, ''kyouna (京菜)'', Japanese mustard greens, or spider mustard, Mark Bittman is a
cultivar
A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...
of ''
Brassica rapa
''Brassica rapa'' is a plant species that has been widely cultivated into many forms, including the turnip (a root vegetable), komatsuna, napa cabbage, bomdong, bok choy, and rapini.
''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''oleifera'' is an oilseed c ...
'' var. ''niposinica''.
Description and use
Possessing dark green, serrated leaves, mizuna is described as having, when raw, a "piquant, mild peppery flavor...slightly spicy, but less so than
arugula
Rocket, eruca, or arugula (''Eruca sativa'') is an edible annual plant in the family Brassicaceae used as a leaf vegetable for its fresh, tart, bitter, and peppery flavor. Its other common names include salad rocket and garden rocketFlora of NW ...
soup
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...
hot pot
Hot pot ( zh, c=, s=wikt:火锅, 火锅, t=wikt:火鍋, 火鍋, p=huǒguō, l=fire pot, first=t) or hotpot, also known as steamboat, is a dish (food), dish of soup/stock (food), stock kept simmering in a cooking pot, pot by a heat source on ...
s).
Varieties
In addition to the term ''mizuna'' (and its alternates) being applied to at least two different
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of ''
Brassica
''Brassica'' () is a genus of plants in the cabbage and mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus are informally known as cruciferous vegetables, cabbages, mustard plants, or simply brassicas. Crops from this genus are sometim ...
'',
horticulturalists
Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...
have defined and named a number of varieties. For example, a resource provided by
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
and the
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...
lists sixteen varieties including "Early Mizuna", "Kyona Mizuna", " Komatsuna Mizuna", "Vitamin Green Mizuna", "Kyoto Mizuna", "Happy Rich Mizuna", "Summer Fest Mizuna", "Tokyo Early Mizuna", "Mibuna Mizuna", "Red Komatsuna Mizuna", "Waido Mizuna" and "Purple Mizuna". There is also a variety known as pink mizuna.
Cultivation
Mizuna has been cultivated in Japan since ancient times. Mizuna was successfully grown in the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
in 2019. It grows in
hardiness zones
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...
4 to 9, prefers full sun or partial shade, well-drained soil and a pH of 6.5–7.0. It can be grown as a
microgreen
Microgreens are Leaf vegetable, vegetable greens (not to be confused with sprouting, sprouts or Shoot (botany), shoots) harvested just after the cotyledon leaves have developed with one set of true leaves. They are used as a visual, flavor and te ...
, sowing every 3 cm, or for its leaves with a 20 cm spacing. It is produced by more than 30 countries around the world, but China, Japan, South Korea, India and the United States account for 70% of global production.