Those gorgeous young plants shown above are now about three months on from when the seed was sown and about six weeks (and more than a foot of growth) from when the picture was taken.

They should grow to six feet tall or beyond if conditions are right for them but we decided to take a sampling. I plucked a few leaves from the top of one plant (leaving the tip) and the tip and the leaves surrounding it from another; I don’t know how best to harvest them so I tried both approaches.

We gave them a good wash and cooked them up. They lose their magenta highlights and turn a dark green but they were quite delicious, like spinach with perhaps a hint of seaweed. I will allow a week or so to see how the harvested plants recover but expect that tree spinach will then become a regular part of our diet for the next few months.