Red-Stemmed Malabar Spinach—A Deliciously Stunning Vine
One of my favorite hot-weather vegetables is red-stemmed Malabar spinach, Basella alba 'Rubra'. Easy to grow, versatile in the kitchen, and delicious to eat, this vigorous vine is unrelated to true spinach (Spinacia oleracea) but produces abundant large meaty leaves that are remarkably spinachlike in taste and form. The plant is also much better suited for summer growing than its better-known namesake.
Red-stemmed Malabar spinach (Photo: Wit's End Growers, www.pickoftheplanet.com)
Oh, and I forgot to mention this: It's a thing of beauty. A number of years ago, I visited Wave Hill gardens, in the Bronx, New York, and saw red-stemmed Malabar spinach twining on a trellis and forming the backdrop for a display of dark-leafed cultivars of common economic crops—purple-stemmed sugarcane, black-leafed cotton, aubergine-colored beets, kale, and Swiss chard. The combination knocked my socks off!
Basella alba goes by many other common names besides Malabar spinach, including Ceylon spinach, Indian spinach, vine spinach, and Malabar nightshade. Native to India and Indonesia (Malabar is a coastal region in southwestern India), the plant is used in traditional cuisines as far westward from its point of origin as Japan and eastward as Africa. It has also been introduced to South America and the Caribbean.
Straight species Malabar spinach has yellowish stems and green leaves and is a pleasing enough plant, but it's the red-stemmed cultivar 'Rubra' that really catches the eye (whether it's growing in a pot or lounging in a salad bowl). The thick red stems contrast wonderfully with the round, highly textured, two- to four-inch-long dark green leaves. Red venation in the leaves adds another level of color contrast.
Malabar spinach grows eight to ten feet tall and wide and produces inconspicuous white-tinged pink flowers in its leaf axils. Upon fertilization, the flowers develop into small, highly ornamental, single-seeded purple berries. The juice from the berries is so intensely purple that it puts beet juice to shame. It's used as a natural food colorant for agar (vegetable "gelatine") dishes, sweets, and pastries.
Malabar spinach excels in warm, tropical areas, where it can easily grow a foot per day. It's intolerant of any chills; thus, the only regions in the U.S. where it would be perennial are the Deep South or southern Florida. Gardeners in colder climates can grow it as an annual.
Basella alba prefers a humus-rich, sandy loam in full sun. Seeds can be sown in situ after all danger of frost has passed, or they can be started indoors eight weeks before the last frost date, hardened off outside, and transplanted one foot apart. Use any style of plant support you prefer: poles, teepees, chain-link fencing—I use a tall, recycled Eiffel Tower-esque metal étagère missing its glass shelves. Malabar spinach is amazingly insect and disease resistant, and that is saying a lot; down here in Puerto Rico, legions of caterpillars and grasshoppers can decimate an entire planting overnight, yet the spinach remains untouched!
Propagation from seed is a snap, and happily, the red-stemmed cultivar of Malabar spinach comes true from seed. Saving seed is easy too: Simply dry the entire fruit and use it for planting the following year. Stem and tip cuttings may be employed as well. (One source for the plant is Shady Acres Herb Farm, 7815 Highway 212, Chaska, MN 55318; 952-466-3391; www.shadyacres.com.)
The succulent leaves and stem tips are rich in vitamins A and C and are a good source of iron and calcium. They may be eaten raw in salads, boiled, steamed, stir-fried, or added to soups, stews, tofu dishes, and curries. Or you can use them as a filling for quiche, omelets, savory turnovers, and potpies. Since red-stemmed Malabar spinach can lose a lot of its red color when cooked, perhaps it is best utilized (visually speaking) in raw dishes.
Scott D. Appell is a regular contributor to BBG publications and the author of four books, Pansies, Lilies, Tulips, and Orchids. He lives and gardens on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.
Comments
DDD Smith
I just wanted to comment on this paragraph…“Malabar spinach excels in warm, tropical areas, where it can easily grow a foot per day. It’s intolerant of any chills; thus, the only regions in the U.S. where it would be perennial are the Deep South or southern Florida. Gardeners in colder climates can grow it as an annual.”
I live in North Texas. Believe it or not we get 4-5 cold snaps a winter where it can get to 15%F and stay below freezing for up to two consecutive days. Never had a problem with it not coming back, year after year. In Fact, it can be invasive to a vegetable garden. Do research on the health benefits. You will be amazed to say the least. It heals!!!
RJ Parks
I would like to know if there are any health risks with eating this plant.
Gardener's Resource Center
Malabar spinach (Basela alba) is not listed as toxic in Toxic Plants of North America (Burrows and Tyrl) or Poisonous Plants (Frohne and Pfander). However, malabar spinach, like many other leafy green vegetables, is a source of oxalates, which people with kidney stones and other kidney disorders should avoid or restrict in intake. A good online source for plant and other toxic substances is the National Library of Medicine’s Toxicology Data Network, Toxnet: http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/
pam
Do you eat the berries or just the leaves?
jblackburn
The foliage is considered to be the palatable part of Malabar spinach, although the fruit is not toxic and is used for coloring food.
rick
if you take the leaves off do others grow back?
jblackburn
As long as you don’t completely strip the leaves from the stems, they will keep producing foliage. The leaves can be picked individually (the younger ones toward the top of the vine are the most tender), or you can snip off the tips of the shoots and cook them stems and all.
Carol Umstad
A friend gave me a little plant about 10 cm. Now it is several meters long shooting off in all directions. A most attractive vine, climbing up my tomatoes ever so beautifully, I let it go because it is so aesthetic. A real garden conversation piece. We use it in stir fries, but will experiment further. We tried to eat it because it was green. I do not know why it is not more widely grown here. I live in the sub-tropical gold coast of Australia. I am going to promote it as we cannot grow any other greens during our summer peak.
Carol
Hi there, I’m growing malabar spinach in pots in my back garden, and it is winding its way around my stair banister and looks gorgeous. I use it in stir fries, but I am a bit concerned about the jelly that comes out of it when chopped up—is it safe to eat? I haven’t felt ill from it as yet!
Thank you, Carol.
BBG Staff
Hi, Carol:
The sap of malabar spinach is mucilaginous (slimy) by nature—and harmless. Enjoy!
Carol
Thank you for answering my question, and yes, I really love this plant! Kind regards, Carol.
Sue
I recently purchased this at a flea market in northern MN—several healthy stems growing inside a hanging pot. Also purchased a single plant in a 4” pot. Any advice on what I need to do to keep these plants healthy in a northern climate? Temperatures have been dipping to the mid ‘50s at night, and we seem to be getting more rain than sunshine these days.
BBG Staff
Since Malabar spinach needs hot weather to thrive, the best location in your climate would be on a sunny patio against a stone wall that catches the afternoon sun. Stone (and concrete) surfaces collect solar heat and release it slowly after dark, protecting the plants from evening cool.
linda west
Do the berries turn into seeds if they are dried? I collected some and put them in a bright window. They don’t look like seeds.
Debra Maslowski
I recently bought property in Old Fort, NC. It use to be a nursery, so I’m finding all kinds of plants all over the place. While I was checking my hops I found a malabar spinach vine growing on the same trellis. I’ve never grown it, but thought I knew what it was since I had just ordered seeds for the plant. We’ve had two meals so far out of that one vine and can’t wait for more!
Ruth Hollifield
Do you have any more recipes using the red stem spinach? Can it be used successfully in a recipe like regular spinach?
Diana Sandlin
I was so blessed to find this here in San Antonio Texas! I love spinach in my salads and have been looking for one that can handle hot weather, and here it is. I have it growing in partial shade as I noticed that it does wilt when it is too dry.
Rita
Is there a green stemmed variety as well? Someone just let me pick some from her garden, and what she called Malabar spinach had a green, thicker in appearance than your pic, stem.
Thanks!
BBG Staff
Hi, Rita:
Yes, the green-stemmed form is the most likely the straight species, Basella alba.
Jean
I have the green-stemmed variety. Do I cook the stems along with the leaves or just the leaves?
Heather
I live in Daytona Beach, FL in the great sun and heat! I just received a plant from a friend. It’s in a small pot now, but I’d like to put in near my chain link fence so it can climb. Would it be better for me to put it into the ground or a big pot? Also, what kind of soil or fertilizer does it need, and any helpful tips for replanting? I am new to all of this but love the leaves it produces! Thank you!!
nancy
I grow malabar spinach as an annual vine on the north side of my home in Minnesota. It grows fast and requires no care at all other than watering. I have tried several other plants in that spot and nothing else has worked. It was beautiful all summer.