Winter Purslane

An easily-grown hardy salad plant producing succulent, mild-flavoured leaves throughout autumn, winter and early spring. Best grown undercover, it thrives in cool conditions – seeds won’t germinate in warm weather. Rich in vitamin C. Also known as claytonia and miners lettuce.

An unusual and attractive salad plant which has gained in popularity in recent years. Native to Western North America, where it was an important staple food and medicinal herb for many Native American groups such as the Ohlone of California; it later gained one of its common names ‘miners lettuce’ through the widespread consumption by gold miners during the Californian gold rush (who subsisted on beans, bacon and coffee) as scurvy was rife – knowledge shared with the migrants by the foothill tribes of the Sierra Nevada. [https://unitedplantsavers.org/the-original-medicinal-plant-gatherers-conservationists/]

The species was introduced to Western Europe during the late 18th-century where it has become naturalised in several countries. It will self-seed if left to flower.

Winter purslane is a valuable component of mixed winter salads, balancing out stronger-flavoured leaves such as land cress and oriental brassicas. Best used fresh for optimal nutritional value; the easiest way to crop it is to grasp a bunch of leaves between thumb and fingers and cut with a knife or scissors – plants will quickly regrow and so they are an excellent winter-hardy “cut-and-come-again” crop. 

They will store in a food bag in the fridge for a couple of days, but I find it is best to store separately from other salad leaves as they don’t last quite as long, probably because of their high water content.

Approx. 900 seeds per packet.

Botanical name: Claytonia perfoliata