Claytonia

What is it?

Claytonia is a hardy salad green also known as winter purslane, miners lettuce and spring beauty.

It’s native to mountain and coastal regions of North America, growing high in the mountains where it is able to tolerate cold conditions. For this reason we like to grow it through winter to provide you with some fresh salads through the coldest months of the year.

Miners lettuce is another common name which comes from its involvement in the California gold rush. During this time it was a popular food of miners owning to the vitamin C content which helped prevent them coming down with.

We grow it in clusters which produce an abundant carpet of petite, spade shaped leaves. In late spring it produces beautiful edible while flowers.

What to do with it?

We use claytonia both as a salad green on it’s own and as part of our mixed salad bags. Claytonia has a nice crunchy texture making it lovely with a simple dressing of oil and vinegar. It’s also nice as part of a warm salad with roasted beetroot and squash.

When is it in season?

November – March