Malabar spinach smoothies

I ran out of kale for my smoothie this morning and remembered my Malabar spinach (Basella alba), growing on my back porch.

This Asian spinach-type plant is not quite as good as spinach to me. It doesn't have quite the same flavor but is still good. Some find it slightly slimy (it's not like okra). It grows in a vine and is a lovely plant. It has a pretty red vine and now that the seasons are beginning to change, the leaves are beginning to form a reddish rim.

The leaves are heart-shaped and it does well in very hot weather. My plant is beginning to put out little black berries which will become the seeds. If I don't harvest the seeds, I will probably have volunteer plants to come up next year. The plant I have came up from seed that way. It was actually a bonus plant.

I noticed it winding up one of my tomato plants in the middle of the summer. It then climbed up a pepper plant and at first I thought that might not be a good thing but it eventually helped to give support to my pepper plant so I let it grow.

Back to the smoothie. It was the bomb! This made a great addition to my healthy morning smoothie. Last year I was ho-hum about growing Malabar spinach. Now I love it am planning to grow more for my smoothies.