Wild Herbs –Purslane (Portulaca Oleracea)
Also called: Pigweed; Portulaca
This is another one of those little weedy plants that you can walk straight past. We have lots growing around here, particularly beside the path running down towards our shops, but the council insists on spraying all of those wonderful edible plants with some disgusting herbicide. The plant is a prolific seeder and so it even shows up in our veggie patches and when it does we eat it. It never ceases to amaze me that plants here in Aus we call “weeds” half of Europe and the Middle East call “food”, this stuff was used as food over 2000 years ago in India
Purslane almost looks like a succulent of some type with small but thick and fleshy triangular green leaves and round reddish to greenish stems. The taste is fairly neutral with just a hint of bite like you get with some of the Japanese greens, but in general the taste is pleasant. It will mix well uncooked in a salad but I must admit my preference is in a stir fry. It can be a bit mucilaginous if over cooked in my opinion and that is not a texture I like, but then I don’t like okra either so it may be just me. In any case you can just substitute it into your favourite recipe for greens and you won’t be disappointed.
Along with spinach and a few other plants, Purslane does contain some oxalic acid so if you were to eat masses of it to exclusion of all else you may have some kidney stone problems but taken as part of a normal diet, there should be no worries at all.
While I have not tried it, I have read that the masses of seeds that Purslane produces can be ground into flour and made into seed cakes, which is in fact one use the Australian aboriginals had for the plant. I must give that one a go if I can get hold of some seed.
