Wild Edibles of Japan

(Pteridium aquilinum) Warabi is another classic symbol of spring and sansai in Japan. Its also known as gosari in Korea, and carries alot of family story for me, through my Zainichi Koreangrand mother. Ever notice those stringy brown things when eating a bibim-bap? Yep, those are cooked gosari.

In early spring, you’ll start to see them poking up through dead vegetation. At first you might not even notice them because they’re just thin little things. But once you get an eye for them, you’ll start spotting them even while driving! Warabi is best harvested when still young, curled with unopened leaves. When picking, run your hands along the stem, starting from the base and feel for the spot where it naturally breaks with ease - kind of like when harvesting asparagus! Once the warabi has matured, the stem becomes too fibrous to eat (trust me, I’ve tried pushing it many times). When fresh, the bracken is very bitter and has carcinogenic compounds. This is a good example of a wild food that is virtually inedible if you don’t have the proper know-how to process them! I’ve heard that eating too much of them isn’t good for you - so like with anything, maybe don’t over do it?

灰汁抜き / The aku-nuki process

It literally translates to ‘‘bitterness removal’’ and used to make wild foods more palatable or digestible through soaking in a solution, typically with baking soda, wood ash, alum or some other ingredient. Some work better than others for certain wild foods and people have their own preferences, so you just hav to experiment and get to know what works. I like to use wood-ash because I always have some around from wood stoves.

Aku-nuki for Warabi

About 500 g fresh warabi

1 L water (or enough to submerge all the warabi)

2tsp baking soda or hand full of wood ash

Bring water to a boil in a large pot, add baking soda or ash

Stop the heat and wait till it cools down a bit (around 80c)

Place the warabi in the hot water, solution, weigh it down with a plate to keep warabi under

Leave over night, or remove warabi when the stems are as soft as you like and rinse off

*If the water is too hot, or warabi soaks for too long, it can become too mushy!