Japan's three major wild vegetables I select

 I would like to introduce you three major wild vegetables in Japan, Udo, Warabi and Fukinotou. In the rural area, usually these wild vegetables are growing naturally along riverbanks or in hilly area.  But I planted them in my fields and orchard near my parents' house. Because in recent years, there have been restrictions on entering someone else's land, even if it is a mountain forest, to pick wild vegetables. In spring, I often harvest them and enjoy them in my wife's home-made cooking.

First of all, I will show you Udo, a wild vegetable native to various parts of Japan. It has been eaten as a taste of spring since ancient times.

These are the young stems of an Udo plant.  Actually, I bought these Udo at a local farmer's market.  The basal part is white and delicious.

Particularly, I love the white basal part of Udo. Of course, young leaves and stems have also strong fragrance and are delicious. I like eating them as tempura, very simple cooking.   Tempura is a typical Japanese dish of lightly battered and deep-fried vegetables and seafood. One more favorite recipe is the salad of lengthwise sliced Udo mixed with vinegar and miso. I can't get enough of this scent of sliced Udo.

By the way, this is the Udo that grows vigorously at the edge of my orchard. (Early June 2025)

Udo is a tall perennial plant, it grows quickly, and its stems soon become thick and large. The young leaves and stems have a strong fragrance, and basal parts of stem are crispy texture. So, Udo is popular as a wild vegetable.  To make a basal part of stem white and soft, it is necessary to pile up dried grass and other plant material around the base so that the sunlight does not expose.  Incidentally, these stems are untreated.

Secondly, Warabi. In English it is called bracken, a fern. The large, mature plants are inedible, but the tender bracken sprouts that grow up in spring can be eaten. 

These are tender bracken sprouts and young sprouts can be snapped off easily.  

We cannot cook bracken sprouts directly, due to its astringency and bitterness. To make them edible, soak the young sprouts and small amount of wood ash in a pot of boiling water, then leave for several hours or for overnight if it's possible. We can substitute baking soda for wood ash. The water in which the bracken was soaked turns a deep green color, indicating that the bitterness has been removed. A young bracken sprout is slimy and sticky texture when take a bite. The thicker the bracken sprout, the better the texture when eaten. 

My favorite recipe is sprouts of bracken and small pieces of abura-age (thin, deep-fried slices of tofu) simmered in soy sauce, mirin and dried bonito broth called 'dashi'.  I also love the tempura of bracken sprouts.　

Harvested young bracken sprout (Middle April 2025)

Incidentally, these are adult plants of Warabi. It's a fern.

Finally, fukinotou, the immature flower buds of the butterbur plant. Fukinotou is also a familiar wild vegetable that can be harvested in early spring. It has a slightly bitter taste.  I like to eat it as tempura.   I love the slight bitterness!

This is a fukinotou emerged directly from the underground stem in my butterbur field.   (Late March 2025). 

The immature and unfolded fukinotou is desirable for cooking.

Harvested fukinotou . 

These are leaves of butterbur, for reference. Butterbur leaves have grown up directly from the underground stem after the fukinotou  withered.  

Not only fukinotou, but we can taste the leaf stalk of butterbur plants.    Harvest butterbur leaf stalks, cut them to fit the pot, boil them briefly, then peel off the outer skin. Finally, cut them into bite-sized pieces. Heat some sesame oil in a pan, add the butterbur and stir-fry lightly. Add the seasonings and simmer until they are seasoned to your taste.  The seasonings are soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar and dried bonito broth.　Dried kelp broth is also used.

Butterbur leaf stalks with their surface skins peeled off.  The leaf stalk has hollow structure.