Organic Garland Chrysanthemum Seeds (Glebionis Coronaria)

Organic Garland Chrysanthemum (Glebionis Coronaria)

No wonder the Japanese have no problem reaching their official recommended intake of not merely five, but 17 portions of fruit and veg per day! Shungiku, also know as Chopsuey Greens is an easy and undemanding plant to grow and both the young shoots and stems can be eaten.

The flavoursome serrated leaves are used as both flavouring and as a vegetable. They are aromatic and taste somewhere between celery and carrots. Even the petals can be eaten and are used to make the fragrant Japanese pickle, kikumi.

Grow this speedy veg in broad drills, scattering the seed along its width. The fine leaves can be used in salads or gently cooked as an alternative to spinach. The plants will grow about 15cm (6in) high and wide in their leafy stage and attain 60cm (24in) in height when flowering.

They grow quickly and easily, providing tasty green leaves through the summer months and very pretty flowers into autumn, when most things are going to seed or are rapidly fading.

Harvest baby leaves as required using scissors. If grown on, the outer leaves can be harvested and plants can be left to grow on. The plants mature in 30 to 90 days. If grown to maturity the whole plant can be cropped before seed are formed.

In late summer, leave some plants to flower and produce seeds for next year. Dried and stored in cool conditions the seed will remain viable for three to four years.

The plant’s greens are used in many Asian cuisines. They appear in Cantonese dishes and Hong Kong cuisine in stews, casseroles, and hotpots. The leaves are also an important ingredient in Taiwanese oyster omelettes and, when young, are used along with stems to flavour soup and stir-fry.

In Japan, it is used in nabemono. Korean cookery uses the greens in soups, stews, and alone as a side dish or (banchan). In a hotpot, it is added at the last moment to the pot to avoid overcooking.