Malabar Spinach (Tsuru Murasaki)

 

Malabar Spinach leaves can get quite large. Now that is a meal in of itself. The angle of the sun is changing and the plant is not getting as much sun as it did previously, which is why I suspect these leaves are getting larger. 

Malabar Spinach (Tsuru Murasaki)

(12/18) My Malabar Spinach (Tsuru Murasaki) and Okawakame are both growing so well. I am producing more Spinach than I can eat. In Japanese Malabar Spinach is called Tsuru Murasaki, which literally means Vine Purple or Purple Vine. Okawakame translates to Land Seaweed. My Okawakame vine is about a year old and needs more time to strengthen. My mother-in-law said it takes about two or three years for it to really start producing. Okawakame has a similar texture to the Spinach without the Spinach taste, but becomes a little slimy, like Okra, when cooked. Both are very good and both are extremely healthy. 

Malabar Spinach

I picked about a quarter pound of leaves to make a salad and took pictures before and after, but could not tell the difference because there as just too many leaves.

I boiled the spinach for about 30 seconds and rinsed it in cold water. Then I squeezed the water out and sliced it up. Next I placed the Spinach in a dish, garnished with Bonito flakes and sliced Tomatoes and added some Tsuyu dressing. Super healthy and delicious. 

Malabar Spinach

(11/20) My Malabar Spinach is growing so well I am unable to eat it all.

Malabar Spinach develops flowers that develops into berries. The berries are eatable, but have no taste. Many people use them as food coloring. They have a beautiful purple color. I pick them and save the seeds for future planting.

 

Malabar Spinach

(10/23) I had Malabar Spinach as a side dish today. I pick about this much every other day with tons more to pick if I desired.

The leaves get quite large if I do not pick them regularly, but they are still tender. 

I add the smaller raw leaves to my salads, but boil the larger leaves, add some Okra, Tomato wedges, Sesame Seeds and add a little Tsuyu dressing.

Malabar Spinach

(10/8) There are many Malabar Spinach flowers all over the plant. I intend to pick the berries for future planting.

Berries

Seed

Let the seeds dry before storing

Malabar Spinach

(9/30) I am finding many Malabar Spinach berries. The berries are a deep purple, have no taste and generally used as a food coloring; however, I will pick them and keep the seed for future planting. 

Malabar Spinach

(9/7) My Malabar Spinach is starting to flower. This is great, because I can collect the seeds for future planting. I grew the current plants from seed I collected from the previous plant. But, while the plant is still growing, you can just pinch off a piece and stick it in the dirt and it will grow a new plant. They are extremely easy to grow.  

 

Today's Harvest (12 August)

My Malabar Spinach plant is only two months old and I have been able to harvest twice so far. I am working to grow even more since it grows so quickly and extremely nutritious.

Malabar Spinach (Cutting)

(8/8) I took a Malabar Spinach cutting and stuck it in a planter three days ago just to see what would happen and surprised to see a leaf starting to grow.

Malabar Spinach

(8/7) I pinched the vines on 1 August and many new vines are starting to grow.

Malabar Spinach

(8/1) I pinched all the Malabar Spinach vines. The vines should start to sprout multiple vines creating more leaves. Stay tune to see how the plant progresses.

Today's Harvest (29 July)

Today my wife picked some Malabar Spinach. This was the first time we ate it and was pleasantly surprised it tasted just like regular spinach. It was delicious. Malabar Spinach is a great alternative to regular spinach, especially considering it grows like a weed in the hot humid weather, not to mention it is more nutritious than regular spinach.

Malabar Spinach

(7/11) My Malabar Spinach plants are starting to climb.

Malabar Spinach

(6/22) I planted some of the seeds from the Malabar Spinach plant I planted in early June. The seeds sprouted in mid-June and growing quickly.

(7/8) It's been about 2 weeks and the Malabar Spinach growing quickly.

I have four more Malabar Spinach seedlings and two Yellow Passion Fruit seedlings. 

Seeding Tray

(6/16) Passion Fruit (Yellow), Crown Daisy (Shungiku), Malabar spinach. 

Malabar Spinach

(6/14) The Malabar Spinach plant I planted a few weeks ago did not make it, but I was able to collect and dry a hand full of seeds. I planted a few about a week ago and they have already started to sprout. Now I went back to the nursery I purchased this plant from and one of the vines had grown up a water hose suspected from the top of the green house and started to grow across the steel rafters. Now it grew about 20-25 feet in about two weeks. I now realize how fast this plant grows and need to get moving to suspect some ropes from my second from balcony to allow this plant to grow, because it grows to very fast. I'll post some updates once I get the ropes suspected.