In appearance, and texture, these young seedlings are similar to ice plants, and they both taste slightly salty.
This vegetable is also known by other names such as New Zealand Spinach, Cook’s Cabbage, Sea Spinach, Botany Bay Spinach, or Warrigal greens.
In spite of its numerous common names, this plant is not spinach.
It belongs to the marigold and figs family (Aizoaceae).
What made this edible plant interesting for us, is that it has the characteristic of salt crystals on triangular/oval-shaped leaves which are thick and succulent nature.
Its proper name is a long one, “Tetragonia Tetragonoides”, so please let’s keep it short.
Tetragon it shall be!
The seeds are not difficult to germinate and once established, grew like weeds and invasive.
Thus, they are best grown in pots in our limited space gardens.
Germination Steps – Need Special Stratification
Clip off a small part of the pointy end of the seeds
Soak overnight in warm water, 40C
Pre-moist soil and plant seeds, lightly covered
Well draining sandy soil
Tolerate heat
Likes moisture, can be grown outdoor without shelter
Growing Journal
This is how they started from seed.
It took about 7 to 11 days to germinate using the above method.
Young seedlings grew very fast.
The mature plants are fuss-free to grow.
They propagated by cutting or self sowed thereafter.
These are perennial vegetables and will keep coming back in non-frost regions.
MUST COOK, BLANCH, DO NOT EAT RAW IN LARGE QUANTITY
Although it’s not spinach, it has the properties of cool weather spinach such as oxalates.
A light blanching is recommended instead of eating this raw in the form of salads.
Oxalates prevent calcium from being absorbed in our body and can cause kidney stones.
Most dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, raw or frozen form, contained oxalates.
However, it is easily removed by the introduction of heat when we blanched or cook these vegetables.
The taste is similar to cool weather spinach but this plant is heat, drought-tolerant, and loves the sun.
It is not able to tolerate cold and preferred well-draining sandy medium.
In usage and cooking, any spinach recipes will work with this vegetable.
It can be grown in soil or liquid-based.
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