Malabar spinach
Basella alba · Leafy green
Top 10 pairings
Malabar spinach (Basella alba) is a heat-loving climbing vine grown across the tropics for its thick, glossy, mucilaginous leaves and tender stem tips. Not a true spinach, it stands in for it in hot climates where ordinary spinach bolts, eaten in stir-fries, curries, soups and stews where its slipperiness thickens the dish.
Picking a good onedrag
Glossy, thick-leaved, tips that snapYellow, limp, pitted and slimy
Shop freshEveryday bestThe all-rounder: stir-fried with garlic, or wilted into soup.
LeafGreen, the gloss dulling, blades relaxed
Thickness in the handFirm still, giving a little under the thumb
Cut stem tipsCut ends drying pale brown, tips bend first
Smell at the leafGreen and neutral with a touch of earth
What you get from one
70%
Edible part
700 g a kilo · thick stems off
Keeping ittap a temperature
Chilling-sensitive, unlike true spinach: pitting and lost turgor were measured at 5 °C and at 0 °C; 10 °C came through clean. Nothing between was tested, so 8 °C is a safe floor.
85-95%
Humidity
Loose bag, not sealed
Airflow