Leaf mustard green
Small leaf mustard, sold in loose bundles, its stems and leaves separated for the pot, stems first, leaves after. Sharply bitter-pungent when raw, it mellows in rolling soup with salted egg, tofu or fish slices, always tempered with smashed old ginger.
TCM properties
Nature · cooling Flavour · pungent、bitter Meridians · lung、stomach
Traditional food therapy
In Cantonese soup practice mustard greens are taken to clear heat, bring down fire and cut stagnation, the household down-fire quick soup, though herbal texts also record a warmer reading of the plant.
Cautions: read first
- Cantonese food therapy treats mustard green as cooling, so if you run cold or cough easily you must boil it with big bruised slices of old ginger
- Those with a weak, cold spleen and stomach should drink only a little
- People with an underactive thyroid should take note before eating large amounts long term (brassicas contain goitrogens)
Preparation
Pull it apart and wash it clean, keeping stems and leaves separate: stems in first, leaves after. A quick-boiled soup (滾湯) must have old ginger in it to hold down the cold.
Origin
Widely grown in Guangdong and Chaoshan. Australian Asian grocers sell leaf-mustard bundles, locally grown
Availability in Australia
Easy to find
