Harvesting Mibuna: Cut-and-Come-Again, Timing and Storage

Where you cut decides whether it grows back

The growing point of a mibuna plant sits in the middle of the rosette, at soil level or barely above it. Everything you can see is leaf. If you cut across the plant an inch and a half to two inches (4 to 5 cm) above the soil, you take the leaves and leave the growing point intact, and the plant pushes a new flush from the center within a week in mild weather. Cut flush with the soil and you remove the growing point along with the leaves, and that plant is finished.

Going too high is the other common mistake and it is subtler, because the plant survives. Cut at four inches (10 cm) and you leave a stack of leaf bases that never become anything useful, shade the new growth coming through, and start to rot in wet weather. Aim for the same low band every time and use scissors or a sharp knife, drawn cleanly rather than sawed, so the cut surfaces seal quickly.

Timing: size and heat move together

Mibuna gets stronger as it gets bigger. That is worth planning around rather than fighting, because the same plant can supply two different things depending on when you go at it. Leaves cut at four to six inches (10 to 15 cm) are mild enough to eat raw in quantity, with a clean mustard warmth at the finish. Leaves left to twelve inches (30 cm) are decidedly hot raw, and are much better wilted, stir-fried or dropped into soup at the last moment, where thirty seconds of heat takes most of the bite out and leaves the flavor.

Cold weather does the same job in reverse. After a couple of hard frosts the same plant tastes noticeably sweeter and rounder, because the plant is holding sugars in its leaves against the cold. Winter mibuna is the best mibuna, and it is worth deliberately leaving a few plants uncut through the first frosts to find that out.

How many cuts you actually get

A well-fed autumn plant typically gives four cuts, sometimes five, before the regrowth turns thin and coarse. Each cut is smaller and sharper-tasting than the last. Knowing that in advance lets you get the best out of the crop rather than chasing one more disappointing flush.

1. Feed within two days of every cut A half-strength liquid feed watered along the row right after cutting is what makes the difference between four good cuts and two. The plant is rebuilding leaf from scratch and has nothing stored to do it with.
2. Water after cutting if the soil is dry A cut plant with dry roots regrows slowly and comes back hot and tough. Wet the top six inches (15 cm) the same day, but water the soil rather than the crown, which is now an open wound.
3. Stop when the regrowth comes back narrow When the new straps come up half the width of the previous flush, the crown is spent. Pull the plant, put it on the compost pile and use the space for something else, or let one or two run on for the flower shoots.

Cut in the morning while the leaves are turgid, and get them into cold water for ten minutes before they go in the fridge. Mibuna cut in afternoon heat never fully recovers its crispness however you treat it afterwards.

Storing it, and what to record

Washed, spun dry and packed loosely in a bag with a sheet of kitchen paper, mibuna keeps seven to ten days in the fridge, which is longer than mizuna manages because the strap leaves are thicker and have less surface area to lose water from. It does not freeze well raw, but it freezes perfectly well blanched for thirty seconds and squeezed dry, and that is a sensible way to deal with a glut before a hard freeze.

The record that matters here is a simple tally: the date of each cut, and roughly what weight or how many handfuls came off the row. After one autumn you will know exactly how much row length feeds your household per week, which is the number that stops you either sowing three times what you can eat or running out in midwinter. Note the date of the first hard frost against how the flavor changed too.