Harvest purple stems, flower buds and leaves.
Use like broccoli! This quick-growing, flowering leafy green from China is a favourite in our garden. Choy sum translates to “heart of the vegetable”. Each plant produces 10-15 crunchy stems which have an excellent sweet and mild mustard taste (the flower buds are the spiciest part). Harvest all parts of the plant when the flower buds appear–in other words when it starts to bolt–including its purple/magenta stems, yellow flowers/buds and dark green leaves.
Use Purple choy sum as a cooked or fresh veggie. Much easier and faster to grow than broccoli, it is ready 50-60 days after direct sowing. Cold hardy and disease resistant.
Powerhouse Leafy Greens: Cruciferous leafy greens in Family Brassicaceae, such as Purple Choy Sum, are a nutritional ‘Powerhouse’. Check out our link about ‘Powerhouse Leafy Greens’.
How to Plant: Sow in the garden in May (for early summer harvests) and then again in late July (for fall harvests). Seed Depth: 5 mm or 1/4 inch; Plant Spacing: 12 inches
How to Harvest: Plants grow 10-12 inches in height and can be harvested at multiple times or all at once. Harvest stems, flowers/buds and leaves in a bunch when flower buds appear. Even after the yellow flowers open, you can still harvest Purple choy sum, it will just be spicier.
