I don't know if you're well acquainted with wasabi rocket. If you are, maybe like me, you are a recent convert.
Earlier this year, I was looking through my seed catalogue to see what new additions I could make to my little vegetable garden and, low and behold, I came across wasabi rocket. "Rocket leaves that taste like wasabi," I thought, "now that's something I have to try."
So, the order went out to my seed supplier and I had a few hundred, tiny, grain-like wasabi rocket seeds within a week. It turns out wasabi rocket is easy to grow. I grew one batch in a large pot and I'm now on my second batch. The recent hot weather and heavy rain has made this batch bolt (which apparently wasabi rocket does at the drop of a hat) but it's still producing nice, tasty leaves.
I'll probably sow a few more seeds in August for a late autumn crop as well. As for the taste, wasabi rocket really does taste like a mild wasabi, so it makes a great addition to Japanese dishes.
You can buy these leaves as a salad in the UK but they are quite hard to find. Asda supermarket used to sell wasabi rocket leaves but now they appear to have bundled them up with other varieties into a "strong rocket" mix.
Honestly, if you have a large pot going spare or a little space in your garden, it is so easy-peasy to grow your own. (Oh, and I forgot to mention - wasabi rocket is good for you, providing iron, folate and vitamins A and C - then again, it's a green leaf vegetable, so of course it's good for you, right?)
So what have I used my leaves for? Well, I've wrapped t wasabi rocket in nori and used it to flavour onigiri rice balls and I've put a few leaves into miso soup. I've also used it with salmon sashimi as a kind of Japanese-style carpaccio (see the photo above) .
Does that sound good to you? If so, you can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking Salmon sashimi with Wasabi rocket. If you want to grow your own wasabi rocket, you can find the Youtube tutorial for that by clicking Grow your own Wasabi rocket or just scroll to the bottom of the page. The easy -to-follow "how to grow" instructions are just below .
Happy growing! Kurumi XXXX.
How to grow Wasabi rocket.
what you’ll need:
1 packet wasabi rocket seeds
some small pots
enough potting compost to fill the pots
(larger pots for planting later)
extra potting compost
water
how to:
fill some small growing pots 3/4 full with potting compost
sprinkle 4-5 seeds per pot and lightly pat the seeds into the earth
cover with about 2cm of potting compost and keep the soil moist with water but not wet
place in a warm sheltered spot outside or if it’s cold, indoors
your seeds should germinate in about 7-10 days
keep the earth damp and in 3-4 weeks, you should be able to harvest the “baby”leaves or if you wish, pot on for larger plants
to pot on, I plant 2 plants in a 30cm diameter pot
put the pot somewhere sunny and keep your wasabi rocket well fed & watered, especially during very hot spells
you can harvest full grown leaves 3-4 weeks later
(wasabi rocket is a "cut and come again" plant, so the leaves will quickly regrow to replace those you've harvested.)
Σχόλια