what grows in dark places
While Americans remain unfamiliar with fuki, Japanese farmers grow vast amounts of the vegetable (also known as sweet coltsfoot or giant butterbur) for their rhubarb-like stalks. Another colony-former, fuki grows where few other vegetables will---in wet, dark places. The leaves grow quite large, and the entire plant takes up a good deal of room, growing 3 to 6 feet high and wide. After harvesting the stalks, cut them into 6-inch pieces, blanch to loosen the outer skin, then peel.