My reason for promoting the use of wild food is that I would like to encourage the eating of greens in Belize and entice people to broaden their culinary palate; recipes have been included with the article to start you off but I would encourage personal inventiveness and innovation in the cooking of the vegetable. Furthermore the foraging of greens in grasslands, shrub areas or even in the back yard will promote physical well-being in terms of mild cardio-vascular activity. More-over, I would like to banish the excuses that I hear time and time again…”There is no callaloo in the market so I can’t eat greens,” or “I don’t have a place to grow my own vegetables,” or “ I can’t afford the broccoli or the green peppers!”.
Well, here is the solution: put on a shade hat and walk out of your house with a basket and start foraging! Purslane grows everywhere even under the worst conditions of dry clay soils. During our dry season this year, I was deprived of many of my garden greens since I do not use an irrigation system, and I managed to find purslane in abundance. For completeness sake this is the description of it from Penelope Honychurch’s “ Caribbean Wild Plants and Their Uses”:- A prostrate herb with spreading habit.The fleshy leaves are ovate and rounded at the tip. The flowers are small and yellow, and open only in the morning. The stems are a reddish colour.
It is rich in vitamin A and C and has a high percentage of omega 3 which is usually only found in fish oils and flax seed. It is a versatile vegetable which can be eaten raw in salads or cooked in a variety of ways. It has a mildly acidic taste and the soft texture of a succulent. Leaves, flowers and stem can be eaten.
See my Recipes: