Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Sea Sandwort along with all the Sea Sandwort containing recipes presented on this site, with 3 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Sea Sandwort as a major wild food ingredient.

Sea Sandwort, Honckenya peploides, (also known as Honckneya, seaside sandplant, sea chickweed, sea pimpernal, sea-beach sandwort, and sea purslane), is an hardy perennial in the Caryophyllaceae (carnation) family. It is a has a has a circumboreal distribution and is found in both temperate and arctic regions. It is found in coastal regions on sand, shingle and pebbles, in northern Europe (including Britain), northern Asia and North America. It is a succulent, subdioecious, spreading plant, forming patches on sand and shingle above the high water mark of beaches. The stem is branching and buried in the sand. The leaves grow in opposite pairs and are fleshy with membranous margins, pale yellowish-green and ovate, oblong or lanceolate, usually with pointed tips. The flowers are often dioecious and have parts in fives.

Plants are subdioecious (with clumps typically being either male or female) and male and female plants can be separated by a few centimetres or many metres. It is typically found by sea coasts on mobile sand and sandy shingle.

Sea Sandwort can be eaten as a leaf vegetable and a slightly sour and salty taste. It can also be pickled and turned into a form of sauerkraut. The seeds, though fiddly to extract can be eaten and used to be added as an adulterant to flour. In Iceland the plant is steeped in sour whey and allowed to ferment. The resulting liquor is said to taste like olive oil and is used as a beverage. The seeds can also be employed as a garnish.

The shoots and leaves are rich in vitamin A and vitamin C and can be used as a green leafy vegetable either raw or cooked. It has, historically, been cultivated as a potherb. Opinions on the plant's edibility differs and initially I was a little wary of the plant. However, having tasted it now, I would say it is quite delicious and I give it a higher edibility rating than most sources. The flavour is slightly tart but reminiscent of cucumber and pea shoots. The entire above-ground portion of the plant is edible. However, avoid when in flower as it becomes bitter (I think this is why it has many poor reviews). I would suggest only collecting in early spring when not in flower. If foraging by the foreshore it makes an excellent nibble and can be added to salads. It's also great steamed or lightly sautéed in butter. However, if you do pick when in flour they can be made more palatable by blanching in salted water (this will leach out the bitter compounds and the salt acts as a counteragent to the bitterness).

As well as being used fresh the leaves can also be dried for later use. The seeds are edible and can be dried and ground to a powder for mixing with cereals, adulterating wheat flour or being prepared into a porridge or gruel. Added to flour it improves the food quality of breads, pancakes, etc. The seeds are very fiddly to harvest and are easiest obtained by uprooting seedling plants where the flowers have finished and arranging in a pile on sheets or cloth. In a few days the seeds are shed and can be collected on the sheet.

The pea-like flavour means that sea sandwort can be used as a direct substitute for peas in just about any dish. It's also great for making soups.

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants