What plant is this?

Do you know what this is? I'll give you a clue, it's edible, delicious even.

Comments

[Chuck]

Hmm. It's not ice plant, is it?

[Bea at La Tartine Gourmande]

I know this is not the answer but it looks like a hybrid between sage and basil

[sam]

Is it a Mesembryanthemum crystallinumaka aka ficoïde glaciale or ice plant?
Probably not, but its the best guess I have.

[H.Alexander Talbot]

Ice lettuce

[lee]

Tetragonia spinach.

[staggerlee]

crystalline florets, sp.

[staggerlee]

crystalline florets, sp. ?

[chris]

it's basil!

[Jennifer Klinec]

It looks like it could be amaranth?

Jennifer - http://www.eatdrinktalk.co.uk

[KT]

I agree, it looks like wild amaranth ...

[Harold]

I'd vote for amaranth, too.

I know it's not Jean Banchet, because the photos don't look like the ones that I saw on the web:-)

Thanks for another quiz.

Harold

[JoEllen]

Lamb's Ear. When I was a child, we used to rub it on our cheeks and pretend it wsa rouge. I am not sure it would be pleasing to eat raw, though.

[elarael]

It looks like New Zealand spinach or perhaps Mexican terragon.

[elida]

I think it is Phicoyde Glacial; for salads it is very good....and for the Morue(fish)is excelent, she is very very delicate.

[Chuck]

It looks like purslane to me.

[elarael]

I meant New Zealand spinach or Mexican OREGANO! (Not tarragon.)

[Nopisto]

Ficoide Glacial, a greek salad with a frozen like crunchy texture.

[Ptipois]

I'm pretty sure it's ficoïde glaciale ;-)

[Skud]

I'd vote for purslane, but I'm probably wrong.

[Pim]

It is Ficoïde Glaciale. We are growing it at the Manresa restaurant garden.

It's a type of ice plant, and it tastes quite interesting, crunchy and cool with a lot of moisture in it. I've only had it raw.

Great job Sam, elida, Nopisto, Ptipois. Bravo!

cheers,
Pim

[denisencecil]

lamb's ear, i think. it has that icy, fuzzy look.

[sam]

ooh - cool - i had it only once in Paris exactly a year ago this week in fact.
if you scroll down the page you can see it sitting on top of my scallops:
http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/2005/11/le-sept-quinze.html

I didnt know what it was back then so some kind readers helped me identify it.
where do you get the seeds from?

[Manresa Gardener]

We got the seeds from frenchgardening.com. It took me three tries to get it to grow propery, and it's very hard to harvest, since it's so fragile. You all should have seen how cute Pim looked, underneath the frost blanket, on her knees, trying to get that shot!

[sam]

thank you manresa gardener. I just got to taste the results of your garden last weekend for the first time and it was a wonderful experience. No ice plant though.