Tatsoi

Naming

The name comes from Cantonese taap3 coi3 ('drooping vegetable'), often rendered tat soi or tat choy. However, its natural habitat is not where Cantonese is spoken but alongside the Yangtze River, where it is called thaq-khu-tshe (塌棵菜) or wūtācài (乌塌菜, 'dark drooping veggie'). Mandarin borrowed the former name as tākēcài. It is also called "Chinese flat cabbage", "rosette bok choy", "broadbeaked mustard", "spoon mustard", or "spinach mustard".

Description

The plant has dark green spoon-shaped leaves which form a thick rosette. It has a soft creamy texture and a subtle yet distinctive flavour.

Planting

It can be grown to harvestable size in 45–50 days, and can withstand temperatures down to –10 °C (15 °F). Tatsoi can even be harvested from under snow.

• Days to Maturity: 45
• When to Sow
  • Outside: As early as the soil can be worked. Sow again in late summer or fall.
  • Inside: Sow directly outdoors.
• Seed Depth: 1/4" to 1/2"
• Seed Spacing: 6"
• Row Spacing: 18"
• Days to Emerge: 5 - 15
• Thinning: When 4" tall, thin to 6" apart.

Nutritional value

Tatsoi contains high levels of vitamin C, carotenoids, folic acid, calcium and potassium.

Cooking

Tatsoi is used for pesto, salads, stir fry, and garnishing soup. According to Food52, "Tatsoi is a very versatile green, equally suited to being served raw or lightly cooked. To make it easy, just use tatsoi anywhere you’d use spinach. Lightly steam or sauté it, wilt the leaves with a warm dressing, or add them to a soup at the end of cooking."

The leaves are similar to romaine, while the stalks taste a little like cucumber, with a mild bitterness. The leaves and inner stalk are tender; the outer stalk is typically discarded. Typical cooking is to stir-fry the leaves and the stalks. They also can be pickled.

References

References

1. (2005). "Report of a Vegetables Network: Joint Meeting with an Ad Hoc Group on Leafy Vegetables, 22-24 May 2003, Skierniewice, Poland". Bioversity International.
2. (15 Mar 1999). "The Edible Salad Garden". Tuttle Publishing.
3. "Sorting Brassica rapa names". The University of Melbourne.
4. "Nutrition Facts for Tatsoi (Spoon Mustard)".
5. Hard, Lindsay-Jean, "[https://food52.com/blog/6220-tatsoi-is-the-new-spinach-haven-t-you-heard Tatsoi Is the New Spinach (Haven't You Heard?)"], Food52, January 28, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2020.
6. Jay, Ben, "[https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/asian-green-guide.html The Serious Eats Field Guide to Asian Greens"], Serious Eats, May 15, 2014. Retrieved July 25, 2020.