Here’s an easy way to keep mint alive so you always have some on hand, even through summer. Mint looooves water, and it’s best if it has access to it daily. It sends runners under the soil and is a hardy herb.
Who doesn’t love a bit of mint in a spritz or a salad. It’s just the best.
Grab some mint
Get your hands on some mint. It doesn’t have to be a full plant with roots, a small cutting will do to get started. A neighbour may have some in their garden, or visit your local nursery or supermarket.
Put it in water
Put your cutting in a jar or glass of water and keep it near a window, not in direct sunlight. 2-3 weeks later it will have plenty of roots.
Plant your mint
Plant your mint into a soil in a pot once it’s got plenty of roots. Give it a light mulch and plenty of water. Keep it in the shade and the soil moist.
Harvest your mint
Cut off the top of your mint plant (2-3 nodes) a month or so later once it has some growth. Use it in your fave minty drink 🙂
Start again!
Repeat the process. Take a cutting, put it in water, wait till it roots and plant again. Your main plant will get larger, send out runners and those can be cut off and replanted (or put in water) too.
I love basil, you might too. It’s fresh herby smell and taste in a salad or on pizza is one of the pleasures in life. Let’s face it, the basil from the supermarkets isn’t all that fresh and since it’s been cut, it’s on its way out. Unless you’re lucky enough to have access to potted basil in your supermarket.
That’s what I always try to have some growing in the garden or near the kitchen window. It grows quickly and you can just take a cutting and start again with a new plant. Here’s an easy method to grow basil in an up cycled plastic bottle, you’ll need a basil seed or two.
Prepare your bottle
Wash your plastic bottle so it’s fairly clean. I remove the label so it’s easier to see the root progress. Then cut the top off with scissors.
Drill the lid
Drill the lid with a 6mm / 1/4″ hole to allow water to seep into your growing medium.
Flip your lid
Flip the lid and place it upside down into your bottle. Use a sharpie or similar marker to mark halfway up the lid as your watermark.
Plant your basil
Fill your bottle to the water mark and lace some cotton wool or kitchen paper into the lid and plant your basil seed into it.
Wait for germination
Put your bottle near a window and wait for the magic. Make sure to keep the water level constant and after a week or so, your basil should germinate.
Plant it out
After a month, you should have a nice little seedling ready to be planted out into a pot. Add some compost tea to the water if you’d like to keep it in near the window. Enjoy!
Slice off thin slices around the edge to gather the fruit (seeds). Yes the seeds are actually fruit. Lay them on kitchen paper towel to dry out. Gather the little fruit (seeds) by rubbing them off into a paper bag. Plan them into a half filled pot by sprinkling them onto the surface. Lightly cover with 1mm off coco peat or soil. Water gently . Put them in the shade and wait for sprouts, watering daily. Summer time is best in the southern hemisphere, winter in the north. After a few weeks you should see sprouts. Grow your plants until 10cm or more and then repot carefully.
Mitsuba (三つ葉) is known by a few names and the most common would be Japanese parsley. It’s quite similar to parsley in size and appearance. Other names are wild parsley or Japanese hornwort.
The name
三つ葉 or Mitsu-ba literally means three objects + leaves (three leaves) or compound leaves with three leaflets. It is often spelt using Katakana in nurseries in Japan. The genus is Cryptotaenia and the species is Japonica. It’s a perennial and part of the celery family. I’ve had some plants live a couple years, but they do generally all dry up here in Australia due to the heat. But with a little care, you can keep it alive. Of course as they get older, their bitterness increases.
Varieties of mitsuba
There’s a white and and green variety in Japan but I’ve been used to the white variety from the Kansai region.
Growing locations and season
In Japan mistuba is grown in Shizuoka, Osaka and the east coast around Ibaraki, Chiba, Saitama and Aichi. It’s mainly grown hydroponically (green mitsuba) and harvested about 8 times over the year. There are cut leaf farms and also those that leave the root on the plant when presenting for sale. Peak demand in Japan is in December as it’s used for the new year celebrations.
Seed will sprout here in Western Australia in April and plants are pretty much full size in May. It will grow to almost a meter or 3′ if you give it ideal conditions. In the northern hemisphere at home, it flowers in June-August. You can treat it similarly to parsley, let it go to seed and spread and you’ll have it popping up in the garden each year and staying for another season or so if it’s comfy.
The taste
It’s so unique and I love the tang. It’s got a lovely taste a little like coriander but not as powerful. It’s light, refreshing and can be slightly bitter depending on how it’s collected and prepared. The stems are used in soups in Japan and I love the contrast of the soft crunch of those against the kameboko and steamed vegetables often served with it.
It reminds me of Kyoto, cold winter nights and celebration, but with a subtle refined taste. It’s generally presented in such a minimalist way, so the flavour of the stem or leaves stand on their own. I have some memories of it being used in osumashi with tornado cooked egg or in donburi, that’s not a bad combination either.
Health benefits
The leaves have high levels of calcium, iron, potassium, beta-carotene and vitamin A and C.
Mitsuba’s scent
The scent of the plant contains cryptone (compound also found in eucalyptus and mint) and monoterpene which is said to increase appetite, assist with digestion, relaxation and promoting sleep. It contains other essential oils and monoterpenes such as α-pinene, sabinene, and β-pinene.
Possibly why this is served in osumashi at the beginning of traditional Japanese meals.
It’s beauty
I love seeing it pop up in the garden each year (see above, it’s hot here so they die off). The little sprouts come through and I get excited and give them extra care as I weed in between them. I move some to pots to ensure I have a safe supply. Sometimes they’ll get decimated by cabbage white butterfly caterpillars or snails.
They’re a hardy thing once established and love the water. They have pretty leaves, grow to a manageable size and the flowers are super cute.
It’s just one of those perennials that I allow to go free. It doesn’t take over the garden and it’s so useful in cooking. Plus it’s so easy to manage or just pull out.
The flowers
it has these delicate white flowers that bloom from the schizocarp fruits. They’re super cute as they start off tiny and bloom into basil-like flowers.
Gathering your mitsuba seed
Once the seed has dried on the stalks, I cut the dried stalks off carefully with scissors and run my fingers down it to strip it of seeds and put them into a paper bag for storage. You don’t get too much extra plant material, it’s mainly seed by the time it’s dried.
Plant your seed
Plant it into a pot, it doesn’t have to be big to start off. A small 0.5L or 17oz pot is enough to get it started.
Sunshine and climate
Mistuba likes full sun at times and if it’s really hot, part shade is and a cool, temperate climate. If you give it full sun, you might get the strong bitterness in the leaves.
Picking your mitsuba
Harvest the leaves, stalks or root depending on how you want to prepare it. I use the stalks and younger leaves in osumashi. Like parsley, you can just break stalks or leaves off and it will keep producing.
Eat your mitsuba
I had mitsuba often in Kyoto as they blanch the white stalks and add them with small leaves to a clear osumashi soup. I LOVE it and it’s the main reason I sourced seed to get it into the garden. Osuimono (お吸い物) translates to water thing and osumashi is a kind of osuimono. Osumashi generally has a simpler flavour and set of ingredients. Another fave was Japanese clear clam soup (あさりの潮汁), but we’ll talk about that in another blog.
Keeping it alive for next season
Take a cutting and root it in water inside the house. Keep it warm and regrow it like you might for basil. Or, another method is to germinate the seed inside on a silicone mat or in a small pot. It will grow during colder months if you provide warmth, like in the greenhouse.
You’ll have mitsuba all year round! Drop a comment if you found this useful!
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