Wild summer vegetables, purslane, a "farmer vegetable" that grows wild and flourishes, a dish for the poor that tastes as good as ginseng.

Purslane is a simple vegetable. But it is also a valuable medicine in traditional and modern medicine. It can cure many common diseases and some chronic diseases.

Identify purslane

Purslane is a very “farmer” vegetable of the summer. We call it a farmer’s vegetable because it is a very common vegetable, easy to grow, easy to live, and has strong vitality even in lands where it seems no other vegetable can live.

Extracted from the essence of the soil, purslane can grow in even the driest lands. Without special care or cultivation, purslane can grow naturally like the vitality and perseverance of farmers.

In this special vegetable, people find a mild, slightly sour taste and a characteristic purple color of the stem that makes purslane unmistakable.

Purslane is one of the wild summer vegetables. Purslane grows wild in gardens, fields, roadsides...

If you have the opportunity to visit the countryside, you can easily find purslane in the fields, fields, and natural mounds. This type of vegetable has the characteristic of growing close to the ground. The stem is very plump, purple-red, the leaves are green, and the flowers are yellow or red, very beautiful.

The leaves are small round or slightly oblong. Looking at purslane in the summer is very pleasant because it gives us a feeling of succulent and cool in the hot summer.

Purslane is easy to eat, easy to use, simple, but that's just how these vegetables are. If you haven't eaten purslane this summer, try it. You won't be able to forget it, not only because of its unique flavor but also because of its countless miraculous uses as below.

Miraculous uses of purslane

In this tiny vegetable, people find quite good nutrients. People find that purslane has a lot of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, folic acid and choline.

Perhaps because of the high iron content, the stem is purple or dark red. Purslane has no cholesterol or fat. Therefore, it is an ideal light vegetable. 100g of purslane has about 93g of water, so it is worthy of being a detoxifying vegetable.

In many urban families, purslane is grown as a clean wild vegetable, good for health.

Purslane contains valuable trace elements such as copper, magnesium, manganese, and zinc, which have anti-tumor activity and are useful for people with chronic diseases and frequent exposure to radiation. Purslane contains neuroactive substances such as DOPA and dopamine, which are beneficial for memory. Purslane has the ability to eliminate bisphenol A, a toxic substance, thus helping the body to detoxify effectively.

In Traditional Medicine, purslane has a sour taste, cold properties, is non-toxic, has natural antibiotics, and has the ability to detoxify and reduce swelling. Because purslane has a sour taste, it is very good for stimulating digestion.

Because purslane is cold, it has the ability to clear heat and treat internal and external heat in the summer. Because it contains natural antibiotics, it has the ability to disinfect and treat skin rashes, urinary tract infections, dysentery, and intestinal worms.

Because purslane has the ability to reduce swelling, it is effective in treating skin rashes, pimples, and swelling, as well as bloating and flatulence. With these interesting uses, let's try some effective ways to use purslane as instructed below.

Treat worms with purslane

Take 50g of fresh purslane, wash it, crush it and squeeze out the juice. Pick the purslane on the day you want to use it. If you pick the purslane and leave it in the refrigerator, the active ingredients will be reduced and it will have less value to the worms. Drink purslane juice in the evening before going to bed or in the morning, on an empty stomach, and wait 4 hours before having a light meal.

In many rural areas of Vietnam, purslane grows wild and luxuriantly without watering or fertilizing.

Drink continuously for 3-4 days and you will see worms come out with your stool. This method is effective for pinworms and roundworms.

Treat dysentery with purslane

Take 100g of purslane and 100g of milkweed. Wash these two and boil them together with 400ml of water. When it is reduced to about 100ml, filter the water to drink, divide it into 2 doses a day. If you have bloody stools, add 20g of Eclipta prostrata and boil them together.

In case you find it difficult to drink, you can squeeze the purslane to get the juice with the amount of purslane as above. Mix this amount of purslane juice with 100ml of water, boil, then add 1 spoon of honey, about 10g, mix into the boiled purslane juice to make it easier to drink.

In this method, purslane has very good antibiotic properties against intestinal bacteria. It is seen that the antibiotic properties of purslane are very effective against intestinal bacteria, skin bacteria and some bacteria that cause lung diseases. Sensitive bacteria include E.coli, dysentery bacilli, typhoid bacteria. Therefore, purslane is often used to treat intestinal diseases.

Treat acne with purslane

Take 30g of purslane, wash it, then crush it. Wrap all of this crushed vegetable in a clean gauze, then apply it to the skin with boils. Change it twice a day. Apply it for about 3 days until the boils ripen and burst.

In this method, purslane has antiseptic effects because it has natural antibiotics, and also has anti-inflammatory effects, thus reducing swelling and pain.

However, purslane is only effective for superficial boils, and has little or no effect on deep boils (deep folliculitis, skin infections such as carbuncles). Do not use this method on the eyes and around the eyes, or around the genitals.

Purslane treats bloating

300g purslane, wash, divide into 2 times, 150g each time, chop finely, cook with the second time of washing sticky rice water to create a slightly thick soup.

This soup stimulates intestinal movement, digestive circulation, and reduces bloating and edema. For better results, you can increase the amount of purslane to 400-500g.

Treatment of painful urination and hematuria: Divide 300g of purslane into 3 doses, 100g each. Wash, drain, chop, cook soup with amaranth, 50g each dose. Eat during the day. Eat continuously for 5-7 days and the condition of painful urination, frequent urination, and hematuria will improve.

The role of purslane in this case is to disinfect the urinary tract to prevent infection, has anti-inflammatory effects and is a diuretic to remove waste from the kidneys. In the case of hematuria due to kidney stones, using purslane is very suitable. The reason is because E.coli bacteria are very sensitive to purslane.

Just 10% purslane juice (10g purslane juice + 90ml water) has an effect on E.coli bacteria. E.coli bacteria is the leading bacteria that causes urinary tract infections. So this method is very good for treating hematuria, painful urination, and frequent urination.

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