Mitsuba Mashimori is delicious in salads, or you can add it to oriental dishes just before serving to enjoy the slightly nutty flavoured deeply lobed leaves. The stems are also tasty, these need slightly longer to cook than the leaves. Mitsuba, also known as Japanese Parsley, is both vigorous and quite cold tolerant making it most suitable for spring and autumn sowing.
SOW & GROW: best in spring or in the autumn, starting the seeds in modules in a cold frame, unheated greenhouse or on a windowsill. Transplant at the 2/3 leaf stage to their final growing position – they are happy in a moist shady position under trees or by a north facing wall. Harvest the leaves and stems as soon as the plants are large enough. You can continue to harvest into the winter months. Mitsuba can tolerate temperatures down to minus 10°C for short periods but is not winter hardy throughout Britain.
Mitsuba will grow in the summer too but is inclined to bolt in the warmer weather: you can treat it as a baby leaf at this time of year.
EAT & ENJOY: add the young leaves and seedlings to salads or use as a garnish for soups. Pop mature leaves and stems into rice, fish or egg dishes at, or just before, serving. Stems only need stir frying for a minute or two.
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