What can you do with orach?

How do I use it? Typically, orach is used much like spinach. Eat it raw in salads, and boil or steam as you would spinach or chard. The younger leaves tend to be better for eating raw, while the more mature leaves make a good spinach substitute.

How do you harvest orach?

Harvest the tender leaves and stems when plants are 4-6 inches (10-15 cm.) in height, about 40-60 days after sowing. Continue to harvest the young leaves as they mature, leaving the older leaves on the plant. Pinch flower buds to encourage branching and continued production of new leaves.

How do you prepare orach?

Fold chopped orach into rice and cook, stirring, until rice turns pink. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. Add hot stock in 3/4-cup portions, stirring each time, adding more as stock is absorbed. Continue until rice is al dente.

Is orach a hardy annual?

No, orach is a hardy annual, that loves cool weather. But, while it’s not a perennial, it self-seeds easily, so once planted, you don’t need to plant again. If too many seedlings come up, you can easily pull them out (but why not get more of it and freeze it for later?).

What is orach good for?

Some of the health benefits of orach include its ability to regulate digestion, improve kidney health, boost cardiovascular strength, strengthen the immune system, detoxifies the blood, and may reduce the risk of certain cancers and chronic diseases.

Can you eat orach?

Eat It: The delicate leaves of this spicy green are eaten raw in salads with mild or sweet greens such as spinach or lettuce. Orach is also delicious when cooked alone or used like cabbage leaves and prepared with a savory stuffing.

When can I transplant orach?

Just wait for the plant to get about 6 inches tall, and then you can start harvesting the leaves. Move from plant to plant so you don’t take off too many leaves from any one plant. Your orach will continue to grow, and soon they’ll have dozens of large, colorful leaves coming off the central stem.

Can you freeze orach?

Raw orach doesn’t freeze well, so if you’d like to keep some for the winter, blanch it first, chop it up, and pack it flat into freezer bags.

Can you start orach indoors?

Orach is best when planted early spring through to midsummer and seeds can be started indoors up to 3 weeks before the last frost then hardened off. Sow seeds 1/4 inch deep and about 3 inches apart in seed trays using a good quality potting soil or direct in the growing bed.

Is orach deer resistant?

Orach is remarkably pest resistant, but can occasionally fall prey to aphids and other leafy green-loving insects. Some of my orach containers were devoured by grasshoppers, for example, and deer can be quite fond of it too.

Can you transplant orach?

Though if you plan for it, like you would with other self-seeding vegetables you could plant orach once and then never have to replant it! Just let the volunteers do the work. If orach comes up in an area you don’t want it, you can let it grow for a bit and then harvest the whole plant.

What does orach taste like?

Orach has a mild chard-like flavor but tastes saltier than most greens as the minerals from the soil are stored in the plant’s leaves. Orach leaves are used cold or cooked, and can be used like spinach or chard, or stuffed like cabbage leaves.

What can I plant with orach?

Companion planting with orach is quite easy since it shares the same good and bad neighbors as spinach. Interplant it with members of the brassica family (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, etc.) as well as lettuces, peas, leeks, and beans. Orach also plays nicely with nightshades.

Is orach a spinach?

Orach is an annual vegetable also known as mountain spinach. It lives up to its nickname. It tastes a lot like spinach, and it cooks up like spinach, too. But it’s much hardier and more resilient to heat than its celebrated counterpart, making it a lot easier to grow.

Is orach high in oxalates?

A Word of Caution: Similar to spinach, orach contains significant levels of oxalic acid (although less than spinach). This means that if you suffer from kidney stones, gall stones, or gout, it might be a good idea to avoid orach and find these nutritional elements elsewhere.

What is the most commonly grown Orach?

The most commonly grown orach is red-leaved variety, called red orach ( A. hortensis rubra ). It comes with leaves in a range of reds, pinks and purples, depending on the variety.

How do you grow Orach?

Although orach is drought tolerant, the leaves will have better flavor if kept irrigated. This delicious plant tolerates both alkaline soil and salt, and is frost tolerant as well. Orach does beautifully as a container planting too. Harvest the tender leaves and stems when plants are 4-6 inches (10-15 cm.) in height, about 40-60 days after sowing.

Is Orach a drought tolerant plant?

Although orach is drought tolerant, the leaves will have better flavor if kept irrigated. This delicious plant tolerates both alkaline soil and salt, and is frost tolerant as well. Orach does beautifully as a container planting too.

Does Orach need fertilizer?

Although orach can survive a bit of drought, as mentioned, it’ll be healthier and more flavorful if you water it consistently. This plant doesn’t generally need fertilizer but may benefit from some diluted compost tea halfway through its growth cycle.