Malabar spinach (and berries)
One of my favorite greens to bring in for the winter is Malabar spinach (Basella alba). I saw some had reseeded themselves a few years ago and, on a whim, I dug them up and brought them inside. I have been bringing the same plants in for a couple of years now.
We enjoy the greens as one would any other green, but have never tried the berries. I have looked online several times and have never seen anything definitive about their edibility. Has anyone tried them? If so, did you eat them raw? Juice them? Stew them? I have both a Champion juicer, which would crush the seeds and a steam juicer which would give me pure juice, albeit no longer raw.
Even if I can't eat the berries, I will have plenty to plant out in the spring!
Comments
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@Gail H I have never heard of this plant. Do you have any photographs of it and/or its berries?? Have a Happy New Year!
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This guy juices them carefully so as to not crush the seeds too much. Be sure to read the comments, a few folks mention traditional uses for them. Around 2:49 is where he starts talking about the berries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gl2HjFt0IU He does note that he couldn't find any documented research on the berries.
Here is another link that mentions using them as a food coloring agent. https://www.bbg.org/gardening/article/red-stemmed_malabar_spinach
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Down in the comments on the video someone posted this link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5156645/ It gives a lot of info on nutrition etc but if you scroll down to the conclusion I you will find some documented answers.
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