Water pepper (tade / benitade) ✦

Renouée poivre d’eau (tade)

What it is

Water pepper gave Japanese its proverb for taste, tade kuu mushi mo suki-zuki — there are even insects that eat water pepper — first recorded around 1600. The red sprouts sold as benitade are the same plant cut a few days after germination, when the pepperiness is at its sharpest and before any bitterness sets in.

In the kitchen

Pound the leaves with a little cooked rice and rice vinegar for tade-zu, the sauce for grilled ayu; the rice starch is what keeps it from separating on the plate. Scatter the sprouts at the last second — heat kills the pepperiness inside a minute.

Goes with

Sweetfish (ayu) Rice vinegar Gilt-head bream Cucumber Shiso Wasabi

Same species

Vietnamese coriander

In season alongside

Rocket Sweetfish (ayu) Bitter melon Broccoli Chile piquín Frisée

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