Grass turns out not to be

We have a gravel driveway, which, as anyone who has one knows, is a great incubator for weeds. So whenever my husband or I spot green stuff in the gravel around the yard, we reflexively bend down to pull it out. Tonight, as I reached down for a bit of errant grass, it jumped away. Ah, ha, not grass, but a grasshopper - a very green one.

Purslane for lunch

I generally pull weeds, but yesterday for a change I ate weeds, specifically purslane (Portulaca oleracea), which I put into my lunch salad. I wanted to give purslane a try after reading this article at the Nutrition Data blog, where nutrition maven Monica Reinagel writes:

"Purslane is one of the richest vegetable sources of omega-3 fatty acids.

A big part of the reason that the meat from pasture-raised cattle (and wild game) is higher in omega-3 fats is because grazing animals favor these succulent wild greens and will eat them preferentially over other grasses. It makes good grazing for people, too. According to research published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 100 grams of purslane contains 300-400 mg of omega-3 fats (alpha-linolenic acid), along with over half a day's supply of vitamin E, a third of the day's vitamin C, and a quarter of the day's vitamin A. But does it taste good?"

To answer the question: Yes, it tastes fine. Like many salad ingredients, to my mind, it doesn't have a strong taste. Being really into healthy eating, I think I'll collect it when I can. Who knew that it's such a good source of omega 3s?

I'm kind of sorry I ate the purslane before taking a picture of it, and believe it or not, I can't find any more of it at the moment, but there are pictures and more info at wikipedia.org.

There are some purslane recipes at the Prairieland Community Supported Agriculture site.