Mitsuba

• mitsuba三つ葉

  Japanese

  Literally "three leaves". Shops distinguish the long-stemmed blanched kiri-mitsuba from the leafier field-grown ao-mitsuba and the rooted ne-mitsuba; they are the same plant grown three ways.

• padeudeuk-namul파드득나물

  Korean

• ya'erqin鸭儿芹

  Mandarin

Gentle, slightly bitter and green, with a celery-like note most noticeable in the stems. The point of it is restraint — it is meant to be noticed and not to lead.

Mild and clean: celery and parsley with a hint of chervil, fresher and less grassy than any of them.

Bright green leaves on pale green stems; the blanched kiri-mitsuba stems are almost white.

Tender leaves and crisp, juicy stems that wilt in seconds in hot liquid.

Treat it as the last thing into the pot: cut it into short lengths and lay it on the soup or the rice as you serve. If you are substituting, use a mixture of parsley leaves and a little celery leaf at half the quantity — and accept that the result will be louder.

Clear soups, chawanmushi, rice bowls topped with egg such as oyakodon, hot pots, and blanched as ohitashi with soy and dashi. It is also eaten raw in salads and used to tie small bundles of food. Almost always added at the end.

• boiling — Laid on a clear soup or a simmering donburi topping for the last few seconds only. Longer, and the aroma goes and the leaves turn khaki.
• infusing — The stems are sometimes tied in a knot and floated in clear soup, where their aroma infuses into the broth and the knot is eaten as a garnish.

The stems should snap rather than bend, and the leaves should be bright green with no yellowing.

• Limp stems
• Yellow leaves
• Slimy patches

• Wilting from water loss
• Yellowing of the leaves as the herb ages
• Rot where wet leaves are packed together

Apiaceae

A shade-loving perennial to about half a metre, with long slender stems each carrying a leaf divided into three toothed leaflets, and small white flowers in loose umbels. It grows wild in damp woodland in Japan, Korea and China.

Native to Japan, Korea and eastern China, where it grows wild in moist shade. Japan is where it became an important cultivated herb.

• Japan — major producer. Grown commercially, much of it hydroponically or blanched under cover.
• South Korea — notable producer
• China — origin

Cut young, before the plant flowers, while the stems are still tender.

1. Cutting and bunching — Cut, bunched and sold fresh, sometimes with roots attached.Why: A fresh herb with a short life; nothing is done to it beyond keeping it cold.

Grown three ways for three products: in the open as a leafy herb; earthed up or grown in the dark so the stems stay long, pale and tender; and sold with its roots attached for freshness. Hydroponic growing now supplies much of the everyday Japanese market.

Cool, moist and shaded. It wilts and bolts in hot sun, which is why it is a woodland plant in the wild and a greenhouse crop commercially.

• Crisp, upright stems and bright green leaves.
• No yellowing or slime inside the bunch.
• Roots attached, where offered, keep it fresher for longer.

Gathered wild in Japan long before it was cultivated, mitsuba became a standard garden and market herb there and remains one of the few leaf herbs Japanese cooking uses routinely. It is almost unknown as a culinary herb outside East Asia, although its North American relative has a minor history as a foraged green.

A domestic fresh-produce trade, mostly within Japan.