A Green Smoothie that Gandhi Would Have Loved

The other day I turned this into.....

this!

I found the lovely Purslane plant growing out of the pavement at my sister's house, pulled up several stems, through them in a blender with a hand full of pineapple, a banana and some water and made the most delicious smoothie.  Originating in India, Purslane is the wild edible know for having the highest omega 3 content of any plant.  It also contains high amounts of vitamins A, C and E and minerals iron, potassium, maganese, calcium and magnesium. I was also pleased to find in my research that purslane was one of Ghandi's favorite foods.  Read more about it and get a closer look at this succulent plant so you can more easily identify it here and here.

The Connection Between a Popular Senegalese Coffee and a Back Yard Weed

Unbeknowst to me, this common blue-flowered weed pictured above that had been growing in abundance in the neighbor's abandoned lot near the house I grew up in was chicory.  I had heard of chicory from the non-caffeinated coffee substitutes I would by at the health food store and from the popular Bru instant coffee sold in Indian specialty stores, but I had no clue that I could just pick it in the backyard and make a tasty drink myself.

Chicory was brought to America by the European settlers possibly for its many medicinal and healing uses.  The roots were boiled down and used by the Cherokees as a wash and poultice for sores and by the Iroquois as a nerve tonic.  One of the most popular uses was its use as a caffeine-free coffee substitute when coffee beans were scarce.  It's easy to make a nice roasted flavor drink from chicory by drying the roots, grinding them up in a coffee grinder and then roasting them.  I made some myself not long ago and new instantly that chicory was used in the popular Cafe' Touba of Senegal.  It's a distinct warm, spicy flavor that you can't miss.  Besides its great taste, chicory supposedly has the added benefit of cleansing the blood and liver and containing Vitamin C and inulin.

Find out more about chicory here.