Gardeners seem to have been quite slow to latch on to the great possibilities offered by oriental veg, yet they are delicious and nutrientpacked. And because of the way they are often prepared, i.e. cooked briefly in a stir-fry, steamed or eaten in soups or raw in a salad or slaw, they retain much of this goodness and flavour. hings are changing and seed companies report that sales of these tasty veggies are on the rise.
Oriental vegetables offer a way to ill the gaps left by more traditional spring-sown crops, ensuring you make the best use of your soil later in the season; indeed, some will provide harvests right through the autumn and winter and on into spring when there is little else available. hey can also offer an alternative to spacehungry traditional brassicas such as sprouts and winter cabbages for those with limited room. So what is an oriental vegetable? his is just a term loosely applied to any veg which is widely grown on the Asian continent and covers an amazing array of leafy crops, including some which are more familiar e.g. pak choi and mizuna, which can be found in supermarket pillow packs of leafy salads and Chinese cabbage, which can be seen occasionally in the shops and in many seed catalogues. It also includes other less well known but equally valuable crops such as Chinese kale, tatsoi, choy sum and mustard greens.