Brassica juncea, commonly mustard greens, brown mustard, Chinese mustard, Indian mustard, Korean green mustard, leaf mustard, Oriental mustard and vegetable mustard, is a species of mustard plant.[1]
Cultivar
Brassica juncea cultivars can be divided into four major subgroups: integrifolia, juncea, napiformis, and tsatsai.[2]
Integrifolia
Group
Image
Description
leaf mustard (芥菜)
leaf mustard (芥菜)
The leaf mustard is known as "bamboo mustard", "small gai choy" (小芥菜), and "mustard cabbage".
Korean red mustard (적갓) and green mustard(청갓)
The mustard plant produces deep purple-red leaves(적갓) and green leaves(청갓) with green petiole.
Japanese giant red mustard (タカナ, 高菜)
The giant-leafed mustard, also known as "Japanese mustard", "takana" (タカナ, 高菜), has purple-red savoy leaves with strong, sharp, peppery taste.
snow mustard (雪里蕻)
Previously identified as B. juncea var. foliosa and B. juncea subsp. integrifolia var. subintegrifolia.[3] The mustard plant is known as "red-in-snow mustard", "green-in-snow mustard" and "xuělǐhóng / hsueh li hung".
curled-leaf mustard
Previously identified as B. juncea subsp. integrifolia var. crispifolia.[3] The mustard plant is known as "curled mustard", "American mustard", "Southern mustard", "Texas mustard", and "Southern curled mustard".
Previously identified as B. juncea subsp. integrifolia var. japonica.[3]
large-petiole mustard
large-petiole mustard
horned mustard
Previously identified as B. juncea subsp. integrifolia var. strumata.[3] The mustard plant has a "horn" in the center of its stem, thus its name, "horned mustard".
head mustard
head mustard
Previously identified as B. juncea subsp. integrifolia var. rugosa.[3] The primary varieties are Swatow (dai gai choy, heart mustard cabbage, wrapped mustard cabbage) and Bamboo (jook gai choi).[4]
Oil seed cultivars of B. juncea subsp. juncea,[3] along with oil seed cultivars of the related species B. napus and B. rapa, are referred to as canola. Other common names include "brown mustard", "Indian mustard", and "oilseed mustard". The mustard plant is called rai or raya in India.
Napiformis
Group
Image
Description
root mustard
root mustard
Previously identified as B. juncea subsp. napiformis.[3] The mustard plant is known as "root mustard", "large-root mustard", "tuberous-root mustard", and "turnip-root mustard".
Tsatsai
Group
Image
Description
multishoot mustard
multishoot mustard
Previously identified as B. juncea subsp. tsatsai var. multiceps.[3] The mustard plant is known as "chicken mustard", "multishoot mustard", and "nine-head mustard".
big-stem mustard
Stem Mustard
(茎用芥/芥菜头)
Previously identified as B. juncea subsp. tsatsai var. tumida.[3] The mustard plant with knobby, fist-sized, swollen green stem is known as "big-stem mustard" or "swollen-stem mustard".
Uses
Nutrition
Mustard greens, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt
In a 100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) reference serving, cooked mustard greens provide 110 kilojoules (26 kilocalories) of food energy and are a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value) of vitamins A, C, and K—K being especially high as a multiple of its Daily Value. Mustard greens are a moderate source of vitamin E and calcium. Greens are 92% water, 4.5% carbohydrates, 2.6% protein and 0.5% fat (table).
The leaves are used in African cooking,[10] and all plant parts are used in Nepali cuisine, particularly in the mountain regions of Nepal, as well as in the Punjabi cuisine in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, where a dish called sarson da saag (mustard greens) is prepared.[11]B. juncea subsp. tatsai, which has a particularly thick stem, is used to make the Nepali pickle called achar, and the Chinese picklezha cai.
This plant is called "lai xaak" in Assamese and it is cultivated hugely during the winters. It is eaten in any form in Assam and Northeast, be it boiled or added raw in salad, cooked alone or with pork.
The Gorkhas of the Indian states of Darjeeling, West Bengal and Sikkim as well as Nepal prepare pork with mustard greens (also called rayo in Nepali). It is usually eaten with relish and steamed rice, but can also be eaten with roti (griddle breads). In Nepal it is also a common practice to cook these greens with meat of all sorts, especially goat meat; which is normally prepared in a pressure cooker with minimal use of spices to focus on the flavour of the greens and dry chillies. B. juncea (especially the seeds) is more pungent than greens from the closely related B. oleracea (kale, broccoli, and collard greens),[12] and is frequently mixed with these milder greens in a dish of "mixed greens".
Chinese and Japanese cuisines also make use of mustard greens. In Japanese cuisine, it is known as takana and often pickled for use as filling in onigiri or as a condiment. Many varieties of B. juncea cultivars are used, including zha cai, mizuna, takana (var. integrifolia), juk gai choy, and xuelihong. Asian mustard greens are most often stir-fried or pickled. (See pickled mustard.) A Southeast Asian dish called asam gai choy or kiam chai boey is often made with leftovers from a large meal. It involves stewing mustard greens with tamarind, dried chillies and leftover meat on the bone. Brassica juncea is also known as gai choi, siu gai choi, xiao jie cai, baby mustard, Chinese leaf mustard or mostaza.[13]
Cantonese-style braised mustard greens, with wolfberries
Green manure
Vegetable growers sometimes grow mustard as a green manure. Its main purpose is to act as a mulch, covering the soil to suppress weeds between crops. If grown as a green manure, the mustard plants are cut down at the base when sufficiently grown, and left to wither on the surface, continuing to act as a mulch until the next crop is due for sowing, when the mustard is dug in. In the UK, mustard sown in summer and autumn is cut down starting in October. April sowings can be cut down in June, keeping the ground clear for summer-sown crops.[14] One of the disadvantages of using mustard as a green manure is its propensity to harbor club root.
Phytoremediation
This mustard plant is used in phytoremediation to remove heavy metals, such as lead, from the soil in hazardous waste sites because it has a higher tolerance for these substances and stores the heavy metals in its cells.[15] In particular, Brassica juncea was particularly effective at removing cadmium from soil.[16] The process of removing heavy metals ends when the plant is harvested and properly discarded. Phytoremediation has been shown to be cheaper and easier than traditional methods for heavy metal reduction in soils.[17] In addition, it has the effect of reducing soil erosion, reducing cross-site contamination.[15]
^Spect, C.E.; Diederichsen, A. (2001). "Brassica". In Hanelt, Peter (ed.). Mansfeld's Encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops (1. Engl. ed.). Berlin: Springer. pp. 1453‒1456. ISBN3-540-41017-1. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
^National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019). "Chapter 4: Potassium: Dietary Reference Intakes for Adequacy". In Oria, Maria; Harrison, Meghan; Stallings, Virginia A. (eds.). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US). pp. 120–121. doi:10.17226/25353. ISBN978-0-309-48834-1. PMID30844154. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
^Sakorn, P.; Rakariyatham, N. (June 13, 2012). "Biodegradation of glucosinolates in brown mustard seed meal (Brassica juncea) by Aspergillus sp. NR-4201 in liquid and solid-state cultures". Biodegradation. 13 (6): 395–9. doi:10.1023/A:1022851129684. PMID12713131. S2CID23927681.
^Grubben, G.J.H. & Denton, O.A. (2004) Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA Foundation, Wageningen; Backhuys, Leiden; CTA, Wageningen.
^Chandrassekaran, V. K. (February 24, 2013). "Flavour of Punjab". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 27 February 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
^Ghawi, S. K.; Shen, Y; Niranjan, K; Methven, L (2014). "Consumer acceptability and sensory profile of cooked broccoli with mustard seeds added to improve chemoprotective properties". Journal of Food Science. 79 (9): S1756–62. doi:10.1111/1750-3841.12556. PMID25156799.
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