Tuesday eating from your yard tip~Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) has many health inducing virtues, including more omega 3 than any other leafy green. While many Americans view purslane as a lowly weed, purslane is eaten all over the world. It is baked in bread, pickled and added to soups, stews, stir fries and egg dishes. Google recipes for verdolaga, the Mexican word for purslane, and you will find many dishes. Deb Hegemann commented that pickled purslane was like eating baby dill pickles~ha! Karl Fredrickson commented that he adds them to his smoothies, burritos, salads, anywhere a green could be used. Kay Young has long recommended substituting purslane for lettuce on your taco or mixing it into your sandwich mayonnaise spread because it doesn’t wilt like lettuce. Kay also has a recipe for purslane oxtail soup in her book Wild Seasons that I will try someday when I have some oxtail. Following Kay’s suggestion I brought purslane leaves in a nice dish to a party where we were suppose to bring taco toppings. People enjoyed it, never connecting it to the plant growing in the sidewalk. In the end my go to is just to eat purslane in the garden. Take a fresh look at the purslane growing in your sidewalk. How do you eat purslane?
