Is it possible to freeze salad mustard? Salad mustard. Useful properties of mustard leaves. Mustard leaf salad Mustard salad preparations for the winter

Leaf mustard– an annual spicy plant, a representative of the Cruciferous family. Salad mustard, as this plant is also called, has large leaves of various shapes, covered with villi (see photo). Some varieties of leaf mustard have wavy leaves. The average height of the plant is 30 cm, Japanese varieties reach 60 cm. Scientists call China the homeland of leaf mustard. Fresh mustard is very popular in the cuisine of countries such as China, Japan, and India.

Growing

You can grow leaf mustard in our climate, although, unfortunately, the plant is not as popular here as in its homeland. Mustard prefers loose soils, where it produces large yields; undemanding mustard can grow in different soil conditions. Legumes, such as peas, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers, are considered good predecessors for this plant. Mustard propagates by seeds; it can be planted both in a greenhouse and in open ground. Seeds are sown in early spring or for winter, the sowing depth is approximately 1.5 cm. Before emergence, mustard can be covered with plastic wrap.

Caring for mustard comes down to regular watering, weeding and fertilizing. The plant tolerates short-term drought well, but still to get a good harvest, it is better to water mustard on time and regularly. Mustard is harvested after the seeds have ripened. It is better to store the mustard harvest in the refrigerator, after washing it and putting it in bags. Seeds are collected from mature plants by threshing the testes. The seeds are stored in a glass jar.

Beneficial features

The beneficial properties of mustard leaf are that it is a natural cardioprotector. The leaves of this plant contain protein, calcium, vitamins A, C, E. Scientists consider mustard leaf to be a plant that significantly affects the condition of patients with cardiovascular disease. Regular consumption of mustard leaves protects against heart disease and reduces cholesterol. Mustard holds the record for folic acid content (about 500 mcg per 100 g).

Mustard leaves – effective oncoprotector, they are rich in antioxidants with antitumor activity. Mustard contains quercetin, kaempeferol and other active substances. It also has powerful anti-inflammatory properties, which is facilitated by the high content of vitamin K, unsaturated omega-3 acids, and glucosinolates.

Mustard leaves contain some mustard oil, which gives the product its characteristic taste and aroma. Mustard oil stimulates appetite and has a beneficial effect on digestive processes. Salad mustard leaves increase the secretion of gastric juice. The calorie content of the product is 26 kilocalories per 100 grams. The low calorie content of mustard and its beneficial properties make it possible to use it in the diet. Mustard will add piquancy to dishes and help diversify your diet. Mustard leaves contain a lot of plant fiber, which improves intestinal motility.

Salad mustard contains vitamin C, which makes it an excellent antiscorbutic remedy. Substances that mustard leaves contain increase the elasticity of blood vessels and prevent the deposition of cholesterol plaques. Mustard seeds produce oil, which is commonly used for food and medicinal purposes. Mustard oil was served at the table of Catherine II; it was considered a royal delicacy. This oil is a good bactericidal agent and is resistant to oxidative processes. Mustard oil is good for the cardiovascular system, improves immunity, protects body cells from free radicals. Regular consumption of this oil along with salads has a beneficial effect on the digestive process, improves the patient’s condition with hepatitis, cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, and cirrhosis.

Use in cooking

In cooking, mustard leaves are indispensable when preparing salads, appetizers, and meat dishes. The decorative appearance of the product allows it to be used to decorate sandwiches and fresh salads before serving. In America, leaf mustard is put into steaks, while Italians prepare pasta with the addition of salad mustard.

Salad mustard tastes like green salad, spicy mustard and horseradish. Leaf mustard adds piquancy to the dish and can replace spicy mustard in some recipes. The leaves can be eaten fresh and are great for green and vegetable salads. If mustard leaves are cooked, they can be added to various fish and meat dishes. Mustard is also prepared for the winter, it is pickled or canned.

Salad mustard leaves are actively used in the food industry. Mustard is used as an emulsifier in the production of sauces and mayonnaise. At home, you can make salad mustard simple and spicy salad. To do this, scald 200 grams of fresh mustard leaves with boiling water, then cut them and season with mayonnaise. You can also prepare a special dressing for the salad from 2/3 tbsp. water boiled with vinegar, black pepper, bay leaf, 1 onion and a spoon of vegetable oil.

Juicy mustard is great for cooking sandwiches. Thinly sliced bread slices are lightly toasted, spread with butter, then mustard leaves, a boiled egg, slices of cucumber, tomatoes, a little dill and parsley are added. As for meat products, you can add slices of bacon and sausage to sandwiches.

Benefits of mustard leaves and treatment

The benefits of salad mustard are known in folk medicine. Its leaves are used to prepare ointments and compresses. Compresses are prepared from mustard powder, which remains after pressing the oil. Mustard plasters have long been used to treat colds, they will also help with bronchitis.

Hippocrates recommended mustard for the treatment of intestinal and urinary tract diseases. Mustard with honey helps with chest diseases, chronic cough, and mushroom poisoning. Mustard seed powder can be added to a foot bath for the onset of a cold. Mustard powder added to a bath improves blood circulation. For a mustard bath you will need 200 grams of powder.

Harm of leaf mustard and contraindications

Salad mustard can cause harm people with gallbladder and kidney diseases. Mustard leaves contain oxalants, which negatively affect the patient's condition with these diseases. These substances also interfere with the absorption of calcium, but this does not pose a threat to healthy people.

Many people believe that mustard sauce is the only thing that can be made from a plant that is increasingly being cultivated by ordinary gardeners.

However, there is also salad mustard, and not just the one from the seeds of which mustard powder is produced, hot sauce in tubes and jars, or sold as a seasoning. The leaf version is interesting as a fresh product, from which you can prepare salads and other dishes, and even store it for the winter.

Varieties of salad mustard

Gardeners grow different varieties of mustard salad: it is often called mustard salad. Varietal plants, unlike wild ones, are distinguished by lower growth and whole leaves. Here are some popular mustard varieties.

Volnushka

An early-growing variety that produces a harvest of juicy greens within a month. The plant grows a voluminous and somewhat spreading rosette of leaves, consisting of elongated oval leaves with a diameter of about 32 cm, painted in a pale green tone and remaining smooth. The taste is tart-spicy. One socket can weigh about 80 grams.

The yield of Volnushka salad mustard per square meter is about 2 kg.

Freckle

An early variety that produces lush greenery in 25-30 days in the form of a half-spreading rosette approximately 30 cm high and weighing 170 grams. This variety has large, dark green, slightly wrinkled leaves with reddish veins. The taste of mustard is mildly spicy, the leaf is tender and juicy.

From a square meter you can harvest about 3.6 kg of mustard leaf “Vesnushka”.

Mushtarda

A fast-growing plant: greens can be harvested after 25-35 days, when the height of the rosette reaches 20 cm. For large yields, “Mushtard” mustard is sown every 15 days until August 15. Due to its piquant taste, green leaves are added to side dishes and salads.

The yield of the variety per 1 m² is about 3 kg.

Mustang

A medium-ripening variety that, after 35 days, forms a rosette of large red-green, whole, hairless leaves about 30 cm high. One rosette weighs approximately 60 grams.

On a square meter of land, up to 4 kg of juicy, pungent greenery grows.

Lovely

Another early variety that produces greens in a greenhouse in 20 days, in open ground in 35-40 days. It forms an upright rosette, the diameter of which reaches 10-15 cm. It consists of smooth pale green ovoid sheets: they are covered with a small waxy coating. Tender juicy leaves have a pleasant, slightly spicy taste.

The yield of salad mustard “Prelestnaya” is 3.4 kg per square meter.

Composition and beneficial properties of mustard leaves

Mustard salad contains a lot of useful components, consisting of:

Ascorbic acid.
Magnesium, iron, phosphorus, copper, potassium, calcium and other minerals.
Vitamin A, B6, E and K.
Proteins and mucus.
Fiber.
Mustard oil – fatty and essential.

Despite the fact that Mustard mustard and other varieties are almost half fat, its calorie content is only 30 Kcal per 100 g of product. Therefore, leaf mustard is equated to dietary crops.

Salad mustard “Volnushka” and other varieties have a beneficial effect on the human body. Thanks to its rich composition, this culture has many beneficial properties:

Anti-inflammatory. Fatty acids, vitamin K and glucosinolates in the product relieve inflammation in various diseases, including colds.
Protective. Due to the content of folic acid, mustard leaves reduce cholesterol levels, strengthen blood vessels and heart muscle.
Cleansing. Containing a lot of fiber, mustard salad enhances intestinal motility, helps with constipation and removes toxins.
Antioxidant. Phytonutrients and antioxidants in the plant prevent the formation of cancer cells.

Mustard leaves stimulate appetite, improve digestion, speed up metabolism and promote weight loss.

Harm and contraindications of salad mustard

Despite the abundance of useful micro- and macroelements and beneficial properties, the leaves of this plant can be harmful to some people.

Eating mustard leaves is unacceptable in the following cases:

In case of individual intolerance to any components of the plant.
For kidney and gallbladder diseases: oxalates present in the leaves can cause the appearance of stones.
When taking blood thinners.
When taking calcium: vitamin K does not allow it to be fully absorbed.
For gastrointestinal ulcers.
For severe heart diseases.

Pregnant women should not get carried away with mustard, so as not to provoke swelling, as well as nursing mothers: babies may be allergic to the product.

To taste, salad mustard is a cross between horseradish, green salad and mustard sauce. Its piquant flavor adds sweet-spicy notes to marinated preparations, fresh vegetable salads, fish and meat dishes. Mustard leaves are used to flavor sandwiches and decorate ready-made dishes; they are eaten with boiled eggs and added to soups. It can even be prepared for future use, as a separate dish, for example, pickled or salted.

Calorie content and features of the product composition. How can mustard greens help in healing the body? Can everyone eat it? How the plant is used in cooking: preparation features, interesting recipes.

The content of the article:

Salad mustard (Brassica) is an annual plant from the Cruciferae family. It is believed that its homeland is China. It is a salad crop with large leaves of various shapes. Depending on the variety, not only the shape of the leaves changes, but also the size of the plant. On average, its height is about 30 cm, but some varieties reach 60 cm. Leaf mustard is actively cultivated today in its homeland, that is, in China, as well as in Japan and India. In these countries, it is widely used in cooking, adding to fresh salads, sandwiches, and hot dishes. The product adds piquancy to the dish; its taste is reminiscent of both green salad and spicy horseradish. Leaf mustard is also respected in other regions. For example, in America it is used in cooking steaks, and in Italy they make aromatic spicy pasta with it. In Russia, the culture, unfortunately, is not popular, despite the fact that it is not capricious and growing leaf mustard in our climate is not difficult. It has an enviable chemical composition, it is rich in various minerals, vitamins and other biologically active components, and therefore, of course, its consumption in food has a beneficial effect on the body.

Composition and calorie content of mustard leaves

Like any other salad crop, it has a modest calorie content, and therefore it can be included without fear even in a strict diet.

The calorie content of mustard leaves is 27 kcal per 100 g, of which:

Proteins - 2.9 g;
Fats - 0.4 g;
Carbohydrates - 4.7 g;
Dietary fiber - 3.2 g;
Water - 90.7 g;
Ash - 1.36 g.

Macroelements per 100 g:

Potassium - 384 mg;
Calcium - 115 mg;
Magnesium - 32 mg;
Sodium - 20 mg;
Phosphorus - 58 mg.

Microelements per 100 g:

Iron - 1.64 mg;
Manganese - 0.48 mg;
Copper - 165 mcg;
Selenium - 0.9 mcg;
Zinc - 0.25 mg.

Vitamins per 100 g:

Vitamin A, RE - 151 mcg;
Alpha carotene - 10 mcg;
Beta carotene - 1.79 mg;
Beta cryptoxanthin - 40 mcg;
Lutein + Zeaxanthin - 3730 mcg;
Vitamin B1 - 0.08 mg;
Vitamin B2 - 0.11 mg;
Vitamin B4 - 0.5 mg;
Vitamin B5 - 0.21 mg;
Vitamin B6 - 0.18 mg;
Vitamin B9 - 12 mcg;
Vitamin C - 70 mg;
Vitamin E - 2.01 mg;
Vitamin K - 257.5 mcg;
Vitamin RR, NE - 0.8 mg.

Essential amino acids per 100 g:

Arginine - 0.197 g;
Valine - 0.105 g;
Histidine - 0.048 g;
Isoleucine - 0.098 g;
Leucine - 0.083 g;
Lysine - 0.123 g;
Methionine - 0.025 g;
Threonine - 0.072 g;
Tryptophan - 0.03 g;
Phenylalanine - 0.072 g.

Fatty acids per 100 g:

Omega-3 - 0.018 g;
Omega-6 - 0.02 g;
Saturated - 0.01 g;
Monounsaturated - 0.092 g;
Polyunsaturated - 0.038 g.

The plant also contains digestible carbohydrates in the form of mono- and disaccharides (sugars) - 100 grams contain 1.32 g.

Useful properties of mustard leaves

The Chinese are distinguished by excellent health and high life expectancy. Of course, we will not assure that they owe this fact to their love for the spicy salad crop, however, one way or another, mustard leaves have a rich composition of useful components and definitely make a significant contribution to the health of the body when consumed regularly.

Let's take a closer look at the benefits of mustard greens:

Strengthening the cardiovascular system. The product has a beneficial effect on the heart and blood vessels. It reduces the likelihood of heart disease and acute heart failure. It cleanses blood vessels well, and is especially effective in lowering cholesterol levels, which helps prevent thrombosis, atherosclerosis and other dangerous vascular diseases.
Prevention of cancer development. The plant contains antioxidants with a high degree of activity - quercetin and kaempferol. These elements help regulate the level of free radicals, which, when in excess, lead to the formation of abnormal molecular bonds, which in turn triggers the development of tumor processes. By reducing the level of free radicals, quercetin and kaempferol also reduce the likelihood of developing cancer.
Anti-inflammatory effect. Powerful anti-inflammatory properties are due to the high content of vitamin K and the presence of Omega-3 acids.
Normalization of the digestive system. First of all, the positive properties of the product in relation to the gastrointestinal tract are expressed in the normalization of intestinal motility, this is possible due to the content of fiber and water in the composition. Thus, this salad crop is a great way to get rid of constipation, flatulence and other intestinal disorders. Another beneficial property of mustard leaves for digestion is stimulating appetite, this is facilitated by mustard oil, which is part of the plant. Of course, for those who are on a diet, stimulating appetite is not the most beneficial effect, but when it comes to toxic symptoms, mental fatigue and other unhealthy causes of decreased appetite, mustard leaves are the solution to the problem.
Strengthening the immune system. Of course, salad culture also has a general healing effect on the entire body, due to the presence of a large number of useful components in the composition. Regular use of the product leads to the restoration of vitamin and mineral balance and increases the body's defenses.
Beneficial effect on bones and joints. Mustard leaves play an important role in strengthening bone tissue and joints, which makes its use especially necessary for people in old age.
Beneficial effect on fetal development. The high content of folic acid makes mustard leaves a necessary product in the diet of women preparing to conceive a child, as well as those in the early stages of pregnancy. Folic acid is the main vitamin for expectant mothers, as it plays a critical role in DNA synthesis and the development of the fetal nervous system.
Improved skin condition. Regular consumption of the culture has a positive effect on the condition of the skin. Fiber, which is part of the plant, helps remove toxins, which often cause the appearance of various imperfections. In addition, the leaves contain a lot of vitamin A, which also has a beneficial effect on the condition of the skin.

The benefits of the product are really great; this plant is often compared to spinach, and this crop is a real storehouse of health. It is noteworthy that in Russia during the time of Catherine II, mustard leaves were highly valued as a tasty and healthy product; it is a pity that today few people remember this.

Contraindications and harms of mustard leaves

Despite the impressive list of beneficial properties of mustard leaf, it, unfortunately, is not recommended for use by everyone. Firstly, it is worth saying that there is a fine line between the benefits and harm of mustard greens, and the name of this line is measure. This means that even a healthy person should not abuse this product, otherwise one or another unpleasant symptom may appear.

However, some people are not recommended to eat the product in normal doses that are not dangerous for a healthy person. Patients with gallbladder and kidney disease are primarily at risk. The leaves of the plant contain substances such as oxalates, which negatively affect the condition of people suffering from the above ailments.

In addition, it is worth saying that if you are prescribed calcium therapy, it is better to avoid using the product, as it interferes with the absorption of this mineral into the blood. Also, you should not eat it while using anticoagulants - these drugs are aimed, among other things, at reducing the level of vitamin K in the body, and mustard leaves will increase it.

It is impossible not to mention that, like any other spicy crop, mustard leaves should be introduced into the diet with extreme caution in the presence of severe heart and digestive system diseases.

Allergy sufferers and pregnant and breastfeeding women should also be careful. The active components of the plant may cause individual intolerance.

If you have health problems or are taking medications that were not mentioned in this section, most likely mustard greens are not contraindicated for you, but it is still better to consult with your doctor before introducing the product into your diet.

How to eat mustard greens

Of course, the best way to eat mustard greens is to add them fresh to your salad. It can also accompany serving meat or other hot dishes. It is not forbidden to use the plant as a spice, but in this case it is better to add it a couple of minutes before preparing the dish, this way more nutrients will be preserved.

As for the preparation of leaf mustard, this is a very controversial point. Salad crops are rarely preserved for a long time, because they are mainly used fresh, and after freezing and drying, the product can be used purely as a spice.
And, nevertheless, if this option suits you, you, of course, can stock up on mustard leaves for the winter. It can be frozen or dried like any other greens.

Drying is best done in the open air (the leaves must first be washed and cut), but you can also use the oven, but try not to raise the temperature above 40 degrees. Freezing is even easier; the greens only need to be washed, dried, chopped, placed in plastic containers, covered with a tight lid and put in the freezer.

You can also marinate or salt mustard leaves, for example, according to this recipe:

Wash the leaves (1 kg), dry and cut into pieces of the desired size.
Cut onions into half rings (1 piece).
Prepare the marinade: mix water (3 liters), salt (4 tablespoons), sugar (8 tablespoons), vinegar (2 tablespoons), bring it to a boil.
Place the mustard and onions in jars, pour in the slightly cooled marinade and roll up the jars or close them with a tight lid.

This preparation can be stored at room temperature, and you can try it within a day.

Recipes with mustard greens

So, as we said above, the use of the product in cooking is not limited to strict limits. It sounds equally good in both cold and hot dishes, except perhaps it would hardly be appropriate in desserts. But leaf mustard will add piquancy and unusual original notes to other recipes, so if you want to make changes to an already boring dish, try using a hot-spicy culture native to China for this purpose.

And if you don’t want to experiment, use ready-made recipes:

Healthy sandwich. Fry toast bread (4 slices) in a frying pan in a small amount of vegetable oil or toast in a toaster. Boil chicken breast (1 piece). Prepare the paste sauce: mix crushed mustard leaves (50 grams), olive oil (1 tablespoon) and crumbled feta cheese (100 grams). Cut the tomato into thin slices (1 piece), and the breast into slices. Place a little pasta on each slice of bread, then a couple of tomato slices and a few slices of breast.
Fried mustard with garlic. Heat vegetable oil (1 tablespoon) in a deep frying pan, fry thin slices of onion (120 grams) until golden brown, then add chopped garlic (2 cloves) and cook until its smell spreads throughout the kitchen. Add chopped mustard leaves (500 grams) and pour in broth - meat or vegetable (3 tablespoons). Simmer until the leaves become soft. Add sesame oil (1/4 teaspoon) to the finished dish, salt and pepper to taste. This interesting side dish can be served with any meat as an addition to the main side dish, for example, rice or potatoes.
Fresh mustard greens salad. Cut green onions (20 grams) into slices, tomatoes (150 grams) and bell peppers (150 grams) into small cubes. Tear cilantro (10 grams) and mustard leaves (40 grams) with your hands. Place all vegetables and herbs in a bowl. Prepare the dressing: mix vegetable oil (25 ml), lemon juice (1 teaspoon), salt and pepper to taste. Pour the dressing into the salad, let it sit for about five minutes and eat.
Spicy pork with green beans. Heat vegetable oil (2 tablespoons) in a wok or saucepan, fry green beans (200 grams) for 5 minutes and transfer to a plate. Make a high heat, add minced pork (400 grams) and fry it for 5-10 minutes, then return the beans, add mustard greens (100 grams), any wine (3 tablespoons) and soy sauce (3 tablespoons). Simmer the dish for another 3-5 minutes. Season the finished dish with salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Leaf mustard is a great way to make even not entirely healthy dishes healthy, and therefore if you like the taste of this product, try to use it in the kitchen as often as possible, without forgetting, of course, about reasonable limits.

Mustard leaves have an interesting feature: when reheated, nitrates can be converted into harmful components - nitrites and nitrosamines. This transformation occurs due to the activity of a group of bacteria that multiply in nitrate-rich foods. That is why it is better to cook hot dishes with mustard leaves in one serving to avoid reheating. By the way, spinach also has the same curious feature.

The crop requires minimal care; it has only two main “requirements” - loosening and watering. If you forget about the latter, the leaves become tasteless and rough. Mustard grows very quickly; within four weeks after planting you can get good bunches of lettuce.

Despite the fact that mustard greens are often compared to spinach in terms of healthiness, its closest “green” relative is arugula.

Some of the best plant varieties are “Saladnaya 54” and “Volnushka”.

It is noteworthy that leaf mustard can be found in our climate growing wild, in abandoned gardens, vacant lots, and near roads.

The culture is used to obtain oil, which can be used for salad dressing.

Watch a video about mustard greens:

Leaf mustard is a real storehouse of useful substances, but it is also a tasty product that adds piquancy and originality to any dish. It’s not so easy to find it in our stores, but if you do, be sure to buy it and try it. And if you like this crop, you can grow it yourself in the country or at home in pots. However, before introducing the product into your diet, read its contraindications.

The mustard plant contains a large number of useful substances and is considered a medicinal plant. It is used for the treatment and prevention of various diseases. This seasoning is also actively used in cooking. It is indispensable in Asia, Europe, America.

Mustard is a nutritious food. 100 g contains more than 500 kcal. Substances such as proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and dietary fiber are present. The composition contains folic and pantothenic acids, niacin, pyridoxine, riboflavin, thiamine, as well as vitamins C, A, E, K. Micro- and macroelements include sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, zinc and selenium .

Description and types

Mustard belongs to the Brassica family. Outwardly, it looks like a weed called colza. It is an annual herbaceous plant. The root has a taplike appearance. It can go 2-3 m deep into the ground. The stem is erect and branched. The leaves below have a pinnately incised shape. They are quite large and completely green. The top greens are short-petioled. The shape of the plates is the same as the bottom ones. They have a bluish tint.

Agrotechnics of cultivation
Leaf mustard is not very demanding on soil, but grows better on loose, sufficiently moist, fertile neutral soils. It is grown in open ground, in film greenhouses and at home on the windowsill. Good predecessors for it are potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and legumes. It should not be grown after cruciferous vegetable crops.
The soil begins to be prepared in the fall immediately after harvesting the predecessor. The area is first harrowed with a rake to encourage the germination of weed seeds, and after 10–12 days it is dug up to the depth of a spade bayonet.
Preliminarily applied to the soil per 1 square meter. meter, half a bucket of rotted compost, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of superphosphate and 1 teaspoon of chloride fertilizers. If the soil is heavy and clayey, then additionally add 1–2 liter jars of sawdust and 1 bucket of coarse river sand.
In the spring, as soon as the soil allows, it is dug up to a depth of 10–12 cm, adding 1 teaspoon of ammonium nitrate. Then the soil is thoroughly loosened. If the soil is heavy, then it is better to form beds 10–12 cm high; on light soils it is better not to make a bed.
Salad mustard is grown as an independent crop and as a compactor or as a lighthouse crop when growing crops that grow slowly in the first half of summer (carrots, beets, etc.). To always have fresh greens on the table, it is enough to have a bed of 1–1.5 square meters on your plot and re-sow it as the land becomes free.
Salad mustard should be sown as early as possible, because... it is a plant of long daylight hours, i.e. In summer it quickly forms flower stalks. But if you sow it early, it manages to produce an excellent rosette before the long days arrive. In addition, in this case it can be protected from the cruciferous flea beetle.
Salad mustard is sown repeatedly both in open ground and in greenhouses, from early spring to late autumn with an interval of 10–12 days, but it gives the best results when sown in April–May and July–August. But it is especially good as salad greens in September–October, when all the plants wither. At this time, it decorates both your table and your area.
In gardens and orchards it is sown in a row with row spacing 20 cm wide to a depth of 0.5–1 cm. It is useful to mulch the crops with humus or compost. But you can sow the seeds directly on the surface, without sprinkling soil on top, and then cover the top with film. And to get an earlier harvest, the bed where the salad mustard is sown must be covered with covering material until the seeds germinate.
Salad mustard seeds germinate at a temperature of 1–3°C; its seedlings can tolerate short-term frosts. At a temperature of 18–20°C, seedlings appear within 3 days, and at higher temperatures even faster, but at the same time the seedlings become very elongated. These seedlings need watering, but this must be done very carefully so as not to wash off the seedlings with water, because they are superficial.
The soil in the garden bed is kept loose and free from weeds. Thinning is done in the phase of the first true leaf, leaving the plants in the row after 3–4 cm. Thinning again after 12–14 days through the plant so that there is at least 10–12 cm between them. If the salad mustard grows thickly, then the plants will grow very quickly shoot themselves.
If after thinning the salad mustard grows weakly, then it can be fed with mullein infusion or herbal infusion. It is advisable not to use urea, so as not to increase the concentration of nitrates in mustard leaves.
Already when seedlings emerge, cruciferous flea beetles cause great harm to leaf mustard. Therefore, immediately after sowing, the bed must be powdered with sifted ash or done later on the wet cotyledon leaves when the first pests appear.
Mustard is very demanding of moisture. Therefore, in the summer, due to the superficial location of the roots at high air temperatures, the plants are watered 3–4 times, moistening the top layer of soil to a depth of at least 15–20 cm, because with a lack of moisture, the plants develop poorly and quickly go into decline.
It is better to water from a watering can with a strainer or a hose with a sprayer, doing this in the morning. Without watering, the leaves become coarser, their taste deteriorates, and instead of a tender and juicy salad, you get rough flower stalks.
Salad mustard leaves are collected at a height of 12–15 cm, but you can, of course, pick them as needed. The entire plant is finally harvested before the formation of peduncles (after which the leaves become coarse), 30–35 days after emergence.
To extend the period of consumption of greens, plants are pulled out by the roots, placed in a container with their roots down and placed in a cold cellar, where they retain their quality for some time. And greens packed in plastic bags are stored in the refrigerator at a temperature of 0–1°C for up to 15–20 days, i.e. much longer than a regular salad.
It should be removed when there is no dew on the leaves. Like all green crops, it can be stored in plastic bags in the refrigerator.
Salad mustard crops can be returned to their original place no earlier than after 3–4 years, since it is susceptible, like all cruciferous crops, to clubroot disease.
Salad mustard is one of the few green crops that grows well on windowsills and balconies. And for winter sowing in the room, this is just a godsend. After all, it can be grown on a windowsill in bowls on sawdust, soil and even on cotton wool..