What Wild Beach Greens Are There in Summer? Get to Know the Common Seaside Varieties

New Zealand spinach, a wild green from the beach, has already made it onto the tables of wild-vegetable restaurants in Hualien, where its texture is as good as spinach, and the Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station recommends it to locals and travelers alike.

In response to global warming and the climate change and extreme weather it causes, which may in the future intensify the crisis of shortages in food and vegetable supply, the Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station has sought out coastal herbaceous plants that grow widely along the eastern coast and tolerate poor environments. After preparing and tasting them, the wild green New Zealand spinach, whose texture resembles spinach, has been judged to have value for promotion after developing propagation and cultivation techniques, and is being recommended for everyone to get to know, in order to add a new choice of green vegetable for summer.

The Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station points out that New Zealand spinach is a plant of the genus Tetragonia in the family Aizoaceae (Tetragonia tetragonoides (Pall.) Kuntze), distributed in Taiwan, China, Japan, South America, Oceania and other places, also known as sea lettuce, hairy spinach and foreign spinach, succulent, an annual herb. It generally grows on beaches, with thick fleshy stems and leaves; the young stems and leaves are edible, and it is most suitable to pick and stir-fry in spring and summer; folk uses include remedies for skin and stomach ailments.