Pteridium aquilinum
Warabi has an earthy taste and a succulent, somewhat slimy texture. It is often simmered in broth and made into pickles or salads with soy sauce- or vinegar-based dressing. It is also used as an ingredient for tempura and miso soup or as a topping for soba or udon noodles.
To harvest, simply snap the stem toward the ground. If you need to apply some force, the stem is too tough to eat anyway. Harvest those with closed tips, as stems are more tender.
If warabi top is divided into three, pick the center one (tender), snapping at the dividing point.
(Fresh) 21 kcal/100 g; 92.7% water, 2.4% protein, 0.1% fat, 4.0% carbohydrate, 0.8% ash
(Boiled) 15 kcal/100 g; 95.2% water, 1.5% protein, 0.1% fat, 3.0% carbohydrate, 0.2% ash
Recipes with warabi
- Sansai tanuki soba / buckwheat noodles with mountain vegetables and tempura pearls
- Koyadofu to warabi no misoshiru / miso soup with freeze-dried tofu and bracken
- Maitake to warabi no gorugonzoora pasta / pasta with hen of the woods mushrooms and bracken in gorgonzola sauce
- Warabi no tataki (miso aji) / savory bracken paste (miso version)
- Soba to warabi no ponzu sarada / buckwheat noodle and bracken salad with citrus soy sauce
- Warabi to eringi no iridofu / scrambled tofu with bracken and king oyster mushrooms
- Shiitake to warabi no buriichiizu-yaki / shiitake and bracken with brie cheese
- Warabi to ebi no kakiage / mixed tempura with bracken and shrimp
- Warabi to ebi no nimono / simmered bracken with shrimp
- Warabi no tamagotoji / bracken with egg in broth
- Warabi no karashijoyu-bitashi / bracken marinated in Japanese mustard soy sauce
- Warabi to ganmodoki no nimono / bracken and deep-fried tofu patties simmered in broth
- Warabi, konnyaku, satsumaage no itameni / saute-simmered bracken, konnyaku yam cake and deep-fried fishcake in broth
- Warabi to age no nimono / bracken and thin deep-fried tofu in broth
- Sansai gohan / rice with mountain vegetables
- Warabi, tofu, age no akadashi / red miso soup with bracken, tofu and thin deep-fried tofu
- Warabi no umebitashi / bracken marinated in light broth with pickled plum
- Warabi to kinoko no amakara shoyuzuke / bracken and mushrooms marinated in lightly sweetened spicy soy sauce
Try warabi in the following recipes
- Gomoku ankake udon / wheat noodles with thickened soup and assorted ingredients
- Miso yasai raamen / vegetable ramen noodles with miso-flavored soup
- Chawanmushi / steamed savory custard
- Tosho chaamen / dao xiao chao mian / fried hand-shaven noodles
- Oden (genen) / fishcake, tofu and root vegetable stew (reduced-sodium version)
(Last updated: April 27, 2019)
2 comments:
I recall eating warabi when my father (nisei who grew up in Seattle) would pick some. How long will warabi keep in the refrigerator before cooking? Thank you.
Thank you for the question. I would say a few days. Prep-boil at the earliest time possible, as warabi's harsh taste intensifies relatively fast after harvesting.
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