Edible Chrysanthemums Japanese chrysanthemum leaves, or chop suey greens, are one of the best salads you can ever grow. A year ago, I was browsing through my favourite stall at an RHS plant fair. I suspect I’m not the only one who saves the Pennard Plants stall till last, and then natters with the friendly American guy manning it. He always recommends a few rarities for me: a squash I haven’t tried here, and a salad I’ll love there. One of the salads he sold me a couple of years ago has turned into my favourite salad leaf. It’s the Japanese edible chrysanthemum, or chop suey greens, and it’s brilliant. First things first, the slugs and snails seem to leave the salad alone while chomping away on anything else. So if like me you’ve got a garden overrun by the blighters this year, this is a perfect salad as you’ll actually get to eat it. But once you do eat it, you realise it’s the loveliest salad leaf anyway, which makes you super-glad that it has survived. The leaves are nicely crunchy and wonderfully, wonderfully flavoursome. They’re peppery and juicy and leafy and really really good as a salad leaf because you enjoy eating them, rather than thinking about all the non-leafy bits in the salad. They also last well if you’re taking salads into work, which I think is very important indeed. And if you leave a few to flower, they do brighten the place up rather well. Here’s where you can get the seeds. Or else, I might see you at that Pennard Plants stall rather soon. I’ll be the one paying for a lot of seed packets. Share this:Share Leave a Reply Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. Name* Email* Website Comment Object in the image Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.
