How to Plant, Harvest, and Get the Most Out of Arugula

Arugula is a very delicate food. After harvest, it only keeps for a few days before it withers and loses its aroma. If you grow it yourself, the leaves will always arrive on your plate fresh and at their peak. Another advantage is that you will prevent them from being too rich in nitrates because you do not need to use nitrogen fertilizers.

How to grow arugula

Because almost nothing can go wrong when growing arugula (eruca vesicaria), we are faced with a easy-care garden plant that is also suitable for beginners.

A sunny, well-drained, but always moist location offers optimal conditions for a rich harvest of arugula. If you don’t have a garden, you can grow it on the balcony in a window box or in a pot. You can sow the seeds anytime between March and September.

If you have other plants in your pots, planters or in the garden, you can plant arugula next to the lettuce, celery and onion, but it also gets along well with many other vegetables.

Harvesting the arugula

Arugula is the perfect leafy green for “lazy gardeners” or those short on time, because once sown, the leaves can be harvested multiple times and they will regrow again and again until the end of the season.

You can grow the leaves even more easily by choosing the wild arugula, a perennial variant that sprouts the more often the leaves are cut.

Harvest time also influences the nitrate content of arugula. The leaves must be harvested after having received a few hours of sun, only in the afternoon or at night. The sun stimulates the metabolism of the plant so that it consumes part of the nitrate stored during the day.

Can arugula be toxic?

What a strange question some might think, but it is not entirely unjustified, because the consumer protection organizations regularly warn against excessive nitrate contamination of arugula and other lettuces and leafy vegetables.

To avoid the problem, it is advisable to give preference to arugula grown in the open air and those grown organically or grow them yourself. When grown in a greenhouse and artificial nitrogen fertilizers are used, as usual in conventional agriculture, the nitrate content is particularly high.

Recipes with arugula

Arugula is very versatile in the kitchen and can be used both as a salad leaf and as a culinary herb. Because the young leaves wither quickly and lose their aromait is better to use them fresh and raw.

Green asparagus salad with arugula

Ingredients (for four servings):

500 g green asparagus 100 g rocket 100 g cherry or strawberry tomatoes 50 g grated Parmesan or vegan almond Parmesan 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil Juice of half a lemon 1 teaspoon mustard 1 tablespoon honey or vegan honey substitute pepper salt

Elaboration:

Remove the woody ends of the asparagus stems and, when the skin feels very firm, remove the bottom 2 inches and cut the stems into medium-sized pieces. If you use white asparagus, peel it as usual, cook it al dente and also cut it into pieces. Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, honey, spices and chopped herbs to taste with a whisk and marinate the asparagus into the mixture. Cut the tomatoes or strawberries into small pieces and add them to the asparagus with the cleaned lettuce and cheese. Mix briefly and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Basic arugula and walnut pesto

The following walnut pesto recipe takes a few minutes to implement and can be easily modified with all sorts of ingredients.

Ingredients (for a small jar of 220 grams):

130 g walnuts 30-50 g Parmesan or for a vegan pesto 1-2 tablespoons brewer’s yeast or another vegan Parmesan substitute 100 ml extra virgin olive oil ½ bunch of rocket 1 teaspoon rosemary 1 clove of garlic 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste

Elaboration:

Toast the nuts in a pan without oil until they start to give off a light roasted fragrance. Allow the toasted walnuts to cool slightly.Put all the ingredients except the pepper and arugula in a food processor and blend until you have a smooth paste.Gradually add the arugula and continue mixing until the walnut paste is to your liking. Season to taste with salt, pepper and, if necessary, a little vegetable oil.

Homemade Pecan Pesto will be ready to serve and will keep for about two weeks if placed in a clean, sterilized screw-top jar.

It goes perfectly with gnocchi and (homemade) pasta and is also suitable as a spread or dressing seitan or vegetable meatballs.

It is best to always use a clean spoon to remove the pesto and cover it with a layer of olive oil before storing it in the refrigerator. In this way, no germs will be introduced that can spoil the preparation.