Saving Malabar Spinach Seeds

Saving seeds is a wonderful garden activity that gives us both a sense of pride in our gardening skills and helps us save a few dollars on new seeds.

Malabar spinach is one of our heat loving vines that grows well until frost and produces abundant seed.  If you are looking for a leafy green spinach substitute, Malabar spinach does very well in the summer garden.  We had a late start on planting our Malabar spinach in the Escambia Extension garden so the seeds are now ripening.  This is the perfect plant for saving seeds.

Malabar spinach has plenty of fruit for you to save seeds for yourself and friends.  When mature, fruit will be dark purple and you may easily pull the fruit off stems into a small container. This is definitely a practice that requires gloves unless you want to have your hands stained purple for a while.

Your next step is to lightly press on the fruit while running them under water.  Have a strainer underneath to catch the fruit. You are just trying to loosen some of the pulp, not remove every bit.  Fill a small jar 3/4ths with water and then add your fruit. Let this sit on a counter for a few days. You may change out the water as needed.  This is the step that loosens the remaining pulp from around the seeds.

After several days in the jar, pour the jar liquid through a strainer and wash over it with clean water.  This removes the final bits of pulp.  Place a paper towel or cloth on the counter and lay out your cleaned seeds. They will need to air dry for a couple of days.  Keep seeds away from a heat source and out of the sun.

Once dry, you are ready to package your seeds for next season’s planting or gifts for friends.  You may use a paper envelope or small plastic bag. You may also add seeds to a jar, close it tightly, and put in the refrigerator. Label your package with the plant and date because you will not remember those details later.