Dried MitsubaDrying Time, Storage, and Using It as a Garnish or Rice Seasoning

Mitsuba, sometimes called Japanese wild parsley, is an aromatic green with a fresh, delicate scent, often used as a garnish in Japanese soups. Outside Japan, look for it at Japanese grocery stores.

You only use a little at a time, so a bunch often goes to waste. Dried until crisp, it can be crumbled into rice or sprinkled over chilled tofu or clear soup, a little at a time as a garnish.

	Drying time	Storage
Dry	3–4 days	1 month at room temperature

Drying times assume drying during the day in sunny weather and bringing them in at night.

How to dry mitsuba

1. Trim the roots: Cut off the roots, wash, and pat dry well with paper towels.
2. Separate (optional): You can dry the stems and leaves separately or together. The leaves dry faster, so separating them makes it easier to get them evenly dry.
3. Spread out and dry: Spread on a basket without overlapping. Mitsuba loses its aroma easily, so in midsummer when the sun is very strong, a breezy spot in part shade keeps the aroma. Bring it in by evening.

Where and when to dry is covered in How to Dry Vegetables, and tools in Tools for Drying Vegetables.

When it’s done

Dry (3–4 days)

It’s done when the leaves have curled and crumble when rubbed between your fingers. Snap a stem too; if it breaks cleanly without bending, it’s ready.

Day by day

Before drying

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Storage

• Room temperature: Put completely crisp mitsuba in a bag or airtight container with a desiccant, and keep somewhere cool and out of direct sun for about 1 month.
• Crumbled in a jar: Crumble it by hand and keep it in a small jar to sprinkle like a seasoning.

The aroma fades over time, so use it soon. Fuzzy white or green growth, black spots or a bad smell are signs of mold or spoilage; throw it away. More in How to Store Dried Vegetables.

How to use it

• As a garnish: Crumble and sprinkle over chilled tofu, soba, udon or chawanmushi (savory egg custard).
• In soups: Add a pinch to clear soup or miso soup at the end.
• Mixed rice: Mix into freshly cooked rice with salt for fragrant mitsuba rice.