Salsola…a samphire alternative?

Marsh Samphire has to be one of my all time favourite vegetables, fresh, crunchy and salty it is also highly seasonal, and recently trendier and hence more expensive, so I was very pleased to come across Salsola Soda in the Real Seeds catalogue last winter. It’s a salad vegetable that is very popular in Italy and Japan, and to my taste also very similar to samphire.

It can be used raw in a salad dressed with a light lemony vinaigrette, or lightly steamed with a little butter or olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and a little seasoning, which was what I did.

I’ve been very impressed with the productivity of the few plants I grew, but found it quite tricky to germinate, and found it important to keep weeds at bay around the seedlings as they become swamped easily. It is definately a plant I plan to grow again next year.