Samphire
During our friend’s birthday bash in Kaş, I made several runs to the village to go shopping for food but let’s be honest, it was really to get MORE BOOZE for our group. At the market, I randomly picked up several bunches of greens that looked like a cross between a succulent and seaweed. I had seen it before somewhere, but I didn’t know what it was and I stuck it in the fridge. The following day we attended a cooking class, and there it was, the green veg that I had picked up the day before. Our cooking instructor was amused that I would buy a veg/ingredient without knowing what it was or how to cook it. It happens. The ‘green thing’, deniz börülcesi, in Turkish, is a plant called samphire in English. That was it, I was going to post a picture of it, and move on. Or so I thought. In one of the articles I read, it mentioned that samphire was popular in Japan. I didn’t really recall eating it there but perhaps I had it in the past, a little bit snuck in a dish. It was interesting that when googled in Japanese the samphire images came up dark pink to red in color. There would be some green ones but predominantly red. Hence one of the nicknames for samphire in Japanese is coral grass. It got me thinking, then into searching a bit more and thus began a journey down the rabbit hole learning about this green yummy succulent.
The two most common samphires for cooking are rock samphire and marsh samphire, their names indicating where they could be found, the former found clinging to cliff rocks and the latter in wet marshlands. They are not related but there is confusion as some people are loosey-goosey with the names, lumping both plants together and using the common name samphire interchangeably.
Of the two types, rock samphire, aka sea samphire, true samphire, rock fennel, or sea fennel is regarded as more of a delicacy and valued. Rock samphire crithmum maritimum, is related to celery, carrot, fennel etc. from the umbelliferae family. It grows on cliff rocks (obviously), a shrub with thin longish leaves, best in the spring when the leaves are tender and bright green. It has a strong smell like sulphur, some say iodine, which does go away when pickled or cooked. Apparently both the Greeks and the Romans steamed it and ate it as a vegetable and even had it in salads. In the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, Pliny the Elder writes about how Theseus had rock samphire before going to slay the Minotaur. I wonder if they believed that the sulphorus smell gave them more power. Perils and the risks of harvesting rock samphire or the location of the plant clinging to a rocky facade is referenced often in literature; a short story by Patrick O’Brian (of the Aubrey-Maturin nautical history novels fame) is simply titled “Samphire”. It makes an appearance in Shakespeare’s King Lear where Edgar is describing a person clinging to a rock collecting samphire to the Earl of Gloucester who is blind.
“Half-way down Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!”
— Act IV, Scene VI, Lines 14-15
and in Melville’s Moby Dick chapter 47:
“the three boats swung over the sea like three samphire baskets over high cliffs”
Rock samphire was known to and coveted by sailors back in Ahab’s day - yes I know he is a fictional character - in the 1800’s sailors used to collect and eat it to prevent scurvy.
In the past rock samphire could be found in the markets in the UK, most often packed in brine and available in cities throughout until the end of the 19th century but as they became scarce (over harvesting and development of coastal areas) their popularity declined and they disappeared from markets and stores. Soon after, another wild green replaced rock samphire and borrowed its name, samphire, and the interchanging and confusion began.
The more available stand in, marsh samphire, salicornia europaea, is classified as a chenopodium, related to beets, chard, spinach etc. is a low growing succulent, found in marshes, mangroves and mudflats. It is also known as sea asparagus, sea bean, or sea pickle and was historically called glasswort, saltwort or pickleweed in the UK and chicken claw in the US. To me these old names sound like something out of Harry Potter. It was known as glasswort / saltwort because it was used in glass and soap making until the 19th century. Prior to modern day glass making methods, glasswort plants were burned and the ashes (which yielded soda ash aka sodium carbonate) were combined with sand to traditionally manufacture glass. In soap making, some type of fat or oil was added to the ashes.
This, more ‘common’ plant salicornia was what I had picked up at the market and also came across during our cooking class. The two plants look different but if you are unsure, the easiest way to tell them apart is that the marsh samphire’s stems are segmented. Both plants are salty so don’t add any salt when you are cooking them. Their saltiness varies depending on where it was harvested, and you can always add more salt if necessary.
Rock Samphire is a protected plant in some areas in Europe and the collection and harvesting of it is regulated in many regions such as the UK, Brittany, Balearic Islands and the Marche region in Italy. By coincidence when I was at Cheese Plus (my neighborhood wine/cheese/deli/specialty food shop) I came across a jar of Paccasassi sott’olio (sea fennel in olive oil). Paccasassi is sea fennel in Ancona dialect and for those of you who don’t know (I had to look it up) Ancona is a city on the Adriatic coast, in the Marche region of Italy. And a family run business called Rinci produces several types of sauces with sea fennel, plus the ones like I picked up, preserved sea fennel in extra virgin olive oil. Besides producing sea fennel products they are working with the local government’s Bio Veg Conserve project, organically cultivating paccasassi in and around Parco Regionale Naturale del Conero in the Marche region. For more information about their company and products check out their website: Rinci https://www.rinci.it/en/
© PhaseStudio 2022 Paccasassi Sea Fennel in Oil
On a side note, in 2015, some men were stopped by the drug squad on the island of Mallorca where they discovered bags with 10kg of purloined rock samphire. As I mentioned these plants are protected - in Mallorca for personal use only which is less than 1 kg or 3 plants - and it was determined that the men had harvested the plant for ‘commercial purposes’ in order to sell to restaurants. I don’t know what happened and what the charge/penalty was for this offense but they were written up here https://diariodecalvia.com/la-policia-local-de-calvia-interviene-10-kg-de-fonoll-mari-recolectado-ilegalmente/ and you can see the pic of their ‘haul’.
Recently, at a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, I was delighted to find that their tuna tatakai appetizer was served with ‘salicornia’, that would be marsh samphire for those of you not paying attention. And at an Italian restaurant in San Francisco, their Pesce Crudo was served with ‘preserved sea fennel’ along with ‘tangerine - shaved fennel - black lime’. It suspiciously looked like Rinci’s. I like the fact that I am seeing both types in restaurants and in stores. Or is it that I am noticing it more? In the San Francisco Bay Area, you can find it at Rainbow Market or Berkeley Bowl. And I am guessing that they are selling local marsh samphire - but not sure. So here’s the thing, marsh samphire is found almost everywhere around the world and was simply classified as salicornia but scientists went further with classifications, and categorized two types of marsh samphire that grows wild around here; Salicornia depressa that are annual plants, and the perennial Sarcocornia pacifica (confusingly also found on the Atlantic side and other parts of the US). Some websites interchange the two types/names, which is frustrating but we are leaving it for now. Taxonomists!! The ones that you will find in the bay area are the former, S.depressa, and it apparently changes color to pinkish red in the fall. My mini excitement was discovering them on a hike in the marshes in Petaluma, BEFORE I found out about S.depressa and S.pacifica and about the wildlife it supported. I learned that the plants provide a sanctuary for local wildlife; there’s the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse aka red-bellied harvest mouse (only lives in SF bay marshes), tiny little guys that live among and eat salicornia. Another animal, a bird that is categorized as near threatened, the California black rail, is found in the marsh samphire shrubs except during high tide. You’d have to look out for them as they are small too. I’m not ready to forage for salicornia here and I definitely don’t want to contribute to the decline of natural habitats for any creature whether they are endangered or not. I read that you could grow it yourself, if you can get ahold of some seeds. Someone please try and let me know how it goes.
The cultivation trend of salicornia may be growing, during my search I found out that there are countries like Israel, Mexico, Kuwait, Greece and the Netherlands are cultivating salicornia, for local use and some for export. AND I came across a really cool company in Charleston, South Carolina, that grows salicornia with a twist. They are the ‘world’s first indoor vertical saltwater farm’, using sustainable seawater agriculture with the mission to restore global marshlands. Seawater hydroponics, how great is that? Here’s the link to their website : Heron Farms https://www.heronfarms.com/
I’m glad I picked up those bundles in Kas. I learned quite a bit. There’s more if you dig, you can find old methods of cooking sea fennel from hundreds of years ago from various countries, there are prints depicting the perils of accessing the cliffs to collect sea fennel. And several quotes and recorded eulogies touching on the dangers or consequences of collecting sea fennel. There are modern studies on salicornia’s potential as a skin protectant. And there is hope that with more research, salicornia could be used to save coastlines. Both plants are considered nutritious, high in vitamins A & C, other minerals and many health benefits from eating them.
I believe the only way to get your hands on sea fennel is to buy preserved ones unless you are in a region where you are allowed to forage for them. They go well with fish. Salicornia is easier to find and get fresh ones; in Turkey, we learned to cook them by boiling them and then mixing them with garlic, olive oil and lemon. In European countries it is prepared similarly but with but instead of olive oil. Go ahead and experiment and have fun playing around with it. I’m sure it will turn out delicious.