Purslane - for salads in winter or summer

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Purslane - for salads in winter or summer

R. Edwards, Cambridge

The two types of purslane are quite distinct. Winter purslane or miners' lettuce, Montia perfoliata, is a tough, cold resistant salading for growing in the open to crop from October until spring. Summer purslane, Portulaca oleracea, is a succulent, half hardy annual grown for use throughout the summer.

Winter purslane is a native of the west coast of north America and was used extensively as a salading (and to prevent scurvy) in the days of the "gold rushes" from California to Alaska - hence its second name!

Seed should be sown in shallow drills during July or August, choosing a slightly shaded site, and the plants should be kept moist until that task is taken over by the winter rains. Always water the drill thoroughly before sowing. The seedlings should be thinned to leave them 2-3 inches (5-7cm) apart. The leaves can be cut individually for salads as soon as they are large enough. Some books say they can be lightly boiled or steamed if you prefer. Continue harvesting the leaves until the plant starts to flower in spring. Seeds can also be sown in spring - but the plant's greatest value is as a winter salading when there is little else in the garden.

This is an easy plant to grow - so easy that it has become naturalised in places on the Brecklands of East Anglia, close to Cambridge.

Summer purslane is a very different matter. It is commonly found as a low growing, creeping weed around the Mediterranean, I have seen it in southern Turkey, and in many other warm parts of the world. It is probably a native of India.

Seed should be sown from the middle of April, in shallow drills and thinned to 2-3 inches (5- 7cm). If possible choose a warm, sunny position. Although the plants will tolerate very dry conditions regular watering will much improve the quality of the crop. Individual leaves and young shoots can be cut for use in salads throughout the summer until the plants are cut down by the first frosts. The leaves of the cultivated form, ssp. sativa, are slightly succulent, crisp and salty on the tongue. They make a very nice contrast, in texture as well as taste, to other saladings.

In times past the leaves were pickled - but I have not heard of anyone doing this today (indeed few people seem to have heard of summer purslane!) - and steamed for use as a cooked vegetable.

The most commonly available form is the golden leaved cultivar- but do not expect brilliant hues, the gold is barely noticeable unless it is growing beside the green form. There is no difference in taste between the gold and the green. The French, who use the plant extensively as a salading, usually prefer to grow the golden form.

Both summer and winter purslane are easily available - but over many years I have never seen either growing in a private garden or allotment. In fact I have never seen winter purslane outside my garden and summer purslane only twice - at Wisley and in trials at a wholesale seed house.

I often wonder why seed merchants keep some plants in their lists if no one buys them. Or, I wonder, do people buy the purslanes and then forget to sow them?

This article originally appeared in the Members Bulletin, the journal of the National Vegetable Society, which is sent quarterly to members. You can Join the National Vegetable Society here

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