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Preparing
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Mustard greens
Brassica juncea · Leafy green
1 variety40 pairings
Mustard greens (Brassica juncea) are the leaves of the brown or Indian mustard plant, eaten for their broad, ruffled, bright-green blades and their sharp, peppery, almost horseradish-like bite. That raw heat — the same mustard-oil chemistry that powers mustard, horseradish and wasabi — mellows markedly once the leaves are cooked, which is why they are most often braised slow and long. They are a cornerstone green of three great cuisines at once: the slow-stewed pot greens of the American South, the Punjabi sarson ka saag of northern India, and the leaf mustards and pickles of southern China.
Picking a good onedrag
Squeaky, peppery, just cutYellow, limp, sulphurous
Shop freshThe all-rounder: the long braise, saag, or a fast stir-fry.Everyday best
BladeGreen, a few blades relaxed at the edge
The midribMidrib bends, the leaf still stands
Cut endsRim drying, still pale inside the cut
Smell at a torn leafPeppery and green, milder
What to look for, from squeaky, peppery, just cut to yellow, limp, sulphurous.
What one gives you
93%
Usable yield
465 g · only the tough stem bases off
500 g
Typical weight
one specimen
Keeping ittap a band
A domestic fridge holds it about 8× longer than the counter.
Humidity
95-98%
Near-saturated, 95-98%: bag them with a damp cloth. In dry fridge air the broad blades wilt within a day.
Airflow
Vented bag, never sealed
A vented bag or a loose box, never sealed tight: trapped damp brings bacterial soft rot up through the cut stems.
Ethylene yellows the blades
They give off almost none themselves but are very sensitive to it: ethylene from apples, pears and bananas yellows the blades and hurries senescence on.