Food Plants - PerennialPlants

​​Okinawa Spinach

​Okinawa spinach is an edible leafy green that once established will last for years with only pruning (harvesting) for maintenance.

The tops of the leaves are dark green with a striking purple underside that forms a handsome, dense ground-cover. You could landscape your front yard or your sidewalk with this plant and no-one need know, unless you tell them, that it’s edible and nutritious. The best part is that the more you eat it, the better it looks.

Okinawa spinach is native to Southeastern Asia. Its common names include Hong tsoi, Okinawa lettuce, and Cholesterol spinach. Its scientific name is Gynura crepioides or Gynura bicolor (for the two-toned coloration of the leaves)

In frost-free climates it requires little, if any, maintenance other than pruning (harvesting) and will produce abundant greens year-round, for years on end. If you get frosts, you can grow okinawa year round in containers.

Photograph by author, Kate Martignier

So long as it gets adequate warmth and moisture, I find it to be okinawa to be possibly  the easiest, low-maintenance, perennial, leafy green vegetables to grow, in full sun or partial shade.  It seems to be relatively pest-free, and so vigorous that what little pest damage it does suffer is inconsequential.

It grows well in containers, hanging baskets, or even on a windowsill so long as there is enough light.

If you’re using okinawa spinach as a food plant you’re probably cutting off most of the long flowering stalks to encourage more leaf production, but it’s worth keeping a few flowers just for their little flash of orange amongst the green and purple. I cut these flowers off before thinking that you might have wanted to see how they look…

Photograph by author, Kate Martignier

 

Propagation

Okinawa spinach is easy to propagate with cuttings rooted in water or just laid into moist soil.  Remove most of the leaves, leaving just a few small healthy ones, then bury the stem with the leaves poking out.  Keep moist.

(Removing most of the leaves reduces stress on the cutting by reducing transpiration—moisture loss—from the leaves.)

Photograph by author, Kate Martignier

The easiest way to propagate okinawa spinach is as you see in the image ​above: harvest some long runners from an established patch. Cut off the tips and put them in a basket for the kitchen, remove most of the leaves from some of the runners that already have roots, and replant them somewhere else.

 

​Nutrition

Okinawa spinach has a long history of use in East and Southeast Asia as a vegetable and as a medicinal herb.

Photograph by author, Kate Martignier

It’s said to help lower cholesterol, hence one of its common names, “cholesterol spinach”.

(My husband’s comment when he heard that was that all the tropical “spinach’s” would lower cholesterol since they all use up more calories to chew and swallow, than they give. But he was being uncharitable, and in the case of okinawa spinach, entirely inaccurate. It’s not at all hard to chew.)

Various internet references (see refs at the bottom of this article) describe okinawa as being rich in protein, iron, potassium, calcium, and vitamin A.

A scientific review of its compounds found it to be anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, supportive of healthy blood sugar balance, supportive of liver health, and may support the skin in defending itself from sun damage. (I changed some of the wording from the review from scientific babble into plain english.)

 

 

How To Eat It

Young leaves and young shoot tips can be used as garnishes and in salads. This (below) is chickweed and okinawa, soon to be dressed with an olive oil and vinegar dressing.

Photograph by author, Kate Martignier

The green, young stems can be chopped as a vegetable and used where-ever you’d use tender green veggies. I like them in stir fries.

The older leaves can be added to anything you’d use leafy greens in, but be sure to add them just before serving; overcooking makes them lose their wonderful color and they go a bit slimy.

In the image below, I’ve dumped a handful of okinawa leaves on top of some pre-cooked rice that I’m re-heating in a steamer. (Yes, you are right: I’m not a very imaginative cook. And I’m usually in a hurry.)

Don’t cook okinawa leaves for any length of time. They’re ready to serve in the time it takes to get them from the stove top to the table.

But do cook it if you’re not putting salad dressing on it; here’s why.

Photograph by author, Kate Martignier

The flavor is unique, although not at all overpowering. It’s described in other articles as being a “crisp, nutty taste with a faint hint of pine.” I have no idea what pine tastes like, but I agree about “crisp and nutty” – so long as you haven’t over-cooked it. (Did I mention that often enough?)

I think it would go well with a salad dressing that had sesame oil in it, but since no-one in my family will come near sesame oil even when armed with a forked stick, you’ll have to try that yourself.

 

References

There are lots of lovely pictures (much better than mine) of okinawa spinach, here. Green Harvest have a page all about okinawa spinach, here. And Morag Gamble at OurPermacultureLife.com describes how she grows and uses okinawa spinach here.

 

Byline

Kate writes at ARealGreenLife.com about taking better care of our selves, our families, and the world around us. Check out her free downloads page or her blog.

 

Kate Martignier

Kate writes at ARealGreenLife.com – an exploration into thinking differently and living a more natural, connected, and sustainable life.

11 Comments

  1. Hi Kate,
    I read with interest your article about okinawa spinach.
    I’ve been trying to find the seeds of this spinach for a long time.
    Would you have any seeds to spare, or sell?
    thank you,
    Fiha Poon
    Toronto, Ontario
    Canada

    1. Hi Fiha
      Thanks for your comment… I have never seen seeds on my okinawa spinach and have always propagated it from cuttings/runners, so I’m not sure how to help you. I’ll share below a link to a source for tubestock here in Australia, but I’m not sure about sourcing it in Canada, or how it would do in your climate? It’s definitely a tropical plant.

      Good luck with okinawa or with finding a suitable alternative for your situation!
      Kate

      http://greenharvest.com.au/Plants/Information/OkinawaSpinach.html

    2. Fiha, there is a similar species of gynura plant you can get from Richter’s herbs in Canada as a plant. I got some last year (I live near Edmonton, Alberta) and it grew wonderful in pots. I saved some over winter indoors and re-potted some cuttings and it is doing great. This gynura is used to lower blood sugar and treat diabetes. The leaves taste great eaten fresh off the plant.

    3. Okinawa spinach is generally grown from cuttings; if they don’t already have roots, I’ve found them easier to start in water.

      Cuttings are easily sourced from eBay or Amazon.

  2. My mom planted some of this in my raise garden box and it’s practically growing like a weed. I have to hack it back almost every week to keep it from shadowing my other plants. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just means I get a weekly harvest of some really healthy veg 😁

  3. Hi Fiha, my name is Jun, I’m from Indonesia. I hope I can help you about to find Gynura Bicolor ( Okinawa Spinach ). If you interested, you can send me email..

  4. Thanks for the article. I bought 2 Okinawa Spinach Plants off EBay (2@$16usd) back in March. My mum added them to our raised bed & yup, apparently they are taking over. So, we’ll be transplanting to a separate pot. Just want to point out that You definitely want to keep this plant “contained” so You don’t end up w/invasive & take over the garden issues later. Simple as making sure You grow it in a pot and not directly in the ground where the runners it puts out can get away from You and become a problem.

    As today was the first time we’ve harvested any leaves & I’ve had this green, it should be interesting (& I’ll likely pop back over and drop a follow up comment if I remember to do it..*chuckles*)…At this point…”Do NOT over Cook or it Gets SLIMLY!”..*check*..I will definitely keep that in mind *smiles*..May chop some to try ‘fresh/raw” w/a bit of sesame oil or balsamic vinaigrette depending, and then flash pan it with a spot of butter & garlic, as I normally would any green leaf..but maybe a bit later adding it to the pan than I normally would any other green..*crossing fingers* that it something we like..*smiles*..(wish me/us luck! *chuckles*)

    Again thank you for the article and the heads up!..as it has been a while since I decided to buy and grow it..🤷🏻‍♀️😁👍🏻

  5. I grew Okinawa Spinach in my garden last year, and let it go to seed before pulling it out. This year I have a plant with the same shaped leave3s and the same small orange flowers but the leaves aqre green above and below. Is this usual?

      1. My Okinawan spinach was purple when I planted it but it is almost all green now, I think it depends on the growing conditions, such as sunlight/shade or ? I’ve been growing it for years in Maui. EASY, no maintenance except cutting it back when gets too big. I’ve been putting in my smoothies lately. Good “jungle food” and fabulous for animal fodder.

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