Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

[Durgan]

There is a good crop or purslane growing. Collecting the seeds manually is tedious. I collect by laying a fiber mesh screen on a tarp and sweep up the fine seeds. This is done over a period of about two weeks. Below is my 2012 system, which I have made again for 2015. I use the seeds much like one would use poppy seeds.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?AXHPS 5 July 2012 Collecting Purslane Seeds
One and one half cups of Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) seed was collected. The tarp screen method works well. The seeds are very small. Annotated photographs depict the procedure.

[PaulF]

Amazing! Only in the last couple of years did I find out purslane was a plant not considered a weed by some. Purslane was one of the banes of my garden. Only good thing was it hoed easily. What does it taste like?

[NarnianGarden]

Wow!! That was quite lot of work I guess!

Purslane is great as salad leaves, the plant has omega 3 fatty acids, which is rare for a vegetarian source (flaxseeds contain some but there are absorbtion issues)...

[luigiwu]

Is the purslane flowering? do you have a picture of that? mine doesn't have any flowers so I'm curious where the seeds are...

[Durgan]

A few of the plants are in flower. I will start harvesting after the pods form where the flowers now are. I pressure can some and collect the seeds from others. I have quite a large patch this year.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?TDBCB 5 July 2014 Purslane Juicing
Portulaca oleracea (common purslane) is free growing in my garden as it does all over the world.It has much inherent nutrition and can be utilized in salads, or cooked like spinach, or juiced as I preserve the plant.The stems, leaves and flower buds are all edible.
The plants are selected, washed, cooked until soft and blended into a slurry. The slurry is strained through a 2 mm food mill screen, then the residue is put through a Champion juicer to extract most of the nutrients. The juice is then placed in liter jars, and pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage at room temperature. Today 21 liters were processed.

[NarnianGarden]

Admirable efforts for good nutrition - hats off to you & your crew
I am content just munching on the leaves (if aphids leave me some...)

[Durgan]

[QUOTE=luigiwu;484592]Is the purslane flowering? do you have a picture of that? mine doesn't have any flowers so I'm curious where the seeds are...[/QUOTE
http://www.durgan.org/2015/July%2020...0Flowers/HTML/ 4 July 2015 Purslane Flowers
The purslane plants are starting to flower. There should be a good harvest of seeds this year when the seed pods form.

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?TDBCB 5 July 2014 Purslane Juicing
Portulaca oleracea (common purslane) is free growing in my garden as it does all over the world.It has much inherent nutrition and can be utilized in salads, or cooked like spinach, or juiced as I preserve the plant.The stems, leaves and flower buds are all edible.
The plant are selected, washed, cooked until soft and blended into a slurry. The slurry is strained through a 2 mm food mill screen, then the residue is put through a Champion juicer to extract most of the nutrients. The juice is then placed in liter jars, and pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage at room temperature. Today 21 liters were processed.

[Ganado]

Just eat it raw in salads.

Purslane tastes slight salty raw

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[Durgan]

Originally Posted by Ganado

Just eat it raw in salads.

Purslane tastes slight salty raw

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Of course, but what about the off season?

[Ganado]

I have only ever eaten it fresh. It can get bitter as it ages an the flowers come out.

[raindrops27]

While sitting by the fire out back, I decided to roast some purslane it was delicious, tasted, like roasted asparagus..

[ddsack]

Will have to try some roasted! I only eat it picked young and fresh in salads or as a lettuce substitute in sandwiches. Also great in tacos. I need to weed my corn patch quickly before the purslane gets too big and old -- could roast up a big batch. I also only save it in the early morning, because once it heats up in the sun, by afternoon it loses the lemony taste and only tastes like grass.

[Ganado]

Originally Posted by Durgan

Of course, but what about the off season?

A good question I usually go with seasonal but given your demo I may have to reconsider. It's good to learn new things.

I really appreciate you sharing if you didn't we (aka me must speak for myself) wouldn't learn anything new.

Not quite sure how much nutrition you lose in canning or if it's worth the effort. I will juice some and see .... some experimenting. Lol the eternal gardner delima.. what to expiriment with next =]

I'm not trying to be difficult about canning. I just like to consider benefits in effort vs health. Eg tomatoes have.more Lycopine (think anti cancer) when canned. So I can and pickle tomatoes as well as dry them.

So I'm wondering about purslane. What it's cost benefit trade offs are.

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[Durgan]

Originally Posted by Ganado

A good question I usually go with seasonal but given your demo I may have to reconsider. It's good to learn new things.

I really appreciate you sharing if you didn't we (aka me must speak for myself) wouldn't learn anything new.

Not quite sure how much nutrition you lose in canning or if it's worth the effort. I will juice some and see .... some experimenting. Lol the eternal gardner delima.. what to expiriment with next =]

I'm not trying to be difficult about canning. I just like to consider benefits in effort vs health. Eg tomatoes have.more Lycopine (think anti cancer) when canned. So I can and pickle tomatoes as well as dry them.

So I'm wondering about purslane. What it's cost benefit trade offs are.

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Tomatoes are a large portion of my canned produce depending upon the production decided by the weather. MY philosophy is have as much variety as possible, not necessarily attributing preference to any one plant material. I am always adding new products as information on them arises. http://durgan.org/2011/ For one person I have found that about three hundred liters are enough for off season use.
Purslane is just another material which is readily available.

Any preservation method must be relatively easy to implement. I have most of the modern tools to ease the process. The labor must be kept to a minimum or the method will probably be abandoned.

Economics, anything at home is usually less expensive than ordering in the conventional for lack of a better description "Junk food".