A solution for the climate future
While climate models predict increasing difficulties for traditional agriculture, purslane offers a major avenue for adaptation. Where wheat and corn require 50 to 75 cm of annual rainfall, purslane completes its life cycle with only 15 cm. When soybeans cease photosynthesis above 35°C, purslane accelerates its growth.
Half the world has never stopped consuming it. It is appreciated in India (under the name Kulfa ), in Greece ( Glystrida ), in Mexico ( Verdolagas ), in China ( Machikian ) and throughout the Middle East.
How to identify and consume purslane
If you want to take advantage of this free superfood, here’s how to recognize and use it:
- Identification: Look for red, fleshy, and smooth stems (never hairy). The leaves are succulent, shaped like small spatulas, and grow flat on the ground. The flowers are tiny and yellow. When a stem is broken, the inside should be juicy and almost translucent.
- Harvest: Pick it young, during the first six weeks, when the leaves are still tender.
- In the kitchen: Enjoy it raw in salads to appreciate its slightly lemony and salty crunch. You can also sauté it like spinach, add it to smoothies, marinate it, or incorporate it into stews.
- Cultivation: Allow some plants to go to seed at the end of summer to harvest and sow the following year.
The next time you come across this small creeping plant in your driveway, don’t reach for the weed killer. Recognize that you have before you one of the most resilient and nutritious plants on the planet.
