Wild, Crunchy and a Little Bit Salty: Meet Sea Asparagus
If you spend enough time poking around the shoreline at low tide, chances are you’ve met sea asparagus. It’s that weirdly satisfying plant that looks like a succulent trying to pass as a green bean. Around the Bader house, it’s known as sea asparagus, but depending on who you ask, it also goes by samphire, glasswort, or pickleweed. No matter what you call it, it’s crunchy, salty and downright addictive once you get to know it.
How to ID Sea Asparagus
First things first: not every green thing near the ocean is edible, and your stomach will thank you for learning the difference. Here's what you're looking for:
* Bright green, segmented stems that look a bit like they've been assembled out of tiny oblong Lego pieces. No real leaves, just a lot of jointed texture.
* It grows low to the ground, usually somewhere between 2 and 12 inches tall, depending on how ambitious it's feeling.
* It likes soggy places. You’ll find it in tidal zones, salt marshes and generally anywhere your boots are in danger of getting stuck.
* It snaps clean when fresh and tastes like it’s been hanging out in a salt brine. Which, in a way, it has. If you pick it too close to the ground, it will let you know where it's too tough and woody - you will see a white "string" poking out from teh middle of the plant. Just like true asparagus, pick above the woody part.
If it’s red, woody, or tastes like regret, you’re too late in the season. Try again next year if your
Pro tip:use your hands and a bucket. Pull gently at an angle above the base so it keeps growing, it tends to snap off where it's naturally tender, and don’t clear-cut the patch like you’re building a condo. We’re foraging, not strip-mining.
Fermented Coastal Gold: Sea Asparagus Sauerkraut with Garlic Scapes
This little coastal oddball is crisp, salty, and weirdly charming, basically the kind of wild edible that’s begging to be tossed in a jar and fermented.
This kraut recipe is a fun one. The cabbage brings the classic tang, the garlic scapes add a nice bite, and the sea asparagus? That’s your salty crunch bomb right there.
You’ll Need:
1 lb fresh green cabbage, shredded
1 cup sea asparagus, cleaned of debris and washed well
1/2 cup garlic scapes, chopped into 1/2cm pieces (or however you'd like)
1.5 tablespoons sea salt (don't use iodized salt)
* Optional: a pinch of mustard seeds, whole black peppercorns or a fresh dill work well in this recipe.
The Plan:
1. Toss the cabbage, sea asparagus and garlic scapes into a big mixing bowl.
2. Sprinkle in the salt and get in there with your hands. Massage the mix like it owes you money. After about 10 minutes, the cabbage should have released enough liquid to make a small puddle.
3. Pack it into a clean mason jar, squishing it down so everything is submerged really well in its own brine. Leave about an inch of space at the top unless you enjoy cleaning fermented kraut explosions off your counter. I guarantee from many personal experiences, you do not want to make this overflow all over your counter.
4. Use a fermentation weight or improvise something to keep it submerged. Cover the jar loosely with a lid or cloth. I typically reserve the outer cabbage leaves to create a lid for all the little chopped bits of sauerkraut and then put a weight on top of the leaves to keep the whole thing submerged under the brine. This is super important as we need to keep oxygen out of our ferment as it will cause mold and nasties to grow and will likely ruin your batch.
5. Let it sit on the counter at room temperature for about a week or two. This totally depends on the temperature of where it's fermenting and will vary drastically over the year. Taste it now and then. When it’s sour enough for your liking, screw on a lid and pop it in the fridge.
This stuff goes great with grilled fish, roasted meat or just eaten out of the jar while standing at the fridge. No judgment.
Wild Food Just Hits Different
There’s something pretty special about walking out to the shore, picking a plant that thrives in salty muck, and turning it into something delicious and shelf-stable. Sea asparagus is one of those gifts from the land (and sea) that reminds us food doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes it just needs some crunch, a little funk, and a good story behind it.
If you try this kraut, let me know how it turns out. And if you end up completely obsessed with foraging sea asparagus, well, welcome to the club.
