Malabar spinach

Basella alba · Leafy green

40 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 freshThe all-rounder: stir-fried with garlic, or wilted into soup.Everyday best

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 to look for, from glossy, thick-leaved, tips that snap to yellow, limp, pitted and slimy.

What one gives you

70%

Usable yield

700 g a kilo · thick stems off

Keeping ittap a band

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.

Humidity

85-95%

Borrowed, not measured on this crop: 85-95% is the general band for produce held at 7-10 °C. Damp air — a lidded box or a loose bag, never bare fridge air.

Airflow

Loose bag, not sealed

A loose or perforated bag, never sealed: it wants the damp, but trapped air makes the succulent stems sweat and go soft at the cut.

Preparing