Water Mimosa: Thailand's Crunchy Floating Green

Water Mimosa — ผักกระเฉด (phak-kra-chet) — Neptunia oleracea.

Snap a stem and you find it sheathed in spongy white sleeves of air — the floats that keep this vegetable riding on the surface of a Thai pond. On the plate they stay crisp and squeak against your teeth. The young shoots and leaves carry calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, and fiber. The parts you eat are the tender shoot tips, the floated stems, and the young leaves.

Water mimosa is prized for one thing — that crisp, squeaky snap against your teeth, stir-fried with garlic and chili or dropped into a sour soup. One caveat: it floats and soaks up whatever is in its water, including heavy metals, so buy it from clean-water growers and rinse it well.

Pad Phak Krachet — ผัดผักกระเฉด (pad-pak-kra-chet)
Gaeng Som Phak Krachet — แกงส้มผักกระเฉด (gaeng-som-phak-kra-chet)

Food and nutrients

Rich in: calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, fiber

Research context

Water mimosa's antioxidant and alpha-glucosidase activity was measured on leaf extracts in an in-vitro test; the shoots you eat are a calcium-rich pond green — BMC Complement Altern Med, 2019

Sources

Source: Zakaria et al. (2019). Antioxidant and alpha-glucosidase-inhibitory phenolics in Neptunia oleracea (in vitro). BMC Complement Altern Med. PMID 30616569, DOI:10.1186/s12906-018-2413-4. Arsenic root-vs-shoot accumulation in water: Plants (Basel) 2020, PMC7694506.

Narration transcript

Opening

Snap a stem of this pond vegetable and you'll find it sheathed in spongy white sleeves — little life-jackets of air that keep the whole plant riding on the surface of a Thai pond. Water mimosa — ผักกระเฉด, phak-kra-chet. On the plate the stems stay crisp and squeak against your teeth. You eat the tender shoot tips, the floated stems, and the young leaves, stir-fried with garlic or dropped into a sour soup.

Pad Phak Krachet (ผัดผักกระเฉด)

For pad phak krachet, Thai cooks stir-fry the shoots hard and fast with garlic and fermented soybean paste, and the spongy stem floats hold their crunch. Eat it with steamed jasmine rice.

Gaeng Som Phak Krachet (แกงส้ม)

The shoots and young pods also go into gaeng som, a sour tamarind curry, dropped in near the end so the stems stay crisp. Ladle it over rice with an omelette or fried fish.

Nutrition summary

Those floating shoots are unusually rich in manganese, with copper close behind and a little zinc too.

Calcium

Calcium is needed to maintain normal bones and teeth, supports normal muscle and nerve function, and contributes to normal blood clotting.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A contributes to normal vision and helps maintain healthy skin and surface tissues.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is used to build collagen and helps protect cells from oxidative stress.

Iron

Iron is part of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in your blood, and it supports normal energy metabolism.

Fiber

Fiber adds bulk to meals and can help with fullness.

Closing

Water mimosa is prized for that crisp, squeaky snap against your teeth — flash-fried with garlic and chili paste, or slipped into a sour tamarind soup. Because it floats and drinks in whatever surrounds it, including arsenic and other metals, buy it from clean-water growers and rinse it well. Follow Longevity Biome, and LIKE this video for regular updates.

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