Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Red 'ume' and three greens

Our two white Japanese 'ume' somehow bloom earlier than the red one... 
The white is lovely, but hmm, in my humble opinion, the red is perhaps more radiant... no?

Early spring sees the greens from autumn, bolting... 
This specimen is the 山東菜 or Shantong Sai, a Chinese green...

I grew quite a lot of 小松菜 Komatsuna last autumn... 
This is one of their 'remnants', should I say?

And ターサイ Ta-sai (another Chinese green) too, which is the favorite of my sweeto haato... 

Yes, when the greens bolt, we harvest the young buds and treat them as 菜の花 Nanohana...
We just lightly boil them and sprinkle some sesame seeds over them... 
Their taste... a little bitter-ish perhaps? 
But delicious, in any case... 

19 comments:

  1. Anonymous3/08/2012

    The red bloom is beautiful...and the bitter greens perk up the taste buds!

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  2. Hi Lrong,

    I grew Komatsuna and Ta-Sai for the first time last year and was very pleased with them. Something else in my garden also seemed to like them so it was a bit of a race to get to them first!! Must try them with sesame seeds this year-any other cooking suggestions?

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    Replies
    1. GD... we sometimes stir-fry them with some garlic... other times, we do a soup dish on them...

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  3. I've been thinking about growing a chinese type broccoli. Your photos make the greens look stunning.

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  4. The ume flower is beautiful and the greens look delicious even as they are bolting.

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  5. Well done, a gardener cum excellent cook.

    I wish to have a piece of land to do the same.

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    Replies
    1. Growing them in pots is an option too...

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  6. What lovely ume blossom! :)

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  7. Yes, the red ume is definitely more radiant. Lovely photos.

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  8. The ume flower is so sweet and pretty. And your greens, so crisp and fresh.... yum!! Bitter or not, I think they will make a really tasty dish. Enjoy the works of your hards :-D

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  9. This is such a beautiful time in Japan. I can imagine how lovely your area is with those ume blossoms everywhere.

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  10. Seeing your pictures could imaging going thro Japan gardens in Spring! So beautiful...

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  11. I like how you caught that yellow blossom. I love Komatsuna in salad, very tasty, and
    I love that red blossom-- very pretty. The detail! I need to catch up on reading blogs, but I've been out in the garden this past week hardening off cole season vegetables. I also have a lot of winter interest growth that needs to be cut back etc.
    I am also busy with tomato + pepper starts.They are all germinated now and will be potting them up for May. Just a busy time in the garden. But it is worth all the work! :-) robbie

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  12. Anonymous3/11/2012

    My white ume are just beginning to bud....seems they waited for me to come home. :)

    How do you take such nice photos? I always enjoy them.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your compliment... I love spending time, pondering while taking pictures...

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  13. Simply beautiful, the white ones are lovely too but I prefer the pink one:D

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  14. I love ume - flowers, fruit and in food.. :P

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