Springtime Delicacy

I’ve been seeing bunches of this plant labeled “agretti” amongst the vegetables at the “fruttivendola” (greengrocer), at farmer’s markets, and even in the supermarket produce section. It looks like pickleweed (salicornia) the dominant tidal marsh plant at Elkhorn Slough, back home on the central California coast. Not your typical vegetable. On our last food shopping expedition, I picked up a bunch of agretti, and summoned the courage to ask the grocer, “How do you prepare it?” (“Come li prepara?) “Is it bitter like chicory?”(E’ amara come la chicoria?)” She tells me, “No, no, it’s not bitter, the taste is more like spinach or chard. To cook it, boil it for 5-10 minutes with some salt.” Ah, what the heck, let’s try it. I buy a bunch to cook up for dinner. While it was boiling, I googled ‘agretti’. The plant’s scientific name is Soda inermis. It is also known as ‘Monk’s Beard’, although I certainly don’t see the resemblance. Agretti, a Mediterranean native, is a halophytic, succulent tidal marsh plant just like pickleweed. Salicornia and Soda inermis both belong to the Amaranth Family, so they ARE related! In the past, the ash of Soda inermis (ie. soda ash) was the principal source of sodium carbonate, one of the alkali materials necessary for making glass and soap. In fact, agretti was harvested from Venetian marshes, to be used by the glass artisans in Murano. Back to dinner… I tossed the agretti with olive oil and lemon and served it alongside insalata panzanella (bread salad) which I made to use up the pane rustica (multigrain bread) from the neighborhood bakery which went stale before we could eat all of it. Yum. Weeds and Stale Bread - the new Shabby Chic gourmet cuisine. By the way, this vegetable is considered a delicacy and is available only for a short time in the spring.