Purslane: A Tasty and Nutritious Weed

Did you know that Purslane is a  tasty weed?
Not only is it a tasty "weed" but contains numerous vitamins and minerals. In fact, it may be one of the most nutritious things growing in your garden!
It has 7 times the beta carotene then carrots and 6 times the vitamin E in Spinach! Some researchers claim it has more Omega-3 fatty acids then fish oil! In addition, purslane contains iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, calcium and copper.

How Do you Eat Purslane?
We use purslane in our salads, sprinkled on fresh cottage cheese, in our smoothies and also add it to soups for extra nutrition. You can also saute for 4 minutes with olive oil or butter, salt and pepper for a simple, tasty side dish. Fresh purslane has a fresh, almost lemony flavor.

You Can Freeze Purslane
Once harvested and rinsed clean, you can store purslane in the refrigerator for about a week and eaten fresh. It can also be frozen for use in the winter. Of course it wont work so well for fresh salads, but, it's great for tossing into those soups and stews, again, for added nutrition.

Purslane growing among the collard greens.

Harvesting Purslane
To harvest purslane simply pull it up. No matter how hard you try you will always get some dirt because it does grow so close to the ground. You are going to trim off all the roots as will as any of the larger main stems. Place in a large colander and run under cool water to rinse most dirt off. Place your purslane submerged in room temperature water for a short time to allow any reaming dirt to drop off, remove from water and rinse one more time in the colander.

Shake off water and remove leaves from larger stems. The leaves and smaller stems are now ready to eat and enjoy.

Purslane...Just another example of Nature's Bounty!