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Black Mustard
Black Mustard's season usually begins in late spring/early summer. It tends to have a second wind in the early autumn depending on weather conditions.
Season:
Look:
The leaves of black mustard are usually thick brassica like leaves, and older leaves can sometimes hairy/lightly spiky. It has small yellow flowers extremely similar to flowers of the rapeseed and other brassicas.
Habitat:
Black Mustard doesn't need rich soil so can be found growing on coastal paths, hedgerows and roadsides.
Edibility:
Black Mustard has a strong peppery, mustardy flavour and is extremely similar to horseradish or wasabi when processed into things. The young leaves can be used as any leafy vegetable would but as the leaves get tougher it is best to blitz them or process them. In the restaurant we've served a vibrant black mustard broth with fish dumplings which simply blitzed the raw leaf into a juice and mixed into a broth. We've even used it in ice cream which we served alongside an oyster and wilder still used it in a custard as part of a summer trifle dessert. It has such a fun flavour its hard not to get experimental.