Had a nice fella give me some seeds but have never heard of this variety, much less its growing and cooking requirements?

Malagar Spinach? Anybody have experieince with this one?

Otter

-- otter360 (kitchen@eng.fsu.edu), April 09, 2002

Answers

I think it's malabar spinach, if it is then you cook it the same as regular spinach. Malabar is not a true spinach, but tastes just like it but does tolerate the heat of summer. If I'm not really confused it is African in origin. Planting is the same as reg spinach too. I have it in my garden, it's too hot in southern KY for reg spinach to last very long. Have a great day, Kathy

-- Kathy Aldridge (beckoningwinds@yahoo.com), April 09, 2002.

Personally I think malabar spinach is more ornamental than edible, but Kathy is right. You can also eat it raw in salads. It does make a pretty, very lush vine in hot weather.

-- Katherine in KY (KyKatherine@Yahoo.com), April 09, 2002.

I've grown the red-stemmed variety in both garden bed and a 6 gallon pot. The one in the bed did better, but it also got full sun as opposed to the one in the pot that was in partial shade.

One thing is that it's quite a vine -- it will want to get 6-7' tall during the summer, so provide some tall poles. It will also reach across to anything tall, such as your cucumber trellis, pole beans, etc. and try and go up that too. Mine turned into an absolute jungle before frost killed it.

I cooked it, but I didn't really care for the taste all that much. Not bad, just didn't have repeat appeal. Raw was fine too. Even the larger leaves remained tender and succulent here with adequate water, which might be a plus. The little flowers are like tiny pink buttons, and are rather decorative. I've seen them trained into topiaries and up archways. They say that you can pickle the stems, but I didn't try it, I had enough other things I was pickling.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), April 09, 2002.

We grew a trellis of malabar spinach last year and it is a beautiful plant, ours was the red stemmed. As far as eating goes I myself thought is was yukkie. Not much flavor and it's slimy sorta like okra. I might grow some this year on a trellis since it is so pretty but it will be only ornamental as far as I'm concerned . I love spinach, they look more a like than taste.

-- sherry in Arkansas (chickadee259@yahoo.com), April 09, 2002.

I've grown Malabar spinach every year since I first heard of it about 7 years ago. It is pretty and very heat tolerant, but I agree with Sherry about the taste. It is very musilaginous like okra or prickly pear, but my husband loves it, so...

-- Deborah Stephenson (wonkaandgypsy@hotmail.com), April 09, 2002.