Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Purslane...for market?

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Richard Moyer <ramoyer AT gmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Purslane...for market?
  • Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 22:56:40 -0400

Deb,
We continue to be surprised the number of things we take to market,
and subsets of customers know what it is and are willing to try it.
Right now it's squash blossoms, amaranth (pigweed) and purslane.
Include education on how to use these, including recipes if that works
for you. I'm still surprised the number of people needing permission
to buy and try something new. Recipes or uses, verbal or printed,
lower this acceptance barrier. Buyer (and seller) psychology worth
pondering.

Have been selling purslane for several years at market, because we've
been eating it longer. Some say it's the vegetable with highest
levels of omega-3 fatty acids. See "Common purslane: a source of
omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants."
www.jacn.org/content/11/4/374.abstract
Good for Vit E and certain minerals. I stress that aspect for
customers who care, and those who could. We have samples available as
we talk. Remembering which narratives appeal to which customers
helps.

Chefs at market know about purslane, though they've seen it cooked in
Portugal and Spain.

We eat most of it raw, our favorite way being mixed with chopped
tomatoes, onion or garlic optional, olive oil and vinegar and spices.
Nice salad when lettuce is scarce. Great crunchy texture without
toughness, can be prechilled for a hot day.

We try to harvest purslane before it goes to seed, as the tiny seeds
keep shedding and look like dirt after washing. We harvest a lot of
bite-sized 'arms' on older plants, as these will grow back very fast.
Or cut whole young plants in a thick stand. Ours also gets a leaf
miner, which looks bad, so sometimes we cut whole plants back and feed
to animals, to break that pest cycle and start vegetative growth
again. We are transplanting some to a bed in our hoophouse, as
purslane likes it hot.

We sell it for $6 per lb, though to get customers to try it, 1/4# for
$1.5 or 1/3# for $2, pre-bagged, is easier to test market acceptance.
I wouldn't pick and take a huge amount, else YOU may never try again.
A strategy learned from produce vendors in other countries: If I was
reluctant to purchase a new item (to me), they would often give me a
small bag of it with the rest of my purchase. They introduced us to
multiple new veggies that way, and we began to purchase some of them
regularly in larger amounts.

As for selling 'weeds', get over it! One's trash are others'
treasures, one's weeds are others' pleasures. Seriously, one need not
read much before discovering that multiple veggies and fruits that are
'mainstream' for us are wild plants elsewhere, and vice versa. A
subset of our customers are consistently interested in native/wild
foods; so we try to have the seasonal progression of these at every
market, even if we end up taking some home. So what if some customers
laugh when they see purslane for sale, saying they've been pulling it
for years. I want people to stop at my booth, talking about and
tasting new things. A fellow vendor and I joke about paying each
other's kids to linger in front of our booths, to let others know it's
safe to stop there, too!

Richard Moyer
SW VA


>
> Message: 7
> Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:52:47 -0400
> From: Deb Taft <deb AT mobiusfields.com>
> Subject: [Market-farming] Purslane...for market?
> To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID:
> <CAPhAbUYp7dkg=2_pxjevdR=XjEzLouoU864bTvCRLC1kv=+=Yg AT mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Howdy All.
>
> My mid-summer bounty of weeds includes a couple of gorgeous stands of
> purslane. I've heard people will buy it, especially around here, and I see
> a lot of recipes for it online. I'm thinking about harvesting a bunch for
> market Saturday but feel pretty sheepish about the whole thing. Even though
> I frequently munch on it while I'm working...it's a WEED!
>
> Do people really buy it?!
>
> I see Johnny's sells seeds -- is it that variety people are looking for or
> will the garden variety :) suffice?
>
> How do I harvest (whole plant or cut off arms), store and PRICE it???
>
> Any experience, insight, instruction very much appreciated!
>
> Warmly,
> Deb
> Mobius Fields
> Sleepy Hollow / Waccabuc NY
> where it looks like we might get an evening shower
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL:
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/market-farming/attachments/20110728/a1a33a9c/attachment.html
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Market-farming mailing list
> Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
>
> Get the list FAQ at: http://www.marketfarming.net/mflistfaq.htm
>
>
> End of Market-farming Digest, Vol 102, Issue 37
> ***********************************************
>




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page