Brassica juncea, mustard greens, Indian mustard, Chinese mustard, Jie Cai or Kai
Choi, or leaf mustard is a species of mustard plant.
Subvarieties include southern giant curled mustard, which resembles a
headless cabbage such as kale, but with a distinct horseradish-mustard flavor.
It is also known as green mustard cabbage.
Uses = Food =
The leaves, the seeds, and the stem of this mustard variety are edible. The
plant appears in some form in African, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Italian, Indian,
Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and African-American cuisine. Cultivars of
B. juncea are grown as greens, and for the production of oilseed. In Russia,
this is the main variety grown for production of mustard oil, which after
refining is considered one of the best vegetable oils. It is widely used in
canning, baking and margarine production in Russia, and the majority of table
mustard there is also made from this species of mustard plant. Mustard oil is
also the primary cooking oil used in Eastern India.
The leaves are used in African cooking, and leaves, seeds, and stems are used in
Indian cuisine, particularly in mountain regions of Nepal, as well as in the
Punjab cuisine of India and Pakistan, where a famous dish called sarson da
saag is prepared. B. juncea subsp. tatsai, which has a particularly thick
stem, is used to make the Indian pickle called achar, and the Chinese pickle zha
cai. The mustard made from the seeds of the B. juncea is called brown mustard.
The leaves and seeds are used in many Indian dishes.
The Gorkhas of Darjeeling and Sikkim prepare pork with mustard greens. It is
usually eaten with relish with steamed rice, but could also be eaten with
chapati. Brassica juncea is more pungent than the
closely related Brassica oleracea greens, and is frequently mixed with
these milder greens in a dish of "mixed greens", which may include wild greens
such as dandelion. As with other greens in soul food cooking, mustard greens are
generally flavored by being cooked for a long period with ham hocks or other
smoked pork products. Mustard greens are high in vitamin A and vitamin K.
Chinese and Japanese cuisines also make use of mustard greens. In Japanese
cuisine it is known as takana and is often pickled and used as filling in
onigiri or as a condiment. A large variety of B. juncea cultivars are used,
including zha cai, mizuna, takana, juk gai choy, and xuelihong (雪里红 or 雪里蕻;
var. crispifolia）. Asian mustard greens are most often stir-fried or pickled. A
Southeast Asian dish called asam gai choy or kiam chai boey is often made
with leftovers from a large meal. It involves stewing mustard greens with
tamarind, dried chillies and leftover meat on the bone.
Brassica juncea is also known as Gai Choi, Siu Gai Choi, Xaio Jie Cai, Baby
Mustard, Chinese Leaf Mustard and Mostaza.
= Nutrition = In 100 grams, cooked mustard greens
provide 26 calories and are a rich source of vitamins A, C and K which is
especially high as a multiple of its DV. Mustard greens are a moderate source of
vitamin E and calcium. Greens are 92% water, 4.5% carbohydrates, 2.6% protein
and 0.5% fat. = Green mustard =
Vegetable growers sometimes grow mustard as a green manure. Its main purpose is
to act as a mulch, covering the soil to suppress weeds between crops. If grown
as a green manure, the mustard plants are cut down at the base when
sufficiently grown, and left to wither on the surface, continuing to act as a
mulch until the next crop is due for sowing, when the mustard is dug in. In
the UK, summer and autumn-sown mustard is cut down from October. April sowings
can be cut down in June, keeping the ground clear for summer-sown crops. One
of the disadvantages of mustard as a green manure is its propensity to harbor
club root. = Phytoremediation =
This plant is used in phytoremediation to remove heavy metals, such as lead,
from the soil in hazardous waste sites because it has a higher tolerance for
these substances and stores the heavy metals in its cells. In particular,
Schneider et al. found that Brassica juncea was particularly effective at
removing cadmium from soil. Removal of heavy metals concludes with the plant
being harvested and properly discarded. Phytoremediation has been shown to be
cheaper and easier than traditional methods for heavy metal reduction in
soils. In addition, it has the added benefit of reducing soil erosion,
reducing cross-site contamination. See also
Brassica rapa – related family of edible greens used in Asian cooking
Brassica nigra – black mustard, another mustard variety
Brassica alba – yellow or white mustard, another mustard variety
Brassica carinata – Ethiopian mustard Brassica oleracea – wild cabbage
For other edible plants in the family Brassicaceae, see cruciferous
vegetables. References
Further reading Everitt, J.H.; Lonard, R.L.; Little,
C.R.. Weeds in South Texas and Northern Mexico. Lubbock: Texas Tech University
Press. ISBN 0-89672-614-2 External links
PROTAbase on Brassica juncea Brassica juncea
Multilingual taxonomic information from the University of Melbourne
Mustard Green Manures: Washington State University Extension paper on cover
crops.