Stem mustard
Stem mustard are a bulbing type of mustard from the brassica rapa family. As the plant matures the stem swells and a striking vegetable appears.
This week wow I am so proud to say we have grown our first ever successful crop of Stem mustard for the box. It took us months to track down Stem mustard seed, and then multiple failed successions to plant them at just the right time.
I think these wonderful plants need the winter to bulb up. They look like regular mustard for most of their growing period, with big wide shiny leaves. And then boom ~ they all began to bulge and Dylan and I pretty much danced around the garden, and checked on them constantly for the last two months.
Originally when this succession started bulbing, their bulbs were smooth and round. This made me think they were a cultivar that is very famous in China, grown in Fuling, a district in the South West. These rounded Stem mustards are used to make an amazing pickle called Fuling pickle. This pickle is so tasty! I buy mine from Resource Asian Grocery in Kingston ~ so good.
China is considered the epicentre of all mustards: stem, root, leaf, stalk and seed. There are over 1000 different documented mustards in the region where they are believed to have been cultivated since at least the sixth century BC.
Checkout some of the beautiful and diverse characterists of Chinese Mustards in the pic below. China is on top of my adventure list, I would love to spend a whole spring travelling around the country and visiting local markets and oogling all the mustards.
With all this beautiful diversity in mind, I dont believe this particular Stem mustard we’ve grown is the exact Fuling Stem mustard. Ours started to form pointed edges in the field about two weeks ago. Check out the video below for a look at some of the other varieites of Stem mustard available in China!
Stem mustards can be enjoyed raw in salads, cooked into soups and stewed with other ingredients like meats or seitan. Pickling is a beautiful option too of course!
Stem mustard isn’t readily available outside of China, so there are unfortunately not many recipes that I could find in English, I used the google translate extension to translate the recipe pages below.
