Appearing in early spring, Japanese Knotweed starts out as fat, greenish stalks with red speckles poking straight up from the ground. When young, Japanese Knotweed hardly has the identifiable characteristics of the more mature plant. However, you can identify last year's plants by the stalks they leave behind. They are tall, hollow, wooden, and bamboo-like and can grow to almost 13-feet tall at the height of the season.

At first glance Japanese Knotweed would seem to be a part of the bamboo family. However, it is actually a member of the buckwheat family. The foliage of this unique plant is large, triangular, and smooth edged. It usually grows between 4 to 6 inches long and 2 to 4 inches wide. The leaves also have pointed tips and a wide, flat base. The mature stems are characteristically known to create a zigzag pattern as it grows upward.

In the late summer and fall the Japanese Knotweed blooms flowers. Its beautiful appearance during this time is the first reason why people began to import this plant. The tiny, white flowers will appear where the leaf-stalk meets the stem and grow in extended, lacy spikes that is quite beautiful and unique from any other plant.

Japanese Knotweed will flourish in disturbed soil with high moisture levels, most often along the sides of the road, in fields or on riverbanks. Once it takes hold in an area, it has the tendency to push other plants out and take over. People who have fought them have found that they are very difficult to eradicate. So instead of spending all their time trying to get rid of the plants, people have begun harvesting this edible plant. They are also thinking of new ways to prepare and sell it to others. There have even been several festivals devoted primarily to the harvest of the Japanese Knotweed.

The Japanese Knotweed shoots are edible from April until early May. After this window of time, the plant matures and grows increasingly woody tough. Sometimes, when a mature plant has been cut down and if the season remains warm and moist, new edible shoots will begin to grow at the close of the season.

The best time to prepare and eat Japanese Knotweed is when it is around 6 to 8 inches tall. The plant is extremely tart and is very similar to rhubarb. Like rhubarb, the leaves should be discarded and the stalks are used to prepare a number of dishes. If you get to the plant after it has exceeded a height of 8 inches, most often the stalks are covered by a very tough rind. In this case you need to peel the rind away from the stalk to reveal the savory stalk on the inside. The rind can then be used to make marmalade.

There are several options for preparing and eating Japanese Knotweed. They've been used in jams, sauces, soups, dessert dishes, or simply steamed like vegetables. Because of its tangy attributes, at times people have substituted cooked Japanese Knotweed for lemon juice which gives mundane recipes a very exotic taste.

When prepared, Japanese Knotweed is an excellent source of vitamins C and A, potassium, phosphorous, zinc and has been known to have powerful antioxidant potential. It is also a prime source for resveratrol, which is also found in red wines and the skin of grapes. Resveratrol has been known to have a positive impact on bad cholesterol levels (LDL) and aids in the prevention of heart disease. The same substance has been known to reduce the risk and progression of Alzheimer's. Large quantities of the plant can also be used as a laxative, much like rhubarb.