the brine!! Use the vinegar brine as a base for salad dressings-- it will be deliciously packed filled with nutrients extracted in part from the pickled purslane.
|
Support businesses that support community like, The Sparrows. Visit the Local Marketplace for info, deals and more! |
Similar articles
Other articles by the same author
THE FEED
- World Refugee Day bio: That Wah updated
/Lisa Rose Starner
Pickling purslane with spicy, hot wax peppers
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea). A fleshy, sorta sour succulent. A delicious, nutritious weed. /Lisa Rose Starner
Freshly foraged purslane, cleaned and ready for pickling. /Lisa Rose Starner
Purslane is known to many as a noxious weed and few today in this country know its value as an edible food. That's all beginning to change as the wild edibles trend heats up with the Farm to Plate movement. Farmers and foragers are seeing the market value of common weeds, and now purslane is finding its place at greenmarkets throughout the country.
In New York City this weed is commanding upwards of $7.50 per pound (Park Slope, go figure), but here in Grand Rapids, don't fret. Purslane hasn't nearly become that popular, but it is available at the market. Fulton Street Farmers Market often has growers with purslane (Groundswell Farm among them) with prices approximately $3.00 per pound.
But why pay for purslane? Find the weed in your own habitat!
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is easy to identify, with its reddish stem and fleshy, rounded leaves. When crushed, one can tell that it's a juicy plant. This non-native sprawling succulent is found in well-drained soils of gardens and lawns, usually in areas that have been well-tilled and receive moderate to full sun exposure.
For the cook, purslane is a very flexible vegetable with many uses. Non-native to North America, its origins are believed to be found in India and its culinary and medicinal uses can be traced east to China, south to Latin America, to Africa and Europe.
As an edible, purslane has a fresh, lemony flavor, with a subtle sour note. Compared to other vegetables, purslane is high in protein and omega-3 essential fatty acids (take note, my vegetarian friends!) as well as life-sustaining minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper & manganese.
Purslane can be a great addition chopped fresh and added to fresh green salads and even Asian slaws (or, think kohlrabi). Lemon verbena, basil and green onion or green garlic are complement herbs with the purslane.
Because of its texture and structure, it also makes a nutrient-dense addition to a vegetable stir-fry, Thai Basil Coconut soup or an African peanut stew, especially if making these recipes as a vegetarian entree (note: mix in as a last ingredient so it does not cook long and become too mushy). Foraging friend Leda Meredith features it as a key ingredient as an alternative to okra in her Wild Gumbo with Sassafras (DELISH by the way).
The fleshy purslane preserves well as a pickle, and using a vinegar brine helps pull out the minerals, making them more bioavailable to the body. To make use the minerals extracted into the vinegar brine, turn it into a salad dressing to put atop your mixed salad (that includes the fresh purslane)!
Do you notice purslane in your garden? Do you use it or pull it?
Lisa Rose Starner is a Grand Rapidian and has worked in the realm of food and community for over a decade. Starner is a freelance food and lifestyle writer, forager and backyard herbalist. Starner runs her own small-scale herbal CSA, apothecary and practice from her WestSide urban microfarm, The Urban Ranch. Follow Starner on her food and plants journey: http://www.burdockandrose.tumblr.com or on Twitter: lisarosestarner.
Reports on: local food, plants, eats
Comments, like all content, are held to The Rapidian standards of civility and open identity as outlined in our Terms of Use and Values Statement. We reserve the right to remove any content that does not hold to these standards.
Comments
Use it all the time. Such a great powerfood that grows all over.