Portal de Cartagena
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Since ancient times it was used in the kitchen and was appreciated for its properties.
The purslane, often considered part of the weed, is being planted by the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT) in mandarin orchards.
A restaurant in Cartagena is trying to introduce new products in its menu and retrieve old recipes.
The purslane could be incorporated into salads and also offered as pickled, since it has various uses and even qualify as superfood for its high content of omega 3. This action is part of Diverfarming, a community project for the implementation of diversification of crops and sustainable agricultural practices.
The cook of the Magoga restaurant, María Gómez, has visited a laboratory of the School of Agronomists, to learn about the research activity and the vegetal material collected and to evaluate its possible uses in the kitchen.
UPCT researchers are producing the purslane on a tangerine farm located near Sucina, a hamlet of Murcia.
The objective is to achieve the maximum use of the spaces of the gardens to make them more profitable.
At the same time, the project tries to recover flavors and edible wild plants that stopped being consumed years ago.
Specifically, purslane can be used in salads and as pickles.
These crops are being made in the streets of mandarins and they are rotating.
"We made haba, colleja and now, purslane," explains Professor of Plant Production Juan Fernandez.
The Diverfarming project also seeks to introduce sustainable agricultural techniques that save costs and environmental risks, reducing the consumption of energy, water, fertilizers or machinery, with significant economic and environmental benefits, maximizing in any case the production and quality of crops.
This European project is coordinated by Raúl Zornoza, researcher Ramón y Cajal of the UPCT and is led by the research group on Management, Use and Recovery of Soils and Water (GARSA) of the Polytechnic.
Participate universities, research centers, administration, agricultural associations, farmers and agro-industry and logistics companies of nine countries.
In total, 26 partners, among which is the UPCT, CEBAS-CSIC, Asaja Murcia and Disfrimur Logística.
The project has a financing of 10.5 million euros from the Horizonte2020 program.
The title of the project is 'Crop diversification and low-input farming across Europe: from practitioners engagement and ecosystems services to increasing revenues and value chain organization - Diverfarming' and its code, 728003 (Call H2020-RUR-2016-2017).
Source: UPCT
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