I feel into an Eiskraut / Crystalline Ice Plant Google Rabbit Hole this morning.
Which herbs and vegetables are new to you ?
I feel into an Eiskraut / Crystalline Ice Plant Google Rabbit Hole this morning.
Which herbs and vegetables are new to you ?
I’ve bought ice plant before. An organic shop used to stock it from time to time. Wouldn’t want to cook it. Best in a salad. Ice plant grows in the wild on Canaries island. Have seen them during my many walks in nature.
The purslane for eating round these parts is actually Claytonia perfoliata. And Portulaca oleracea is a garden plant.
In Greece, sometimes I get Portulaca oleracea in my village salad. I have bought it at the market (in Greece) but have also seen it between the tiles and by the roadside there.
My favourite thing to check out at any market anywhere is the veg/herb/fruit/fruit tree section. Always some interesting (new) plants I have never seen or known of their existence in my (food) hell. Brought back dandelion and Turkish “spinach” from Nürnberg in a huge nylon bag. Only possible because I went by train both ways.
My 6 lovage in pots have started coming back to life since last week. Lovage is my number one herb. 1 plant was not enough so I bought 5 more. Now I can eat lovage throughout the summer. Here they never sell it anywhere anymore.
Purslane is very common in Greek Diaspora salads in Canada and the United States, too.
I sometimes see newcomers from Greece or the Middle East collecting it, as well as wild dandelions, and other greens. I don’t really consider it foraging, when I see people collecting greens and herbs in a park where the lawn is cut by a lawnmower, or on the side of the road, in or near a city.
Our North American cities and farms currently spray a lot of herbicides on weeds. I wouldn’t be eating any purslane or other edible weeds growing along the roadside or in parks in my region. There are some highly invasive portulacas, so I would not introduce it to my veg garden. One type of invasive portulaca is known as pigweed in my region.
That said Common Purslane is common, not an uncommon weed and green. ![]()
It is a type of Common Purslane, same Latin name you mention, Portulaca oleracea, that is a garden plant, a weed and a green here.
If I really wanted some purslane for salad, I would grow it in a pot.
I do grow some dandelions in the veg garden, which have longer leaves than local , wild dandelions.