butterbur (fuki)

Caution: Fresh fuki contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids and should not be eaten raw but always boiled and soaked, with the cooking water discarded.

Fuki are the long, hollow leaf stalks of Japanese butterbur, a spring vegetable eaten in Japan simmered, braised or pickled. Raw they are bitter and fibrous, so they are rubbed with salt, briefly boiled, plunged into cold water and stripped of their strings, which peel away much like celery's. After that they are tender but keep their bite and a bright, grassy bitterness that suits a mild dashi broth. Fresh stalks are rare and appear only in spring at Japanese grocers; Asian shops and mail-order suppliers mostly sell them already boiled in water, vacuum-packed or canned, which saves the preparation. The butterbur growing wild in Europe is a different species and no substitute.