Entsai thrives in moist soil: it has tasty plentiful leaves and hollow stems – both are edible and can be used as the way you use spinach. This unusual variety will just keep regrowing after picking, under tropical conditions, water spinach can be harvested throughout the year. In cooler climates, it is grown as annual, best in wide containers. It has many names Kangkong, Ong Choy, Water Spinach, Ipomoea aquatica are just some of them!
SOW: warmth and moisture are key – seed depth 5mm in potting soil. Ensure that you keep the seeds consistently moist and at 20° Germination occurs within a couple of weeks. To speed up the germination you can soak the seeds overnight in water before sowing.
GROW: we have found them better in containers – they will self-support but it is also easier to keep an eye on near daily watering and helping them along with liquid fertiliser. Cut only a few leaves at a time or entire plant (7-8 weeks) with leaves and stems leaving only 7cm of growth, the plant will regrow again
EAT & ENJOY: in South-East Asia, it is a commonly consumed leaf vegetable, usually fried with garlic or shrimp paste (belachan). The most tender parts are those closer to the leaves. You'll want to break off the parts that are more tender. Add toward the end of cooking: you can tell that's it done when its leaves turn a dark emerald-like green rather than the bright creamy green that it looked like when it was fresh.
Store harvested stems wrapped in damp tissue or upright in water.
Have you noticed? Entsai and Celtuce can look quite similar, but they’re actually very different plants. Entsai is Ipomoea aquatica (also known as water spinach), while Celtuce is Lactuca sativa var. augustana, a type of lettuce grown for its stem and leaves. Both are delicious – just not the same thing!
Save
