Herb
Mitsuba
Mitsuba is a Japanese trefoil herb (Cryptotaenia japonica) with three-lobed leaves and a clean, celery-parsley aroma. Used as a garnish for soups, chawanmushi, and simmered dishes, it is usually added at the end to keep fragrance. Stems and leaves are both eaten; blanched cultivated mitsuba is more tender than wild mountain types. It is sometimes called Japanese parsley though it is not Petroselinum.
Also known as: Mitsuba, Pangeree / similar trefoil greens
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History
Mitsuba entered Japanese cuisine as a cultivated and foraged aromatic green.
Edo-period cookery used mitsuba as a refined soup and steamed-egg garnish.
Commercial blanching and bunch production standardised tender cultivated mitsuba.
Japanese restaurants abroad created niche demand for fresh mitsuba in global cities.