Perennial Salad

This salad, made up of perennial leaves and a few self seeding annuals, is jam-packed with interesting flavours: delicate, tender lime leaf replaces lettuce, juicy mallow provides structure and texture, and the peppery burst of mashua melds with aniseed agastache and the mellow butteriness of sow thistle.

The sparkling purple of tree spinach pops up in highlights and contrasts with the feathery texture of sweet cicely. What’s more, this salad is packed with the nutrients that perennials’ deep roots mine from the soil - it blows annual lettuce out of the water!

If you’re looking for something that can distinguish your menu and excite your diners with something they’ve never tried before, perennial salads are something you can’t miss out on!

In addition, you’ll be supporting complex, resilient ecosystems—perennials, living longer than annual, provide habitat, shelter, and food for invertebrates and mammals. Some of these leaves even come from trees, which sequester carbon and support bird populations. They’re also often less work for growers to manage! Perennials are a win-win-win for growers, chefs, and wildlife.

This salad was picked by the team at Birch Farm - a farm focused on perennial foods where our founder Jack works.