Fresh Agretti (Monk's Beard)

Agretti (Salsola soda) is an Italian spring vegetable — sometimes called monk's beard, barba di frate, or roscano depending on the region. It looks like a tangle of fine, dark green chive-like strands, though it is not related to chives or any allium. It is a succulent, a member of the same family as samphire and glasswort, and like those plants it thrives in saline coastal soils and accumulates minerals from the ground, which gives it a distinctly savoury, mineral quality.

The flavour is unusual and hard to pin to a single comparison. There are elements of spinach, samphire, and a faint citrus-like tang, but what most people notice first is the texture: each strand has a slight crunch with a juicy, almost succulent bite, somewhere between a fine green bean and a piece of samphire. It wilts quickly when cooked but retains its shape better than spinach — a brief blanch leaves it bright green and still slightly springy.

The plant has an unexpected industrial history. Before the Leblanc process was developed in the late 18th century, burning Salsola soda was one of the primary ways of producing soda ash — sodium carbonate — used in glassmaking and soap production across the Mediterranean. The name soda in the botanical classification refers directly to this. The Venetian glass industry relied heavily on the ash of this plant, which is part of the reason it was so widely cultivated along the Italian coast.

Agretti has a short spring season and does not keep well once picked — use within a day or two of delivery. Store loosely wrapped in damp kitchen paper in the fridge.

Origin: Italy

Ingredients: Fresh agretti (Salsola soda).