Udo ✦

Udo

What it is

Japanese has a phrase for something large and good for nothing — udo no taiboku, a great tree of udo — because a stalk left to grow tall turns too woody to eat and is still useless as timber. Growers sidestep the problem by forcing the shoots in dark cellars, which is why the stalk arrives white, straight and tender.

In the kitchen

Peel it thickly and drop the strips straight into water with a splash of rice vinegar — a cut face browns within a minute in air. The peel is not waste: shredded and fried as kinpira, it is the more interesting half of the vegetable.

Goes with

Rice vinegar Miso Sesame Kombu Yuzu Karashi (Japanese mustard)

Same species

Tara no me

In season alongside

Fuki-no-tō (butterbur flower bud) Alexanders Bagnoli truffle Barbe de capucin Bog myrtle Dandelion greens

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