Purslane - The Basics Of Agricultural Technology And Recipes

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Purslane or dandur in the garden and in the flower bed

Purslane or dandur has been known to people since time immemorial. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans willingly consumed it as food. Hippocrates, Pliny, other doctors and scientists used this plant to treat various diseases, and in the Middle Ages it was considered "blessed" by the Arabs.

Moreover, in ancient times, purslane was considered an anti-magic herb, and garlands of it around the bed were considered protection from devilish forces.

But in Europe, this plant appeared late. First, it got to France, where in the 17th century it was one of the most important vegetable crops, and from there to other European states. In the wild, purslane is found in the North Caucasus and Ukraine. But in Russia this vegetable is little known.

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In general, purslane is a very pleasant garden grass and vitamin supplement. Its thick leaves and young stems are especially good in spring salads. Young shoots of the purslane plant are boiled, seasoned with garlic, vinegar, pepper and used as a seasoning for meat and fish. Older stems are added to soups and stews, while thick stems are marinated for winter salads. For these purposes, purslane is grown in Holland and other European countries. It is used in equal proportion with sorrel for the famous French dish, soup bonne femme.

Many amateur gardeners consider purslane to be a vicious weed, but they are wrong. This is the oldest medicinal and food plant. It tastes slightly sour, smells nice, and outwardly it slightly resembles a bear's ear; only with very thick and fleshy leaves and a creeping stem branching from the base.

Purslane is both tasty and healthy

Young shoots, leaves and even flowers are eaten. Juicy purslane greens have a pleasant aroma and a slightly pungent sour taste, giving a sensation of freshness. And therefore fresh purslane perfectly quenches thirst, stimulates appetite and increases vitality.

As a medicinal plant, purslane was widely used in folk medicine since the time of Hippocrates. It was believed that its seeds cleanse the body. In the canon of Avicenna's medical science, the garden purslane was mentioned 70 times. In Russian, a detailed description of the garden purslane as a remedy and food product is given in the book "The Source of Health, or a Dictionary of All Eaten Foods …" published at Moscow University in 1800.

Young leaves and shoots of this culture are rich in easily digestible proteins, vitamins C, PP, E and carotene. And therefore, purslane salads are a great way to treat scurvy.

Purslane has long been used for diseases of the kidneys and liver. It is used as a wound healing and antiscorbutic agent. Decoctions from purslane are recommended as an antipyretic, fresh leaves are applied to bee stings. The literature provides information that purslane has a beneficial effect on flatulence and restless sleep.

Doctors prescribe it as a diuretic and anti-inflammatory agent. Recommended for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, as it lowers blood sugar levels. Purslane also increases blood pressure and increases heart rate, so it is useful for hypotensive patients, but with hypertension, this culture should not be consumed in large quantities.

And more recently, American scientists came to a rather important conclusion - purslane, in a favorable combination and quantity, contains several anti-cancer antioxidants: it is rich in ascorbic acid (vitamin C), beta-carotene (provitamin A), glutathione (a natural antioxidant that can neutralize some pesticides) and tocopherol (vitamin E), not to mention the fatty acids that help lower cholesterol levels. As a result, few cultures can be named that could compare with purslane in terms of the content of nutrients that help prevent the possibility of cancer cells formation.

How to grow a purslane

The most important thing to bear in mind is that purslane is very thermophilic - it does not tolerate even the slightest frost, it is extremely light-loving and hygrophilous. Therefore, you need to select an ideally lit garden for it and water it almost every day, just like spinach. When watering is delayed, the leaves and shoots become coarse and tasteless.

This is an annual plant, therefore, purslane seeds are sown into the heated soil around the beginning of May, observing a spacing of 50-60 cm in the row spacing. The seeding depth of seed is 1-1.5 cm. when preparing salads.

Considering that purslane is thermophilic, it is better to sow seedlings in a greenhouse or greenhouse and then use some of the plants in early spring directly from the greenhouse, and plant some more rarely in the garden. Usually 30-day seedlings are planted in the ground.

If you want to extend the season for using fresh purslane, then repeat the sowing two to three times during the summer.

Purslane does not require any special care, except for regular watering, except for weeding and loosening. In order not to loosen, it is better to mulch the soil under the plants with sawdust - this will kill two birds with one stone: you will not need to loosen it regularly after watering, and the cut greens will be perfectly clean, which is convenient and pleasant.

Purslane quickly runs wild. The seeds in the soil remain viable for several years, and if you do not bury the plant residues deeply, then the next season your purslane will grow all over the garden. On the one hand, it's good - you won't have to sow, but on the other, you will be provided with weeding.

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Purslane cleaning

20-30 days after germination, the first cutting of young juicy leaves can be carried out. Then the cut is carried out as needed. The greens are cut off almost completely.

In general, 2-3 cuts are carried out per season. The leaves and tops of the stems are eaten, flowers can also be used, but the taste of purslane leaves after the beginning of flowering deteriorates a little.

What can you cook with purslane

Purslane is edible raw in salads; it is also delicious boiled in soups and sauces. Greens can be marinated for future use, by the way, in stores they already sell pickled purslane, it is believed that such purslane is a good seasoning for meat dishes. In this case, young shoots of the plant are boiled, seasoned with garlic, vinegar, pepper and used as a seasoning for meat and fish.

But most often, purslane is used to make salads from it - and it is simple and healthy.

As a spicy side dish, it is served with meat and fish dishes, added to sauces and savory mayonnaises. In France, Armenia, Uzbekistan, vitamin salads are prepared from purslane mixed with spicy herbs.

Purslane salad

For 200 g of purslane: 8 g of garlic, salt, vinegar, cilantro and parsley to taste.

Sort the purslane, rinse, put in salted boiling water, simmer, put on a sieve and cool. Transfer purslane to a dish, mix with crushed garlic, pour over with vinegar, sprinkle with cilantro and parsley.

Purslane with butter

150 g of purslane, 15 g of butter

Before serving, put the canned purslane from the jar together with the broth into a saucepan, boil, then drain the broth through a colander, fill the purslane with oil or serve a piece of butter separately.

Pickled purslane

To marinate purslane, it is first thoroughly washed in water, changing it several times. The washed shoots are blanched in water at 90-100 ° C, thrown back on a sieve and allowed to drain. One bay leaf and 1-2 cloves of garlic, cut into slices, are placed at the bottom of half-liter jars. Blanched purslane is tightly packed in jars, pre-cutting the shoots into pieces 5-8 cm long. Salt is added to the filling - 2%, vinegar essence - 2%.

Decorative purslane

Almost as rare as garden purslane, large-flowered purslane is found in Russian areas - an ornamental plant with flowers of various colors that open in sunny weather. It is much less useful in medicinal and nutritional terms, but it looks very impressive in flower beds, flower beds and on rocky hills. The decorative purslane is very beautiful in flowerpots, containers, boxes on balconies and loggias, on top of retaining walls and between slabs of paths in the garden.

As well as the garden purslane, decorative is a plant 15-20 cm high with creeping stems and juicy, fleshy, light green, and sometimes with a reddish tint leaves.

Flowers can be simple, semi-double or double, up to 3-6 cm in diameter, white, yellow, orange, pink and red, of various shades, they are located at the ends of the stems. True, they open only on clear and sunny days, but plants can bloom from June until frost.

Flower corollas come in a wide variety of colors, but terry varieties are still quite rare, but they still appear on sale, and you should look for them in stores, there are also very spectacular hybrids.

Decorative purslane is a thermophilic and extremely light-loving plant - it does not bloom at the slightest shade. Unlike garden purslane, it is drought-resistant - it requires only minimal watering.

And in order for the decorative purslane to please with flowers, it will have to be sown for seedlings in February, and at the same time several rules must be observed:

- sow superficially, not sprinkling with soil, but only moistening from a spray bottle and covering with glass or film; germination of decorative purslane, especially double forms, is usually not very high; it is possible to achieve high germination of seeds only when the crops are kept in a greenhouse equipped with DS lamps, a heater and a thermostat (25 … 35 ° C) for sowing cactus seeds; in the absence of such, you can use an aquarium or just a plexiglass box, covered with plastic wrap, but with the obligatory supplementary lighting of the seedlings;

- the substrate should in no case contain humus or compost from the site; ready-made soil mixtures with manure are not suitable either, because this will lead to the instant death of seedlings from fungal diseases; to increase soil fertility, you can use thermally treated organic matter;

- even before the emergence of seedlings, bowls with seeds must be kept in the light;

- seedlings appear in 7-14 days, and after a couple of weeks they are dived into pots with a diameter of 5-6 cm (the purslane transplant is well tolerated):

- seedlings are grown with minimal watering (until the first pair of true leaves appears, the substrate should be kept moist), because the likelihood of the appearance of fungal diseases is very high; watered once a week a little and only with a solution of biological products (Rhizoplan, Trichodermin and black yeast).