MEET NEW ZEALAND SPINACH (Tetragonia tetragonioides)
Fig Marigold Family (Aizoaceae)
Christopher Nyerges [www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com]
Nyerges is the author of several books including “Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants,” “Foraging Wild Edible Plants of North America,” “Urban Survival Guide” and others. He has led ethno-botany walks since 1974.]
New Zealand spinach is one of the easiest plants to grow in appropriate urban gardens, since it requires very little care, and it readily re-seeds itself.
I first learned about this plant way back in the 1970s when it wasn’t yet so widely known. What impressed me about New Zealand spinach was that it was a perennial which you plant once and then you have “forever.”
I found my first wild New Zealand spinach growing above the high tide line somewhere around Santa Monica or Malibu. I took one small plant home and grew it in a large hillside garden out back. It slowly spread and spread, and I would regularly snip some of the tender tips and add them to my egg omelettes.
After a few years, and regular irrigation, the plant had sprawled over most of a hillside area measuring nearly 1000 square feet. This one patch has been ebbing and flowing for over 40 years. It’s a south-facing hillside, and though the soil isn’t the greatest, it has good sun and we see that it gets irrigation when needed.
When we want to eat some of the greens, we pick only the tender tips, which causes the stems to branch and produce even more. Then, as the stems sprawl out in all directions, the seed scatter on the hillside each fall, and come to life again after the winter rains. There is some die-back after the plant produces seed, but there is always some New Zealand spinach to pick, year-round. It’s one of those no-brainer plants that even the laziest of gardeners can produce regular crops. After having grown regular spinach in my garden – where you plant it, and then harvest one crop – I cannot imagine ever going back to regular spinach in my garden.
Yes, this plant seems to thrive along all the coastal regions, and is even widespread in Hawaii. Along the west coast beaches, you will find it mostly in sandy dunes, usually just beyond the high-tide line.
NATIVE
Originally from New Zealand, Australia, and eastern Asia, New Zealand is now found as a wild plant, often regarded as “invasive,” in many parts of North America, Africa, and Europe, preferring sandy ocean shores and disturbed soils.
The fact that it will do well in any garden is evidenced by the fact that seeds for this plant can now be found in most seed catalogs.
I like the plant because it provides food steadily, year in and out. The plant survives fairly well even when left alone, assuming the soil is at least of average richness, with some shade and some moisture.
FOOD
New Zealand spinach is one of those highly versatile plants with mild-tasting leaves that can be used in a broad selection of dishes. Think of it as a perennial spinach with leaves more succulent than regular spinach. The leaves are a bit chewier than regular spinach, and the flavor is slightly more pronounced.
The tender leaves are great in a simple salad or mixed with other greens. They can be used in stir-fries, soup dishes, and cooked with eggs. If you try cooking the leaves similar to spinach, try drinking the water. It’s a tasty broth and can be used as the basis for a soup stock.
For many years, when I was raising chickens, I would go out back and collect a small basket of New Zealand leaves. I’d take them into my kitchen and wash them, dice them, and stir them into the breakfast omelette I was making from my fresh-collected eggs. For me, the New Zealand spinach was the near-ideal homestead plant!
NUTRITION
Cooked New Zealand spinach is 95% water, 2% carbohydrates, and 1% protein. A hundred grams (3.5 ounces) is rich in vitamin K, with 243% of the Daily Value (DV). It also contains fair amounts of vitamin B6, vitamin C, and manganese (14–23% DV).
As is common with most plants, the common names vary with the location. It is also known as Botany Bay spinach, Cook’s cabbage, kokihi (in Māori), sea spinach, and tetragon. Its Australian names of warrigal greens and warrigal cabbage come from the local use of “warrigal” to describe plants that are wild.
The species was first documented by Captain Cook. The greens were cooked, and pickled to help fight scurvy, and taken with the crew of the Endeavour to help protect against scurvy. It spread when the explorer and botanist Joseph Banks took seeds back to Kew Gardens during the latter half of the 18th century. There are some indications that Māori did eat New Zealand spinach regularly.
IDENTIFICATION
New Zealand leaves are alternately arranged on the stems. The leaves are fleshy and succulent and in their general outline, they resemble common spinach or lamb’s quarter, though the plant is weak stemmed and sprawls in the sand, rarely rising more than a few inches off the ground. The individual leaves are rarely more than 2 inches long.
There are sessile flowers, which are yellow and inconspicuous. The little nutlike seeds fall on the ground around the plant. These can be collected for propagation.
