Wasabi herb

A few years ago I bought a small edible herb that was called "wasabi salad herb" (Diplotaxis erucoides). Apparently there are a few other herbs with the common name of “wasabi herb”, in this blog post I am only referring to Diplotaxis erucoides.

This is not real wasabi, this is an edible leaf herb that is far simpler to grow than wasabi, it tastes kind of similar to wasabi, gives a similar nose tingling feeling as wasabi, and it lacks the extreme heat of true wasabi so is easier to eat.

Wasabi herb - Diplotaxis erucoides

Wasabi herb is not particularly rare, many online places have seed for sale and it is dreadfully simply to grow from seed, yet for some reason few people tend to grow them.

I wrote an earlier post saying how happy I was with it at the time. I have continued to grow this since then and have learned a few things so thought it was probably time to write another blog post.

One of the least important things I have learned is this wasabi herb is not a true annual. Some of my wasabi herb plants did flower and die, others flower and stay alive to produce leaves and more flowers for another year or two. I have one of the original plants that is still alive and flowering. We often call things like this annuals when they really are short lived perennials. This annual/perennial distinction is not as black and white as we often pretend it is. It also doesn’t really matter as most people will grow these as annuals and kill plants after they flower and set seed.

The time from seed to the first leaf harvest is rather short. Unfortunately I have not recorded it. I record when I plant seed, then I forget until it has been flowering for a few weeks. In the heat of summer, or if transplanted, they will bolt to flower quickly. Over cooler months they will produce leaves for a lot longer.

Wasabi herb flowering, you can hear it humming from all the bees

While wasabi herb does not love the heat, it seems to grow well over the cooler months. I am happy to say that wasabi herb is not damaged by frosts. We get hard frosts here and my plants seem un-phased by it. Some will flower while it is frosty which is a really great trait to have.

Honey bees, and several native pollinators, adore wasabi herb. It produces plenty of nectar and pollen (I have read that its pollen contains 23% – 24% protein which is slightly higher than most of the pollen they collect) and flowers in such profusion that it must make collecting resources a lot easier for little insects.

I have grown many flowers that are supposed to attract bees yet rarely ever see a bee on them, wasabi herb really does attract bees. While it is flowering, if the weather is good for bees to be out foraging, I always see numerous bees working it. I have seen other flowers only worked by bees if nothing else is around, but wasabi herb is one of their absolute favourites.

Another favourite where I always see bees is the poppy, which does not produce nectar but its pollen contains over 40% protein! Honey bees madly work poppies in the morning, once all the pollen has been collected they are of no interest to the bees and they move on to other things.

Wasabi herb, one of the bee's favourite flowers

If seeds are scattered every few weeks or months you end up with a self-sustaining patch of wasabi herb plants of varying ages that flowers almost all year. Each individual plant won’t flower all year, but some of the plants in the patch will be flowering at any point in time. This means that bees always have a high quality food source nearby.

I have grown wasabi herb in the vegetable garden, where it performs at its best. I have allowed seeds to fall among the lawn, where it grows and flowers as long as you don't mow too often. I have also scattered seeds among roadside weeds that are rarely mown to see if it survives there, I am waiting to see if it establishes itself there to permanently provide resources for the bees.

 

Wasabi herb - Diplotaxis erucoides

I keep meaning to collect enough seed to be able to sell them, but every time I save some seed I seem to give it away to people who need it.  If I ever do have enough seed to sell I will list it on my for sale page.  Failing that there are many seed sellers who carry this little gem, just be sure to use its binomial name (Diplotaxis erucoides) when searching as common names are a bit confusing.