Sea samphire

"As fall approaches and the rains begin to bring the parched landscape back to life, wild greens gradually begin to appear in the markets of Bodrum. It takes a bit of knowledge to fully perceive the variety of greens, because the piles of greens on the tables, which seem fairly uniform at first glance, actually contain many different herbs. Collected by village women from gardens, fields, plains and mountains, they are priced according to their availability and where they were collected." These are the beginning sentences of my article called "Wild Greens Popular in Bodrum". As I boiled sea samphire this afternoon, I was thinking of my Bodrum days. The months I lived happily in the beautiful Bodrum, a Turkish coastal town. In those years (1987-9), Bodrum people didn't know much about sea samphire. It was known by Ayvalık people though. So I wrote these sentences: "The real season for deniz börülcesi or samphire is spring; although it is available in the autumn, the most tender shoots are available in spring and summer, and I attribute its appearance in November in Bodrum to lack of knowledge among the venders. It is interesting that while samphire is very popular along the strip of coast from Ayvalık to İzmir, in Bodrum there were people who didn’t know what was three or four years ago. When I asked the vendors what to do with it, how to cook it, they didn’t know. At that time it was sold at only a few tables in the market. They had seen someone collecting it, and collected it themselves from the seasides to make some money. But in Ayvalık, eyes shine at the mention of samphire, and they can give you a host of recipes for it. Samphire is boiled whole and drained. Then the central hard stringy part is pulled out, and it is served with a yogurt sauce, or with olive oil, lemon and garlic."
This time, I will serve it with a garlic tomato sauce I just made with the pink tomatoes I froze last fall. May be I'll add some yogurt, which I believe enhances the taste of this brilliant green. (This article is translated by my friend Bob. Thanks Bob, for the wonderful job you did with this and all the articles at the web site.)