The wild food season has begun again! A list of wild vegetables that Chongqing people love to eat. How many have you eaten?

Chongqing is a mountain city with interlaced mountains and valleys and dense lakes and rivers, making it a place rich in wild vegetables. Some scholars have done statistics and found that there are more than 700 kinds of wild vegetable resources in the Sichuan and Chongqing regions where Chongqing belongs, and more than 100 kinds of wild vegetables are widely distributed and commonly eaten by the people.

Houttuynia cordata, fern, Qingming vegetable, Chinese toon... These delicacies hidden in the fields make Chongqing "old gourmets" salivate whenever they talk about them. Today, let's take stock of the wild vegetables that you can't miss when you "hunt in the wild" in Chongqing!

01 Houttuynia cordata

If you can only choose one wild vegetable to represent Chongqing, it must be Houttuynia cordata. Houttuynia cordata, also known as fish mint, jieergen, pig nose arch, zǔcai, jícai and stinky grass, etc.

Houttuynia cordata is a plant of the genus Houttuynia of the family Saururaceae. It often grows in shady and moist places or beside mountain streams. As a native plant, it is easy to find its traces in Chongqing. However, nowadays Houttuynia cordata has artificially cultivated varieties.

Image source: Pixabay

Fresh Houttuynia cordata has a unique fishy smell. The source of this unique smell is houttuynia cordata, a volatile substance in Houttuynia cordata. It is this volatile substance that causes people to have polarized opinions on Houttuynia cordata: those who like Houttuynia cordata can't put it down, while those who hate it avoid it.

Houttuynia cordata contains rich protein and various nutrients, as well as trace elements such as calcium, phosphorus, manganese, zinc, etc. Generally, its white rhizomes or leaves are eaten. Houttuynia cordata can be fried or made into soup, but the most representative way of eating it in Chongqing is naturally to eat it cold!

Tips: The young leaves of Houttuynia cordata are suitable for picking at the turn of winter and spring, while the rhizomes of Houttuynia cordata are mostly picked in summer and autumn. It is best to soak Houttuynia cordata for a period of time before eating it to eliminate the odor. Houttuynia cordata contains aristolochic acid, which is toxic to the kidneys and should not be eaten too much.

02Dandelion

Dandelion is a general name for plants of the genus Taraxacum in the Asteraceae family. It is also called Dandelion, Yellow Flowered Ground Ding, Huahualang or Lantern Flower. It is a common wild vegetable. Early spring is when the dandelion sprouts are the most delicious. There are many ways to cook dandelions in various parts of my country. They taste good when eaten raw, fried, made into soup, or stir-fried.

But in the eyes of Chongqing people, the best "partner" of dandelion must be eggs. In a hot pan with full of "wok" and sizzling oil, add eggs and stir-fry. While the eggs are forming, quickly add chopped dandelion leaves, and a plate of golden and light green, nutritious and delicious dandelion scrambled eggs is served. This is also the favorite of many Chongqing foodies.

The amino acid content in dandelion is higher than that in most vegetables. It also contains a variety of nutrients such as taraxacin, taraxacinol, choline, organic acid, inulin, glucoside (dài), and has a high content of selenium.

Tips: Some people may be allergic to the white juice of dandelions. In addition, eating large amounts of dandelions may cause diarrhea.

03 Bracken

Chongqing's warm and humid valleys are a paradise for ferns, which makes fern the "king of mountain vegetables" and one of the main characters of Chongqing people's "wilderness" in spring. Fern, also known as fern, dragon head vegetable, Ruyi vegetable, fist vegetable, cat's claw, etc., is the general name for the tender curled buds of edible ferns. Every early spring, accompanied by the nourishment of spring rain, fern sprouts in the mountain streams and forests. When the fern sprouts look like a child's clenched fist and the leaf buds have not yet stretched out, it is the best time to pick and eat them.

Image source: Pixabay

Fresh bracken is rich in various trace elements, vitamins and crude fiber. In addition, bracken is also rich in various bioactive substances, such as bracken polysaccharides, flavonoids, etc. After blanching, the bracken tastes fragrant, smooth, crisp and refreshing. Whether it is cold bracken, bracken fried with bacon, spicy chopped pepper bracken, or bracken stewed with meat, it is a mouth-watering delicacy.

Tips: Bracken contains a small amount of prototaxol, which is carcinogenic, so it is not advisable to eat too much bracken. Before eating fresh bracken, rinse it repeatedly, boil it thoroughly in boiling water and drain it, which can effectively reduce the content of prototaxol. The bracken that cannot be eaten can be dried and preserved for a long time.

04 Smilax china

Speaking of Smilax glabra, many people may be unfamiliar with this name, but if it comes to King Kong vine or Smilax glabra (Smilax glabra), I believe many people in Chongqing have heard of it. In fact, it has many other aliases: iron water chestnut, Magale, tendon and bone pillar, red lantern fruit, cold rice head, iron thorn ling, etc.

Smilax is a general term for a large class of plants in the genus Smilax. It often grows under forests below 2,000 meters above sea level, or in shrubs on limestone slopes, on grass slopes, by streams or roadsides. It is also a native plant of Chongqing. Chongqing not only has a large number of Smilax species, but also has a very wide distribution. It is very common in Wushan, Fengjie, Shizhu, Youyang, Wulong, Xiushan and other places.

Smilax china contains a lot of carotene, vitamin B and vitamin C, as well as a variety of steroidal saponins and other active ingredients. In Chongqing, Smilax china plays different roles in different seasons: in spring, people pick its tender stems, especially the purple-red varieties, which taste better. They blanch them and eat them cold, or stir-fry them or make soup. The simple stir-fried meat with smilax china is very delicious.

In autumn, the green fruit of Smilax china turns red. It is a wild fruit with a thin skin, rich juice, and sweet and sour taste. In winter, people in the mountains will dig out the rhizomes of Smilax china to make soup or wine. It can also be used to extract tannin and starch. It is truly an all-round plant.

Tips: The tender stems of Smilax china are rich in gelatin and are sticky, so they need to be processed before eating.

05 Purslane

In summer, many wild vegetables are inedible, but there is one kind of wild vegetable that is in its best season for picking: purslane. The name purslane comes from Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica: "Its leaves are as long as horse teeth, and its nature is as smooth as amaranth." It has many nicknames in the folk, such as grasshopper vegetable, five-element grass, sour rice vegetable, pig mother grass, sour vegetable, fat baby grass, longevity vegetable, etc.

Image source: Pixabay

Purslane is an annual herbaceous plant of the Portulacaceae family. The whole plant is thick and juicy and often grows prostrate. In summer, it blooms small yellow flowers, which are very cute. However, people usually eat its young shoots before flowering. It has a unique slightly sour and tender taste.

Purslane is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, one of the highest content in vegetables. This unsaturated fatty acid has the effects of protecting the cardiovascular system, reducing arrhythmia and preventing heart disease.

Fresh and tender purslane stems and leaves are suitable for stir-frying or making soup after blanching, and they are also delicious when served cold. In some places, dried purslane is chopped up and made into dumpling fillings or steamed with grain flour. Some people even developed a unique purslane tea: put the chopped purslane, sugar and tea leaves into a pot and boil them, then filter out the residue to get a sweet and sour herbal tea.

Tips: Purslane is rich in polysaccharides, which help intestinal peristalsis. However, people with gastrointestinal discomfort should avoid eating Purslane to prevent intestinal irritation.

06 "Jungle" Tips

In fact, there are many wild vegetables in Chongqing that have not been mentioned, such as Chinese toon, shepherd's purse, winter melon, basella, Kochia scoparia, water shield, water celery, Artemisia selengensis, red amaranth, and shepherd's purse. Many of them have been cultivated artificially and become home-cooked dishes. People's obsession with wild vegetables may not only satisfy their appetite, but also reflect their yearning for nature and their nostalgia for the old days.

However, while we enjoy the taste of wild vegetables, we also need to pay attention to some safety and health issues:

1. When picking wild vegetables, avoid entering dense forests to prevent getting lost; when picking wild vegetables in the wild, choose a reliable place as much as possible and avoid picking wild vegetables that have been sprayed with pesticides;

2. Wash thoroughly and sterilize as necessary before eating to avoid infection by parasites and pathogenic bacteria;

3. Avoid picking and eating unfamiliar plants or fungi to avoid food poisoning;

4. People with allergies should try to eat less wild vegetables to avoid allergic reactions;

5. Although wild vegetables are delicious, they should not be eaten as staple food for a long time because they may lack certain nutrients essential to the human body.

Source: Chongqing Science and Technology Museum

Author: Quasimodo in the Garden, Master of Agronomy, science popularizer.

Audit expert: Li Chunli

Statement: Except for original content and special notes, some pictures are from the Internet. They are not for commercial purposes and are only used as popular science materials. The copyright belongs to the original authors. If there is any infringement, please contact us to delete them.