Category: In the garden

If you grow tomatillos (tomates  verdes, Physalis ixocarpa) once, you’ll probably have them for life. If only one of the fruits falls to the ground, your future will most likely include tomatillos. Mine are a mix of plants from the nursery, seed companies and even trips to Mexico. They tend to be smaller, sweeter and mostly purple when fully ripe. A milpero is a cornfield and it’s common to find the tomatillos among the cornstalks.

The plants look a lot like Deadly Nightshade and they are in the same family (as are tomatoes) so when you’re doing early weeding, don’t get too vigorous. If you leave the plants to grow, you’ll see the familiar yellow “paper lanterns” that will eventually fill with the delicious fruits, sometimes even bursting at the seams.

To make  a salsa, place a bunch of tomatillos in their wrappers on a hot dry skillet or comal. Add a thick slice of white onion, a serrano pepper, two cloves of garlic (in their paper skins) and roast until the tomatillos are hissing and soft and the onion charred. Place in a food processor with some lime, salt and chopped cilantro. Chop well and serve.

I first encountered purslane in the books of Diana Kennedy. In Spanish, it’s known as verdolagas and often teamed with pork and tomatillos for what must be  a tangy stew that I’ve never tried. I found it in my garden when I took up tomato-growing and was pleased that the succulent weed came up so easily by the root. Once I identified it as purslane, I took the weeds to the farmers market where I was thrilled to see I could get $3 a pound for my waste! All of my purslane customers were Mexican or Indian and they were very grateful to see the vegetable for sale.

Purslane is a succulent but it’s soft. You can add it to a salad, but not very often. It’s a very particular taste and I think you’ll get tired of it pretty fast. I like to saute it with onion, garlic and serrano chiles and then use it as a filling for tacos, or if I’m ambitious, tamales.  It’s actually delicious like this, not just a healthy weed. Did you know purslane has Omega 3 oils in it? Who needs the mercury in fish?

The purslane is dying back with the cold but there still is plenty here. If you don’t see it, ask a grower at your farmers market if they can bring you some.