This Angelica, endemic to the Japanese volcanic island Hachijo, is unusual because of its yellow sap! There is a lot of interest around the purported medicinal properties of this plant, supposedly promoting longevity. See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashitaba
I first came across this plant in 2004 when I was contacted by a Danish guy, Martin, interested in trying this plant in treating osteoporosis. He wondered if I knew of a source of seed. After several failed attempts from different suppliers in Korea and Japan, Martin successfully ordered some seed from engei.net. He sent me a packet to try. The seed germinated spring 2004, I overwintered the resultant single plant in my cellar. It grew slowly and I think I overwintered again inside, not wanting to lose it. Here are a couple of pictures from 2006 when I was surprised to find that it had yellow sap. I don’t recall eating, probably the yellow sap put me off and put in doubt the correct identification (I found nothing about this sap at the time). I sadly lost it before it flowered….
Lots of recipes here (use Googe Translate):
http://www.town.hachijo.tokyo.jp/tokusyuu/kyoudo_ryouri/html/ashitaba1/ahitaba.html
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Here is a good podcast about this wonder plant also know as “Tomorrow´s leaf” due to its acclaimed ability to grow a new leaf when picked overnight http://sustainableworldradio.com/ashitaba-tomorrows-leaf/
Thanks, Andrew!
The link to the recipes is dead. Any chance you have another link? I really need to find new ways to use Ashitaba. I have so much of it!
I got the link to work when I copy and pasted it into Chrome. Sorry about that.