Purslane – Portulaca oleracea
Purslane has to be the one of the least appreciated edible weeds in New Zealand with huge hidden benefits. The greatest benefit being high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids (known to help prevent heart disease and improve the immune system), a whopping 4mg per gram, compared to .89mg in spinach. Purslane has been used as a food and medicine for at least 2000 years and is still a food staple all over the Mediterranean. It is a wonderful healing plant used for high blood pressure, anaemia, rickets, diabetes, blood disorders (its red stem is a clue that purslane is good for the blood) and fevers. It is a good source of thiamin, niacin, Vitamin B6 and folate, and a very good source of Vitamin A in the form of carotenes, Vitamin C, riboflavin, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper and manganese. Nutritious indeed!
Purslane tastes slightly sour, is crunchy and also mucilaginous or slippery to eat. This slipperiness is very soothing to our whole digestive system.
Purslane with flowers
When you look at a purslane plant you’ll notice it is a bit like a succulent with fleshy, hairless, rounded, paddle shaped leaves growing on reddish, branched stems. It has tiny bright yellow flowers only 1 cm in diameter without stalks, hiding singly or in groups at the tip of the branches. The flowers only open when the sun is shining and it flowers from Nov-Mar. The plant is an annual (lasting one year or one season) that spreads over the ground, only in the heat of summer and autumn and is killed by frost. It grows in dry waste places, gardens, farm gateways and yards and bare ground. I met a woman who said she hates this ‘weed’ because she pulls it out and it still doesn’t die. This is because of it’s water retaining fleshy leaves and stems. She gladly gave me some of her throw away plants. The saying “one person’s trash is another person’s gold” was so true in this instance. The plant will easily self seed once you have it, meaning the small shiny black 1mm long seeds drop and will come up next year without you having to do anything. If you don’t have the plant already you can order them from Kings Seeds in New Zealand http://www.kingsseeds.co.nz
Below are some ways you can use this amazing plant to benefit your health!
Plants for a Purslane smoothie
Purslane Smoothie
small bunch of purslane (left in photo)
small bunch of chickweed (middle)
4 stems of parsley (back right)
4 sprigs of fresh mint (right)
4 ripe plums
1 banana
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup water
Purslane smoothie
Method
- Blend up the greens in the coconut milk and water.
- Add the fruit and blend again until smooth. Yield: 1 litre
Enjoy the creamy minty flavour!
purslane salad
Purslane Salad
Gather leafy salad greens like lettuce, mizuna, rocket, chickweed, parsley and tear the leaves in a salad bowl. Add chopped pieces of purslane, some cherry tomatoes and alfalfa sprouts. Decorate with heartsease pansy flowers and calendula petals for an attractive meal. Serve with a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil and salt.
Pickled Purslane
In order to have the benefits of purslane
and its rich sources of nutrients into the winter you can preserve it as a pickle. Simply fill a jar with chopped pieces of purslane stems (see photo left) then fill the jar with raw apple cider vinegar right to the top. Allow it to sit and or poke with a chop stick to release the air bubbles and then put on the lid
with some glad wrap or cut up plastic bag under the lid to stop the cider vinegar dissolving the metal in the lid and tainting your pickles.
Use them in the winter in salads or in soups. Have fun getting to know this plant!
Thank you so much for this info & tip. I grew up, in Fiji and my grandmother & mum picked this, there & in NZ and a few other leafy greens around the yard to cook with garlic, onion, chillies in oil. I did not know it’s full benefits. That is a vegetable curry. 🙂
HI Bernadette, that is very neat to hear that your grandmother and mother used purslane and other greens. That confirms that formerly many people knew ‘weeds’ were good to eat and use in their dishes. Thank you very much for writing and sharing this.
Hi Julia,
Please can you let me know of people in South ?Africa who would be interested in edible weeds in Gauteng or elsewhere in South Africa please. I am very much interested in edible weeds
Kiaora Julia,
Thank-you so much for this website – it is so informative!
I have had an interest in weeds for a while, and have used many in salads – dandelion especially! And have made dandelion coffee, so delicious and good for you. I’ve been learning over the years as I go. I am a photographer artist so have taken many images. But I feel like I need to do some more in depth observation and study of what is in my garden and your website is a gem for some of the finer details. So thank-you so much! I will continue to follow 🙂
I’ve just started a website, there is hardly anything there at the moment, but it will document my own journey with nature which goes right back when I was a child growing up in the bush. Thank-you again! Arohanui, Jo 🙂
HI Jo,
I so appreciate you writing and sharing that you use the wild edibles and love them and are a photographer! How cool that you want to study the plants more in your garden and share your observations on a website – well done!. You’re part of the reconnection of the plants and people. The plants have been there for ever and we have too but we’ve got disconnected. So thank you for helping others to reconnect and for your passion for nature! Julia
Thank-you for your message Julia! I will continue to follow your journey :)))
Hi Julia, do you happen to know if Purslane grows wild in Southern NZ? I had lots growing when I was in Aussie. I am now living in Invercargill … but haven’t seen any around down here yet. I loved eating it straight from the plant and had it growing in pots just outside the house, so I could chomp on it as I passed.
hi,
I have know of this weed since living in Holland 1974 to 1983. Eaten fresh during the summer and then it is pickled as a winter salad, too. Have been teaching about herbs and weeds for decades, and my students have all had to eat some straight from the plants. It is delicious and so healthy, especially for vegetarians and vegans with the omega oils. I always walk behind them in their own gardens and replace the `weeds’ which they pull out.
Have my own section of `Garden of Weeden’ here, stinging nettles (both annual and perennial), dandelion, chickweed, shepherd’s purse, purslane, and more.
PATSY’S POTIONS
KEMPTON PARK
lovely to meet another weed queen!! I’m so glad you are doing the great job of teaching people about these wonderful plants and have a garden of weeden – love that!!
Yes purslane is a wonderful plant. My dad is so proud he got rid of it in our garden so I have to grow it in a pot as a microgreen. Are you originally from NZ??
Thanks so much for writing. Do you have a website – how can I find out more about what you are doing in Holland, it sounds very interesting??
Warmest wishes
After reading the post now I know the benefits of the purslane. Thanks for sharing!
You are very welcome Jennifer. Thanks for your feedback!