With the growing popularity of Thai, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese cuisine in North America, gardeners are becoming familiar with Asian vegetables that were unknown outside of specialty markets. Each year, more crispy, succulent and nutritious Asian vegetables appear on the grocers’ produce shelves. Asian vegetables are not just delicious; many, like yard-long (asparagus) beans and winged beans, are fun to grow, too.

Bok Choy: also called bok choi and pak choi. Cabbage relative with long, thick white stems and dark green leaves. Leaves and stems are used fresh and cooked. Sow seed in early spring or fall; grow like cabbage. Space plants 8-12 inches apart. Harvest entire small heads or larger individual leaves. Young bok choy is delicious in salads, sautèed, or stir-fried. Chopped bok choy leaves are excellent additions to Chinese dishes.

Tatsoi: Tatsoi is a type of pak choi that forms a flat rosette of leaves close to the ground with tender dark green, spoon shaped leaves and short light green stalks. This vigorous grower is cold tolerant and has a delicious mild, mustard flavor. In warm weather, the plant is erect while in cold weather the plant forms flat rosettes. Tatsoi is popular as a salad green or stir fry. Sow seeds in spring or late summer.

Daikon: also called Chinese radish. Torpedo-shaped radishes. Larger cultivars can reach 2 ft long and 3 in. wide. The flesh has a crisp texture and flavor. Sow seed in deep, rich soil and cultivate like a common radish. Read catalog or seed packet for best season to plant. Stores well. Root adds mildly spicy flavor to salads, Chinese sauces, and stir-fried seafood. Traditionally diced and made into a sweet pickle in Korea. Steam peppery leaves or add to soup.

Edamame: also called green soybeans. Bushy plants bear short, hairy green pods. Harvested and eaten when both pods and beans are still bright green but pods have filled out. Sow seed 1-2 in. deep in warm soil and full sun; cultivate like a bush bean. Traditionally boiled and served salted in the pod as an appetizer; split the pods and eat the beans, discarding the pods. Beans can also be shelled and steamed or boiled. Good protein source.

Long Bean: also called yard-long and asparagus beans. Pods can reach 38 in. long and are stringless and tender. Red or green pods are borne on 8-10 ft vines. Sow seed 1-2 in. deep and 4-6 in. apart after soil has warmed. Provide strong, tall trellises or tepees. Heat and drought tolerant. Luscious flavor is more like an asparagus-bean cross than pure green bean. Best sautèed or stir-fried rather than boiled or steamed.

Mizuna: known as Japanese greens in China. Mizuna is a distant relative of the turnip. This easily grown green is used mainly as a pickled vegetable in Asia. In the west, it is used as a salad ingredient for its mild, tangy taste. Attractive, compact green plant matures in 35 days, and tolerates heat. Serrated leaves are used fresh and cooked. Sow seed in early spring; grow like spinach. Space plants 6 inches apart. Make successive plantings. Harvest leaves or entire plant. Blend with lettuce and crisp vegetables for an unusual, nutritious salad or stir-fry with Asian vegetables. It is becoming increasingly popular as an ingredient used to stuff poultry and ravioli pasta. There are two types of Mizuna, Mizuna Early and Mizuna Purple. Mizuna Early is both cold and heat tolerant and slow to go to seed. It also branches freely making it suitable for cut-and-grow again harvesting. Mizuna Purple is a purple stem variety with green leaves. Mizuna Purple matures for baby leaf use in about 30 days. Milder than arugula, the peppery mustard flavor is an excellent addition to soups and stir-fry.

Napa Cabbage: also known Chinese celery cabbage. A compact, delicately flavored cabbage, green leaves on light green stalks reach 13-16 in. Grow like other cool weather cabbage. Excellent fall crop. Keep well watered. Matures in 75 days. Use in coleslaw or stir fry for a crisp texture. Traditionally pickled called kimchee. Will store 2-3 months in a cool environment.

Oriental Mustards: Attractive red or green loose-leaf or heading mustards. Loose-leaf types mature in 45 days; heading mustards need 60-75 days. Plants tolerate heat and light frost. Direct-seed in early spring or fall. Space plants 6 in. apart in the row, thinning to 10 in. Leave 10-12 in. between rows. Mustards are great for spicing up salads and stir-fries. Greens can also be sautèed, steamed, boiled, and added to soups and fried rice dishes. Heading types are excellent pickled.

Red Giant Mustard has deep purple leaves that are very large and broad with a mustard pungency. Harvest the leaves when young for salads or layer into sandwiches instead of using prepared mustard. Leaves can be cut from the plant as needed. It will rapidly grow new leaves. Seeds sown in late summer for a fall crop will produce brilliant dark red leaves.

Big Red Mustard: Misome is a relatively new type of Japanese green. It has been cultivated to tolerate high temperatures. The dark glossy leaves are ideal for pickling which is how they are typically prepared in China. The greens are also used in stir fry dishes. The leaves intensify in flavor as they mature. Sow in spring to early fall and stagger your plantings every two weeks. This green is ready to harvest in 25 days.

Winged Bean: Vining plants produce bean pods with four winged edges. Plant outdoors after frost danger has passed and grow as you would other beans. Plant Hunan winged bean variety in Minnesota. Cook leaves like spinach. Winged pods are delicious fresh or cooked and are high in protein. Sautè pods and roots alone or stir-fry with other Asian vegetables; also good in soup. Roots have a nutty flavor.

Mibuna is an unusual Japanese green that requires little preparation. Plants grow to about one foot tall and produce tight cluster of long, narrow, rounded dark green leaves. It has a light mustard flavor and is used in salads or a side dish when lightly cooked and seasoned. Mibuna is cold tolerant and so would make a good fall crop.

Bitter Melon: also called bitter cucumber. Vigorous cucumber-like vines produce green, white, or orange fruits that resemble wrinkled or warty cucumbers. Plants need warm weather, full sun, and plenty of moisture. Soak seed for 24 hours before planting indoors to transplant later, or direct-seed outdoors when the soil is warm. Plants need the same care as cucumbers, and they respond well to trellising. Depending on the cultivar, bitter melons range from quite bitter to mild. All types are used extensively in stir-fries and other Asian dishes.

If you thought that Asian Vegetables were exotic and only to be encountered in restaurants, maybe it is time to rethink their use in home cooking, and explore their flavors to brighten up a salad or stir fry dish. If you can’t find a good selection of Asian vegetables at your favorite market and would like to try some of the more unusual ones, then it is time to think about growing your own. Many of the Asian salad greens are especially suited for growing during the cool conditions of spring and fall. You can find a wide selection of Asian vegetable seeds from many mail-order seed suppliers.