Dragon Tongue/ Ho Mi Z mustard

(Brassica juncea)

One of those plants so beautiful that harvesting efficiently is only possible if you don’t look too closely. I actually pulled one up and put it in a vase as a bouquet for our table in mid-November! If you do look closely, you’ll find yourself mesmerized by the delicate tracery of purple lines spreading across the green leaves with their brilliant white veins. It looks like a map of a beautiful unknown place. The taste lives up to the appearance – sweet and spicy, but not overpowering. The leaves are a little thicker than average and slightly savoyed, giving this mustard a pleasant bulk. For those used to thin, insipid salad greens, this is a much more substantive and glorious green, raw or stir-fried. Slow-bolting but cold-hardy; good for either spring or fall plantings. Bred by Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seeds from a cross between Horned and Miike mustards, combining the wisdom and taste of Chinese and Japanese gardeners down through the centuries into a brilliant new variety. OSSI pledged.