Red Malabar Spinach
- Not a true spinach, but similar in flavor and usage
- Soft, rounded leaves
- Red leaf veins and stems
- Sprouts are cut to eat as greens
- Free-branching climber re-grows rapidly
- Heat tolerant
- 50-70 days
Item Details
(Basella rubra) Tropical heat-loving vine from India. Not a true spinach, but similar in flavor and usage. Free-branching climber with red leaf veins and stems. Will regrow rapidly if sprouts are cut to eat as greens. Pinch tips to encourage branching. Stems can be cut and rooted. 50-70 days.
Learn to Grow Red Malabar Spinach
Direct Seed: 1" Apart
Seed Depth: 1/4"
Thin: 6" Apart
Support: Trellis
Instructions - Sow seeds outdoors when danger of frost has passed. Can also be sown indoors. Transplant outdoors after air temperatures are consistently between 70 and 80°F. For best yields, harvest continually. Plant in full sun or partial shade.
Ratings & Reviews
4 reviews
The spinach that re-seeds!
by Darla
Love this beautiful spinach! I usually put a small trellis in for it to climb. Not only is it lively to look at, but tasty too! Just pluck the spinach leaves off the vine and eat fresh, sautéed, or freeze for later.
great producer
by midmoman
excellent producer and more then we can eat. we are going to dehydrate some and see how that goes
good summer substitute for spinach
by SARA
What a fun vine! Very pretty to look at, and very productive. I prefer the leaves picked early - they are thinner and taste and feel like spinach. Once they get bigger, they thicken up. They make me think of succulents once they get bigger. I sauteed some of these thicker leaves, and they tasted very good, but they did have a bit of a slimy texture (reminiscent of nopales). Not off-putting, just not like sauteed spinach. I will plant again and use the trellis to shade something else.
Heat loving Spinach!
by K M
Bought it 2 years ago, needing to rebuy this year because my chickens LOVE the berries and my goats and kids love the leaves. I grew them along my porch railing and they did GREAT in summer south Mississippi (8b) heat! I cook the leaves in soup, stew and red beans (my daughter gets upset when i forget/don’t have them).