THE CHINESE GREENS - Growing Chinese Vegetables in Your Own Backyard - page 19

CULINARY USES
You can eat garland chrysanthemum raw with other salad greens, but more commonly,
it's cooked. Be sure to cook very briefly, in a small amount of water, like spinach. This
green tastes exactly the way chrysanthemums smell. When you first try it, combine
it with other greens or vegetables until you see if you like it. Coarsely chopped and
added to chicken broth with a thin slice of fresh ginger, it produces a soup that is an
instant trip to China.
STIR-FRY . Stir-fry dishes make good use of this “fragrant green,” as it's sometimes
called. Combine it with bamboo shoots, snow peas, and bean sprouts for a rich variety
of texture and taste that is truly Asian. Serve it as a side dish with a little Asian ses-
ame oil, soy sauce, and a dash of sherry, along with pork or chicken. Or be completely
Chinese and shred the pork or chicken directly into the same skillet. Cook it with spin-
ach, beet greens, or Swiss chard to create a vegetable melange, but don't confuse the
palate by combining it with any of the mustards.
JAPANESE STYLE . You might try the Japanese custom of dipping the flowers in slightly
warm sake at the beginning of a meal. This is said to confer good health and long life
on the diner. (You may want to dip the flowers in boiling, salted water before serving
them.) If you don't have sake, a medium-dry sherry will do almost as well.
DRIED FLOWER PETALS . Use these in soups, stir-fry dishes, and tempura. They should
be soaked in tepid water before adding to the pot.
JAPANESE PICKLE . A very fragrant Japanese pickle, kikumi, is made with fresh chrys-
anthemum petals. Gather the flowers, remove the green base, and separate the petals.
Drop in boiling, salted water and drain at once. Pat dry with paper towels. Marinate for
an hour in sake and soy sauce. To be completely authentic, the marinade should also
include chopped, pickled peaches or apricots. The pickle keeps in the refrigerator for
several days.
HOW TO DRY CHRYSANTHEMUM FLOWERS
To dry garland chrysanthemum or other chrysanthemum flowers for culinary use, gather when they have
fully opened. Remove the green base and separate the petals. Dip the petals in boiling, salted water, re-
move at once; and dry on a paper towel. Spread the petals in a single layer on a flat surface and dry in the
sun (or in a 150°F oven) before storing.