Monk's beard, which is called agretti in Italian, is a salt herb that is often used in the kitchen. Even if you don't live by the sea and don't have a salt lake in your garden, you can easily grow salt herbs yourself.
The name salt herb already indicates the characteristic property of the plant group: the preference for salty soil. Associated with this, the slightly salty taste of salt herb species is reminiscent of the sea and holidays. You can bring this holiday feeling home by planting monk's beard yourself. Everything you need to know - from sowing the Agretti seeds and care to harvesting and preparation - can be found in this article.
contents
- What is the difference between Monk's Beard, Agretti and Salzkraut?
- Cultivation of monk's beard, agretti and salt cabbage
- Care of salt cabbage and Co.
- harvest and use
What is the difference between Monk's Beard, Agretti and Salzkraut?
Several species from the Salsoloideae subfamily, which is subordinate to the foxtail family (Amaranthaceae), are referred to as salt herbs. A well-known and popular representative is Mönchsbart (
Salsola soda). This herb originally comes from Eurasia and North Africa, but can now be found on many coasts as far away as Scandinavia and Japan. While monk's beard is still a rarity here and you rarely find it at well-stocked weekly markets, it is established in Italian cuisine, for example. There, however, the herb is not called monk's beard, but rather agretti or barba di frate. Another well-known representative of salt herbs is the Japanese salt herb (Salsola komarovi), which is also known as land algae in Japan and is often used for sushi.tip: A plant called ice flower is also called saltweed. However, this belongs to a completely different family, the Aizoaceae, and is therefore not related to the salt herbs described here.
The salt herbs we grow are not perennial and therefore have to be sown or planted in the garden every year. Salt herbs have strongly branched stalks, which, despite being one year old, lignify slightly. The color of the shoot is different. If the salt herb is greenish-white under normal circumstances, it often turns reddish in drought stress, nutrient deficiency or increased salt content.
Monk's beard can reach a height of up to 70 cm. Its leaves are rounded and long, resembling needles. Agretti blooms approximately from June to September. However, the flowers are greenish, very small and sit inconspicuously in the leaf axils. Fruits develop from this, which in nature are mainly spread by the wind. They can also be harvested from most varieties and used for your own reproduction.
Cultivation of monk's beard, agretti and salt cabbage
Monk's Beard places high demands on its location. Agretti are more naturally found in wet areas, such as salt marshes, salt marshes, or coastal locations. Saltweed is also a halophyte. This means chasteberry not only tolerates salt, but requires sodium chloride in the soil to thrive.
Agretti needs a lot of light, which is why cultivation works best in locations with lots of sun.
For planting salt owl you can, for example, use our Plantura organic universal soil use, which is peat-free for the sake of the environment and still has a very good water storage capacity. Mixed with some table salt, this soil can be prepared for monk's beard.
Tip: Use a maximum of two teaspoons of salt per liter of pot volume, or one to two teaspoons per plant outdoors. Monk's beard tolerates salt concentrations of up to eleven grams per liter. It accumulates sodium, so it stores it in the plant body. The addition of salt leads to compact plants and aromatic leaves.
Saltweed can be sowed directly outdoors from mid-April to May. Since monk's beard seeds can only be stored for a short time and have a relatively low germination rate, sowing can sometimes fail. In addition, young saltwort plants are still susceptible to late frosts. For these reasons, it is a good idea to grow salt cabbage indoors on the windowsill from February to April.
Procedure for pre-breeding:
- Prepare a seed tray, for example, with our well-moistened Plantura organic herb and seed soil and a maximum of 2 teaspoons of salt per liter of soil.
- Distribute the chasteberry seeds relatively densely, about 3 cm apart, and cover the seeds with about 1 cm of soil. Then pour everything well.
- Ensure a soil temperature of 15 to 20 °C. In addition, the soil should always be kept moist, but never wet.
- In good conditions, monk's weed seeds will germinate within 7 to 10 days. But it can also take a little longer.
- When the plants are around 3 to 4 cm high they can be pricked out 20 x 20 cm apart in their final location, either in the pot or in the garden.
- Make sure you have an adequate water supply, especially after you have transplanted the saltweed.
tip: Growing Agretti in a greenhouse as a winter crop at around 15°C can also work. For this purpose, the seeds of the saltweed are sown directly into the final substrate in the greenhouse until October.
Care of salt cabbage and Co.
Not much has to be considered when caring for salt cabbage. Salsola soda should be watered regularly and grows even better with fertilization every two weeks. A suitable fertilizer is, for example, our liquid one Plantura organic tomato and vegetable fertilizer. It consists of 100% natural, plant-based and animal-free ingredients and is manufactured as resource-friendly as possible. 10 ml of this should be stirred into one liter of irrigation water every two weeks and used to water the plant.
tip: Luckily, snails don't like salt cabbage at all.
harvest and use
Saltweed grows relatively quickly and can be harvested after about two months. If there is a sufficient supply of nutrients, the plants will sprout again vigorously even after the harvest, so that harvesting can continue. The younger the shoots are, the crunchier and fresher they taste. So don't hesitate too long with the harvest and simply cut off the tips of the shoots. Care should be taken to leave at least five centimeters of the original shoot so that the plant can sprout again.
Many recipes with agretti have come to us, especially from Italian cuisine, including pasta with a monk's beard. Freshly added, salt cabbage gives salads a fresh aroma reminiscent of the sea and holidays. Other recipes with Agretti are ravioli with a salt cabbage filling or simply added to omelettes or scrambled eggs.
Can you eat monk's beard raw? Nothing stands in the way of eating monk's herb raw. On the contrary, since salt herbs contain many vitamins that are destroyed by heat, it is even best to eat them raw. The preparation of monk's beard is also easy. For example, it can be added fresh directly to salads or sautéed briefly in a little oil, similar to spinach.
How healthy is monk's beard? In addition to calcium, potassium and sodium, monk's beard contains many vitamins, especially vitamins C and E as well as various B vitamins. Monk's beard is considered healthy, even if no special healing effects for salt herb have been documented.
Another vegetable that has been fairly forgotten and also thrives in salty locations is the so-called sea kale. Everything you need to know about planting and caring for beach cabbage can be found in our special article.
