Urui ✦

Pousse de hosta

What it is

Half the world grows hosta as a shade ornamental and never thinks to eat it; in Yamagata it is forced in the dark through late winter and sold as the mildest of the mountain vegetables. It is also the one that poisons people every spring, because the emerging shoots are easily taken for false hellebore, which grows in the same wet ground and is dangerous.

In the kitchen

Bought urui needs no cooking at all: trim the base, split the thicker stems lengthways and dress them raw with vinegared miso, which suits the faint slipperiness better than oil. If you do cook it, ten seconds in boiling water and straight into cold — any longer and the crispness is gone for good.

Goes with

Miso Rice vinegar Karashi (Japanese mustard) Sesame Soy sauce Katsuobushi (dried bonito)

In season alongside

Chickweed Lettuce Pak choi Salad burnet Spring onion Viola

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