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Winter purslane (Miner`s lettuce)
Miner`s lettuce (Indian lettuce) - Montia perfoliata.
An annual plant with fleshy, heart-shaped leaves. The leaves have a pleasant aroma of purslane, along with stems and flowering shoots are used to prepare salads. Rich in vitamins, minerals, has tonic properties, improves digestion.
Agriculture.
The best predecessors are cabbage, potatoes, under which organic fertilizers were applied. In autumn, plowing or digging is carried out with the introduction of humus. Acidic soils require liming. Mineral fertilizers are applied in spring. Seeds are sown in open ground in early April, in wide rows with row spacing of 10 cm. The sowing depth is 1 cm. Before and after sowing, rolling is carried out. When dense seedlings appear, thinning is performed twice: in the phase of one true leaf at a distance of 5-7 cm, leaving a distance of 15-20 cm between plants. After thinning, top dressing is carried out with a solution of complex fertilizer.
An annual plant with fleshy, heart-shaped leaves. The leaves have a pleasant aroma of purslane, along with stems and flowering shoots are used to prepare salads. Rich in vitamins, minerals, has tonic properties, improves digestion.
Agriculture.
The best predecessors are cabbage, potatoes, under which organic fertilizers were applied. In autumn, plowing or digging is carried out with the introduction of humus. Acidic soils require liming. Mineral fertilizers are applied in spring. Seeds are sown in open ground in early April, in wide rows with row spacing of 10 cm. The sowing depth is 1 cm. Before and after sowing, rolling is carried out. When dense seedlings appear, thinning is performed twice: in the phase of one true leaf at a distance of 5-7 cm, leaving a distance of 15-20 cm between plants. After thinning, top dressing is carried out with a solution of complex fertilizer.
Cultivation of claytonia.
Claytonia is photophilous and moisture-loving: it actively grows after good watering, but loves loose and drained soils with an acidity of 6.1-7.8. Suitable for year-round cultivation in greenhouses and on windowsills.
Seeds are sown, planting to a depth of up to 0.5 cm (when sowing, they are mixed with sand so that the seedlings do not have to be thinned out further). Grow in moist conditions.
Optimum plant density is 10-12 cm apart and 25 cm in rows.
The seeds germinate pretty quickly. The culture is early maturing, from sowing to cutting leaves takes 20-25 days. Greens can be cut repeatedly without affecting the growing point of the outlet. From each plant, up to 100 g of useful greens are obtained from one cut.
When blooming, claytonia does not lose its taste. With the onset of the hot summer period, claytonia must be watered intensively, since the aerial part begins to taste a little bitter, drying out and acquiring a reddish tint (plants die off completely in drought). Moreover, the roots of dead plants do not need to be removed from the garden at all, since claithonia is an excellent green manure crop that improves the structure and composition of the soil.
Eng.: Indian lettuce, Winter purslane, Miner`s lettuce. Suom.: Talviportulakka, Salaattikleitonia. Sven.: Vinterportlak. Montia perfoliata. Bot.syn.: Claytonia perfoliata Donn ex Willd., Limnia perfoliata.
The fleshy greens of claytonia are tender, crispy, with a light spicy aroma, but in general it has an almost neutral, slightly sweet, refreshing taste. Despite the fact that it is often compared in taste to spinach, it is more reminiscent of garden purslane, so it has another name - Winter purslane.
It can replace iceberg lettuce in culinary dishes and regular lettuce in sandwiches. According to the American Dietetic Association, 100 grams of winter purslane provides a third of the daily value of vitamin C, 22% of vitamin A, and 10% of iron. Contains a lot of proteins, omega-3 fatty acids and minerals. The plant goes well with nettle, and it is worth trying it not only in vitamin salads (on its own with vegetable oil, salt and black pepper, good with the addition of quail eggs or parmesan, combined with arugula, with lemon or orange juice dressing), but and for green cabbage.
Like garden purslane, winter purslane contributes to the thickening of soups due to the content of mucous substances. Its neutral flavor goes well with meat, seafood, eggs, mushrooms, citrus fruits, apples and walnuts.
Miner's lettuce is tasty not only raw, but also fried, although during heat treatment it acquires a slightly slimy texture, similar in taste to water chestnut or chestnut.
Recipe: miner`s lettuce with radish in pomegranate sauce.
Ingredients for 4 servings: claytonia (leaves) - 1 bunch, radish - 50 g, pomegranate (juice) - 60 ml, olive oil - 3 tbsp. spoons, balsamic vinegar - 2 tbsp. spoons, salt - ½ teaspoon, dried thyme - 1 teaspoon.
Cooking method.
Rinse the claytonia leaves, dry on a napkin. Then put the leaves in the center of the serving plates in a slide. Wash the radish, dry it, cut into circles, put the slices in a circle around the plate around the lettuce leaves. Mix pomegranate juice with olive oil, vinegar, salt and thyme, mix thoroughly, and then beat with a whisk. Drizzle salad dressing over salad and serve immediately.
