Frugal Upstate

Use what you have, get creative and save!

  • Home
  • Cooking
  • DIY
  • Gardening
  • Repairs/Mending
  • Contact
  • About
    • Disclaimer
You are here: Home / Frugal Food / Canned Purslane — Eat the Weeds!

Canned Purslane — Eat the Weeds!

September 13, 2016 By Jenn @ Frugal Upstate 6 Comments

This post may contain sponsored and/or affiliate links. Click here to read our full disclaimer and find out more about this.

This years garden. . . well, it hasn’t been exactly a flop.  I’ve gotten quite a few tomatoes, cucumbers and squash out of it.  However it hasn’t been an EXCELLENT garden, and I haven’t had a ton of excess to can.  First the weeds got ahead of me, then the late blight hit the tomatoes, then I didn’t get fall crops planted early enough and many of the beans went past the “snap” phase directly into shell beans.

Sigh.

It’s years like this that you have to make lemonade out of lemons.  Enjoy what you get, don’t stress over what’s not producing, and look for the hidden gems.  So instead of being angry at the over abundance of weeds in the garden, I chose to look at it as a bumper crop of Purslane, Lambsquarter and more.

Today I’m going to talk about the Purslane.

eat-the-weeds-canned-purslane

What’s purslane?  It’s an extremely common garden weed that happens to be not only edible but highly nutritious.  According to Mother Earth News, Purslane is high in Vitamin E, and has vitamin C, magnesium, riboflavin, potassium, phosphorus and an essential omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)  (yes, omega-3 fatty acids are the healthy stuff that’s in fish oil).

Since the garden I planted hadn’t grown as well as I liked, I figured I better “Make it Do” with what God had blessed me with.

Make it Do

So what is purslane like?  Raw purslane is sort of crunchy and lemony.  Cooked it has more of a slimy texture.  I know that sounds disgusting, but think Okra not slime mold!  I’ve used it in Gumbo and stews without anyone being the wiser.

Here’s what some purslane looks like growing in my garden.

purslane-in-the-garden

You’ve probably pulled this stuff out while weeding without realizing it was edible!  The leaves are actually quite small-I took a picture with my hand in it to give you some perspective.  It’s more of a succulent–the stems are round and juicy and the leaves remind me of a jade plant.

purslane

Now Purslane does have a toxic “look a like”–although I don’t think they look all that much alike.  There is a plant called spurge that can superficially look like purslane.  So make sure you really know that what you have is purslane before you eat any.  The big giveaway on spurge is that when you cut the stems it gives off a white, milky sap–kind of like what dandelions do.  Purslane does not give off a sap when cut!  There is an article on how to correctly identify Purslane over at Forage Foodie that shows you the difference.

I had just gobs and gobs of purslane in the garden, more than we were ever going to eat fresh.  So I picked it, cut off the roots, washed it well in several changes of water, steamed them for 5 min, then I pressure canned it using the directions for greens from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.   (right there in the directions for greens it states that they are also for wild greens)

Note:  The only safe way to can greens is by pressure canning, as they are a low acid food. You could also freeze them using the directions for freezing greens.

img_1813

I canned my purslane in both pints and half pints (aka jelly jars).  These are an item I plan to add into curries, soups, gumbo and things like that to add bulk and additional nutrition.

So instead of bemoaning the state of my garden I wound up with 7 jars of “free” purslane!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Share on Facebook Share
Share on TwitterTweet
Share on Pinterest Share
Share on LinkedIn Share
Share on Digg Share

No related posts.

Filed Under: Frugal Food, Make Do and Mend

Tweet
« Meal Plan 9/12
Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus CE — with GIVEAWAY »

Comments

  1. Brenda says

    August 24, 2020 at 2:29 pm

    Did you chop the purslane and did you include any stem

    Reply
    • Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says

      April 29, 2022 at 3:35 pm

      Yes, it was chopped and included stem.

      Reply
  2. Rebecca A Woosley says

    August 31, 2021 at 12:13 pm

    Will it grow back if you harvest it?
    Cut or pull it up?
    Stems & leaves, or just the leaves?
    Are there seeds if you want to grow it or do you transplant?
    Any more weeds edible?
    Resources online I can use & learn more about wild edibles?

    Reply
    • Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says

      April 29, 2022 at 3:29 pm

      It tosses out tons of tiny little seeds that continue to sprout. I assume if you only harvested the tips it would keep growing for a while, but in my garden it grows like a, well, weed!

      Reply
  3. Eve says

    January 19, 2022 at 1:49 am

    Hi Jeen,

    Do you know anything about Comfrey from before they banned it as no good,

    As my Mum used to eat.
    Thanks again bye

    Reply
    • Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says

      April 29, 2022 at 3:27 pm

      The current recommendation for Comfrey is to only use it externally. I know lots of folks used to use it internally-that’s something you’d have to research and really decide if you felt comfortable “bucking” the current guidance.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Follow us

  • instagram
  • pinterest
  • twitter
  • facebook
  • rss

About Frugal Upstate

About Frugal Upstate

I’m Jenn –an Upstate NY wife, mom, blogger and veteran. I talk very fast, read constantly, take on too much and make plenty of mistakes. I’m a real person, not perfection. I love to talk about the frugal lifestyle, “Village Homesteading”, living a more sustainable lifestyle and being prepared for all the curves life throws at you.

Search

Free Email Updates:

FEATURED

Contributor at the Homestead Bloggers Network

The Motherboard
Blogger Outreach Made Easy Quantcast
Blog PR Wire Blog Network
Frugal Upstate is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

Copyright © 2023 · Designed by Design Junky · Hosted by New Blog Hosting

Copyright © 2023