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The Amazing Health Benefits of Purslane

 
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Purslane may be the most vegetable that hasn’t made its way into our diet! The main reason for this is that for many years, purslane has been considered as an annoying weed.

But just because it’s considered a weed doesn’t mean it’s worthless. In fact, purslane is completely edible and provides many amazing health benefits.

The entire plant, including the leaves, stem, flowers, and seeds, are edible and have been used for thousands of years in different variations. Purslane can be used fresh as a salad or cooked as spinach, and it is also suitable for soups and stews.
Many weeds are edible but none are as rich with nutrients than purslane. This amazing plant contains more nutrition than the greens and vegetables we are eating now. Purslane has vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that can provide important health benefits.

Purslane benefits your health in many ways as it is a weed that is packed with nutrients. Purslane is truly a superfood. If purslane is growing in your garden and  after you have known it' health benefits, you need to think twice before pulling it out and throwing it away!
Read More:The Amazing Health Benefits of Purslane
 
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I love purslane and encourage it.

The only problem I have is cleaning it. Even after soaking it in a bowl of water for a couple of hours and rinsing it well, it's still gritty. The only way I could stop this was picking the leaves off one at a time to wash them again, a time-consuming task!

Any tips for easier ways to get all the dirt out?
 
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Could purslane be useful as a living mulch? In my experience it grows fairly low to the ground and would not compete with most crops for light... but most farmers I've worked for haven't been too keen on having it around...
 
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I love purslane - more nutritious than most of the veggies we grow! I mostly grow an improved variety from Experimental Farm Network called Mithra. It grows much more upright, with relatively large leaves, which makes cleaning it much easier.
 
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Jane Mulberry wrote:I love purslane and encourage it.

The only problem I have is cleaning it. Even after soaking it in a bowl of water for a couple of hours and rinsing it well, it's still gritty. The only way I could stop this was picking the leaves off one at a time to wash them again, a time-consuming task!

Any tips for easier ways to get all the dirt out?



Have you tried washing in a salad spinner? That's how I do mine.
 
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Ian Påf wrote:Could purslane be useful as a living mulch? In my experience it grows fairly low to the ground and would not compete with most crops for light... but most farmers I've worked for haven't been too keen on having it around...


Wild purslane seems to work as a living much in my carrot bed. It doesn't seem to be much competition for the carrots, at least as long as I don't let it get heavy, so I mostly leave it.
I've long known it can be added to salads and soups (as a thickener, being somewhat mucilaginous), but I wasn't aware of cooking it like spinach. My wife now appreciates cooked radish greens, so I wonder if mixing in some purslane would balance the bitterness of the greens.
UPDATE: My wife says to not bring her any more weeds. Oh well, I tried. I'll just snack on few leaves occasionally  
 
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I tried to import purslane to my property twice without success. Then I got a load of rabbit manure from a friend and voila! purslane sprouted. It's still in the bucket. I'm afraid to move it lest I kill it again. But I do love it.
 
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Purslane is a plant I discovered this year. That is, before this year, I was always trying to pull it out of my garden beds, cussing [in French] as I went along. Of course. I never won that battle. Thank goodness I didn't. It makes a fantastic addition to my lentil salad. Some veggies we only eat because "it's good for you", and the reputation for weeds is even worse.
I was looking for a vegetable I would not have to spend too much time cleaning and that came in small enough pieces that I could spoon it in my mouth, unlike lettuce, for example that you have to stab just right with your fork and fold half way between your lips to facilitate entry while the dressing runs down your chin. [ I'm not a fan of lettuce, as you can tell!]
I was going to make a lentil salad but I didn't have enough "go alongs" to make a lunch of it. Tomatoes, check. Olives, check, but I was out of lettuce. I had read that purslane was edible and I thought, why not? In my sandy soil, I didn't want to just yank it and bring a spoonful of sand with it, so I went with a pair of scissors, picking the nicest stems with lots of bigger leaves, which was easy because purslane has colonized my South plantings along the garage to a point when I don't have too many other weeds there. I didn't think about it at the time, but snipping what I wanted kept it cleaner and allowed the plants to continue thriving. I filled the sink with clean water grabbed the purslane, stems and leaves all together and swished it around to dislodge any soil/sand, so no sand for me. Then, I chopped it fine [like chives, maybe a bit bigger]. YUM!
I don't do salads with a recipe. Instead, I rummage the fridge and the garden and make do with what I find. I used a simple vinaigrette but I could have added any salad dressing. So, by decreasing volume amount, I had: Lentils,  purslane, diced tomatoes, olives and a leftover piece of sandwich meat that was starting to look unhappy by itself. Well, I'm making this salad regularly now, but with more purslane and no lettuce or sandwich meat.
Bonus: in my sandbox, the purslane tends to lie down and cover the ground, so free mulch in front of my black currants and around my gladiolas. I will never pull a purslane plant again! Allowing it free reins, they grow a bit taller, like 4"-5" and cover the ground really well. Now, I actually weed my purslane like folks weed their other veggies.
When the tomato season really starts, I will make salads with just tomatoes and purslane, maybe with some hard boiled eggs?
 
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Amy Maria wrote:an improved variety from Experimental Farm Network called Mithra.



I grow this variety, too.  For me, in terrible soil, it gets 20-35cm tall. I always found it hard to get the lemony flavour from purslane cause the stems are so tiny. Mithra has big stems, so it's tastier than wild stuff, I think.
 
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The only problem I have is cleaning it. Even after soaking it in a bowl of water for a couple of hours and rinsing it well, it's still gritty. The only way I could stop this was picking the leaves off one at a time to wash them again, a time-consuming task!

Any tips for easier ways to get all the dirt out?

Jane, try using about a half sink of water (maybe 2 gallons) instead of a bowl of water. Soak for a few minutes, agitate, drain and rinse under running water. I use this method with my spinach and lettuce because I get so many pine needles in my 'salad'   Let me know if this works for you because I still need to try purslane;
 
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I've had no luck trying to grow purslane from seed–either the purchased Goldgelber with larger leaves, or the wild. I've also had no luck transplanting it when I've found it on walks around the neighborhood.
It seems to like the most inhospitable places, but even if I try placing it it in almost pure sand it was growing in, but in my garden, it doesn't survive!

I find it very frustrating.
 
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i enjoy purslane with chopped red onions and goat cheese. makes a lovely chopped salad!
 
Jan White
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The Mithra variety never needs cleaning cause it grows upright. If it's really dusty or smokey, I might give it a rinse, but otherwise it's pick and eat.
IMG_233.jpg
Gritless purslane
Gritless purslane
 
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I have volunteer purslane growing in a new strawberry/rhubarb bed I made this year.  I let it grow as a ground cover since the strawberries will take quite awhile to cover the ground.  Mucilaginous foods and thickeners, such as okra and xanthan gum, tend to make me want to gag, so I've been hesitant to try to eat purslane raw or cooked because its leaves are thick and just look like they would have that texture to them...

Any ideas on preparing them so as not to have the mucilaginous quality noticable?  If I can't get around that, I may filter them through my laying hens (if they will eat them) and get the nutrients that way.

The leaves on mine look thicker than many of the ones in the pictures in this thread, perhaps I have a look-alike plant?
 
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I definitely enjoy and celebrate purslane in my garden, sprinkled in my salad, and occasionally added to a sandwich. I haven't tried cooking it yet but at some point I will.

It is important, though, not to overeat it, because it is quite high in oxalate, which will bind to minerals in your food so you can't absorb them, and can also build up in your tissues causing kidney stones, joint pain, and other issues. This study discusses both the good and the bad of purslane, as well as the helpful use of yogurt in reducing the oxalate content or, as with spinach and other oxalate-containing greens, the benefit of boiling them and discarding the cooking water.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0889157509000842

Not to scare anyone off, but just to help you keep your purslane consumption in balance with what your body can handle.
 
David Wieland
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Jan White wrote:The Mithra variety never needs cleaning cause it grows upright. If it's really dusty or smokey, I might give it a rinse, but otherwise it's pick and eat.

Wow! That's huge. My wild purslane leaves are only about a half inch long.
 
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I have a small organic garden (24 x 24) and last year, I had a fairly large Purslane plant make a grand entrance.  In the 12 years since the start of my garden, I've had lots of weeds but never that plant.  I knew Purslane was a valuable weed, as so many are, so didn't pull it...but let it grow.  I didn't do anything with it, though.  This year, it's taken off like it owns the place.  This year, I made it a point to investigate its benefits and finally used it in a salad.  WHAT a surprise...it's DELICIOUS!

Thank you everyone for the salad suggestions mentioned...goat cheese...hard boiled eggs! Also, the excellent suggestion to balance it out with yogurt because of it's high oxalate content.
 
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Jane Mulberry wrote:I love purslane and encourage it.

The only problem I have is cleaning it. Even after soaking it in a bowl of water for a couple of hours and rinsing it well, it's still gritty. The only way I could stop this was picking the leaves off one at a time to wash them again, a time-consuming task!

Any tips for easier ways to get all the dirt out?


Jane, perhaps what you call gritty could be the tiny seeds. The seeds are tiny black dots that are enclosed in tiny florets at the tips and joints. It is not possible to take them all off but if you shake the stems before washing it the seeds will disperse if they are mature. Purslane should wash clean easily in a colander. And you are soaking it, so it should be thoroughly washed. If you don't see dirt at the bottom of the soak basin then I doubt there's dirt on the plant.  Chop it up and toss it in a salad and don't worry about it.  Enjoy the 'crunch'. A little clean dirt never hurt anyone! :)
 
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Cara Campbell wrote:I've had no luck trying to grow purslane from seed–either the purchased Goldgelber with larger leaves, or the wild. I've also had no luck transplanting it when I've found it on walks around the neighborhood.
It seems to like the most inhospitable places, but even if I try placing it it in almost pure sand it was growing in, but in my garden, it doesn't survive!

I find it very frustrating.


Cara, I've read that purslane is happiest growing in nutritionally deficient soils. So consider your garden a healthy balanced soil if the weed does not like to grow there!  The seed are only going to grow every 3rd year, so it may skip 2 years and then show up in the 3rd year.  Just sprinkle seeds around 'neglected' soil and patiently wait. I haven't gotten it to grow back much in my garden either. It grows where it will, usually from scattered seeds.
 
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after years of trying for years to rid my garden of purslane i have given up and started eating it.  i was amazed at the number of recipes for its use.  After all a weed is just a unwanted plant.  Creeping Charlie is next on the list.
 
Sandra Goodstone
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I have to challenge Purslane only grows in deficient soil.  I have an organic garden and the Earthworms and my plants grow in abundant numbers and, now, so does the Purslane that I did not plant.
 
Cécile Stelzer Johnson
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Judith Scott wrote:i enjoy purslane with chopped red onions and goat cheese. makes a lovely chopped salad!




I love goat cheese. I will have to give your salad a try. The purslane that grows around here doesn't have big leaves or strong stems, so it must just be the plain wild one. It is flowering right now, just past mid July. I am confused by the statements of folks who are having trouble cleaning it of all grit. I don't exactly soak it. I find that by grabbing all the stems, pushing the whole thing under water and shaking  well is enough to dislodge any sand. [and I have LOTS of sand, not so much good soil. Maybe the good soil is actually what is hard to dislodge?
 
Jane Mulberry
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I think the difficulty washing it depends on the soil. Sandy soil should come off easily, especially if the plants are higher growing. My soil is high clay and dries to a very fine dust, which the wind and rain drives into every crevice of low-growing plants. I wash loads of dust off, but I can still see and taste it. Not the purslane seed capsules, but simple dust. It's the same with green leaves that I've planted for garden produce, too. Hardest to wash off dirt of anywhere I've gardened! I do still eat things despite the dust, but I wish I could find a better way to get it out of the plants!

 
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I haven't tried it myself, but am wondering if a salad spinner might be helpful for washing it? Anyone tried a salad spinner?

Jane Mulberry wrote:I love purslane and encourage it.

The only problem I have is cleaning it. Even after soaking it in a bowl of water for a couple of hours and rinsing it well, it's still gritty. The only way I could stop this was picking the leaves off one at a time to wash them again, a time-consuming task!

Any tips for easier ways to get all the dirt out?

 
Carla Burke
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Sherrie Reits wrote:I haven't tried it myself, but am wondering if a salad spinner might be helpful for washing it? Anyone tried a salad spinner?

Jane Mulberry wrote:I love purslane and encourage it.

The only problem I have is cleaning it. Even after soaking it in a bowl of water for a couple of hours and rinsing it well, it's still gritty. The only way I could stop this was picking the leaves off one at a time to wash them again, a time-consuming task!

Any tips for easier ways to get all the dirt out?



Yes, as I mentioned above. And it works well for me, even with our heavy clay soil. The trick that works best for me is in soaking it for a bit, first. I toss it into the spinner basket with room temp water, and let it soak for 15 - 30 minutes. Then, lift the basket out and drain it in the sink, for a couple minutes while I water plants with the water in the spinner bowl. Pop the basket back into the bowl, and spin off as much water as possible, and let it finish drying on a towel, while I prep whatever I'm putting it with. I've not had any grittiness, other than the seeds, which I like.
 
Cécile Stelzer Johnson
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Jae Gruenke wrote:I definitely enjoy and celebrate purslane in my garden, sprinkled in my salad, and occasionally added to a sandwich. I haven't tried cooking it yet but at some point I will.

It is important, though, not to overeat it, because it is quite high in oxalate, which will bind to minerals in your food so you can't absorb them, and can also build up in your tissues causing kidney stones, joint pain, and other issues. This study discusses both the good and the bad of purslane, as well as the helpful use of yogurt in reducing the oxalate content or, as with spinach and other oxalate-containing greens, the benefit of boiling them and discarding the cooking water.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0889157509000842

Not to scare anyone off, but just to help you keep your purslane consumption in balance with what your body can handle.




Thanks, Jae. that is worth knowing. I have never thought of cooking it. I wonder what else it might bind with? I'm studying the negative effects of PFAs, PFOAS etc. Because they are bioaccumulators, the excretion of these dangerous chemicals is extremely important. the human body can excrete them through essentially any matter or fluid that leaves the human body. [Thinks sweat lodges!]
If, however these chemicals could bind with something else that we eat, that would really be a life saver, and I mean that literally.
 
Jane Mulberry
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Carla Burke wrote:Yes, as I mentioned above. And it works well for me, even with our heavy clay soil. The trick that works best for me is in soaking it for a bit, first. I toss it into the super basket with room temp water, and let it soak for 15 - 30 minutes. Then, lift the basket out and drain it in the sink, for a couple minutes while I water plants with the water in the spinner bowl. Pop the basket back into the bowl, and spin off as much water as possible, and let it finish drying on a towel, while I prep whatever I'm putting it with. I've not had any grittiness, other than the seeds, which I like.



I'll need to try to get a salad spinner there and give it a try, Carla. Unfortunately there aren't any thrift stores or second hand markets in the area, and I'd rather not buy new unless I have to. I have a perfectly good and rarely used salad spinner in the UK. But getting it to Bulgaria when I have so much else to carry over with me every time I visit is the challenge!
 
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Jane Mulberry wrote:But getting it to Bulgaria when I have so much else to carry over with me every time I visit is the challenge!



It took us a full 6months to move many of our things from our rental in the Chicago area to our place here, in Central Missouri. The only waterways we had to cross were accomplished via bridges, and it was a mere 450 miles (724k) or so, and only crossed state lines, within the USA. I can only imagine, via extrapolation, your difficulties! I hope you find reasonably easy ways to work around things, until you can get it all figured out. So, toward that end, if you have a mesh bag, you can put it into a pot or bowl, with the purslane and water, then take it outside, hold one corner(or the drawstrings) and spin the mesh bag in big circles, several times, to dry it. A little more physical effort, but I used to do it all the time, with my lettuces.
 
Jane Mulberry
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What an excellent idea, Carla! I have a bunch of those fine mesh produce bags, and they're far easier to carry 3000 miles than the salad spinner. And easier to store in a kitchen that is still a building site, too!
 
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Purslane is a super food and one of the highest vegetal sources of Omega 3.  Try it in pickles, or in bean salad, anything with a vinaigrette dressing, stir fry, etc.  In some parts of the world it is a favorite vegetable.  
 
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I planted a garden type of purslane last year. It grew well and was mostly upright with large leaves compared to the volunteer purslane that has always been in our garden. The planted variety was not as red and not as lemony as the wild type.
I picked a handful of the planted purslane and put it in the dish drainer after washing it. About an hour later our 10 year old indoor cat started violently barfing bloody fluid with what appeared to be purslane bits in it and she was wobbly and disoriented. We rushed her to our Veterinarian, he told us she was exhibiting signs of being poisoned but there didn't appear to be anything left in her stomach. He had never heard of purslane. Our cat was recovered by the next day. We found out after some internet searching that purslane can be quite toxic to cats.    
 
Cécile Stelzer Johnson
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Steve Mendez wrote:I planted a garden type of purslane last year. It grew well and was mostly upright with large leaves compared to the volunteer purslane that has always been in our garden. The planted variety was not as red and not as lemony as the wild type.
I picked a handful of the planted purslane and put it in the dish drainer after washing it. About an hour later our 10 year old indoor cat started violently barfing bloody fluid with what appeared to be purslane bits in it and she was wobbly and disoriented. We rushed her to our Veterinarian, he told us she was exhibiting signs of being poisoned but there didn't appear to be anything left in her stomach. He had never heard of purslane. Our cat was recovered by the next day. We found out after some internet searching that purslane can be quite toxic to cats.    




Thanks, Steve. good to know. The ASPCA  mentions it is also toxic to dogs and horses:
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants/purslane.

This other website seems to think it is poisonous to most other livestock but I have not seen a scientific study on it:
https://plantaddicts.com/is-purslane-poisonous/#:~:text=All%20parts%20of%20Purslane%20are,may%20be%20accessible%20to%20animals.

On the other hand, it seems to be a good addition to a chicken's diet:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7902751/#:~:text=Purslane%20is%20a%20widespread%20wild,resource%20for%20livestock%20and%20poultry.
 
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I'm 62 and have just started this year, 2024, foraging for free food. The Purslane is everywhere in my yard. Among alot of other herbs. Wouldn't have known that if it wasn't for me not being able to do anything to my yard for a while because arthritis in my thumbs. So my yard grew... And grew... Purslane, Henbit, purple nettle, creeping charlie, violets, dandelions, clover, lemon, sweet mint, catnip, bee balm, Queen Anne's Lace, wild lettuce, wild roses, and other weeds I don't know... Yet!!! I'm hoping for a little better health... So I'm making tinctures, oils and salves... Even made Honeysuckle, Queen Anne's Lace and Blackberry Jelly... Mmmmmm!!! You are never to old to learn about nature... Thank you!!👍🏼😀
 
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Last year was a super-dry year. The purslane grew great. I used it for a mulch around other plants. If you let it grow, then cut it off at the root, it will grow right back from the root. Cut it again and mulch again.
 
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Jane Mulberry wrote:I love purslane and encourage it.

The only problem I have is cleaning it. Even after soaking it in a bowl of water for a couple of hours and rinsing it well, it's still gritty. The only way I could stop this was picking the leaves off one at a time to wash them again, a time-consuming task!

Any tips for easier ways to get all the dirt out?



Jane, it might be that the "gritty" sensation is actually the tiny seeds hidden in the flowers which are very tiny also. These are usually yellow but in the bud stage might be green like the stems and almost invisible. I don't notice the gritty so much after chopping it up and mixing it with other salad ingredients. Salad is chewy and the tiny seeds almost unnoticeable that way. Or you might try blending it with your salad dressing ingredients and putting it onto the salad. Think tiny "seeds" like chia which is also slightly "gritty" and not "dirt" and you can get them down easier!
 
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Thanks, Denise! It could be that some is seeds, but I'm sure some is dirt. Still, as my dad used to say, "You eat more than a peck of dirt before you die." I'm eating the purslane anyway!
 
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So glad this thread popped up. I came home from the PTJ to find a few new plants in my yard, one of which is purslane, growing through some cracks in the cement. Wahoo! I knew it immediately and had a tasty snack. But it's great to read all the new info. So happy!
 
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Try putting something underneath it.  I started an orchard that was previously very weedy so laid black landscape fabric down and the purslane grew in the 4 inch gap I left for plants. After finding out what it was, I’ve been picking it and eating it straight out of the garden no grit.
 
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Nyah Kiley wrote:Try putting something underneath it.  I started an orchard that was previously very weedy so laid black landscape fabric down and the purslane grew in the 4 inch gap I left for plants. After finding out what it was, I’ve been picking it and eating it straight out of the garden no grit.


Welcome to Permies, Nyah. I see this is your first post! You know I do the same thing with my wild purslane - pick and eat straight out of the garden. That's my "appetizer" salad before I go inside and put together the rest of the meal. : )
 
I'd appreciate it if you pronounced my name correctly. Pinhead, with a silent "H". Petite ad:
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