The so-called wild vegetables, as the name implies, are those wild plants that can be eaten.
There are many kinds of wild vegetables, which are recorded in ancient books, and the old people in the family often know a lot about them. However, the records of wild vegetables are often scattered and chaotic, and the most systematic is probably the “seven heads and one brain” in Nanjing’s population.
[Head] refers to the new parts of plants such as tender stems and leaves. Nanjing’s traditional [seven heads] refer to medlar head, Malan head, shepherd’s purse head, Toona sinensis head, alfalfa head, pea head and garlic head respectively, while bracken head has also become a new wild vegetable. [Brain] is called Chrysanthemum Brain.
These wild vegetables, every year in the Jiangnan people’s spring plate noisy last time, speak science and emotional appeal of food and beverage, don’t fail to live up to this annual feast!
Wolfberry Head: The Most Healing
When it comes to medlar, you will certainly not be unfamiliar with it. Isn’t that the bright red and sweet [medlar]? This is actually the fruit of Ningxia medlar.
What we want to eat in spring is the tender stem and leaf of medlar: medlar head. This kind of vegetable tastes delicious and tender, but it also has a little bit of hardship with a long aftertaste.
Fried Wolfberry Head with Oil and Salt
Ingredients: Chinese Wolfberry Head
1. Wash and drain medlar heads.
2. Heat oil in the pan, add medlar head, and stir-fry quickly over high heat.
3. Add salt. According to personal taste, auxiliary materials such as chili and garlic can also be added.
Clove canteen said:
The nutritional value of wild vegetables is very high, usually can be judged by their green leaves, especially the content of carotenoids, minerals and various antioxidant components should not be underestimated.
Lycium barbarum head is not only rich in amino acids and vitamins, but also rich in trace minerals such as organic germanium, selenium and lithium.
Malantou: Fresh
Because it is resistant to barren and good at spreading seeds, Malan, a plant with slender stems and blue-purple flowers with faint scent in summer, can often be seen in the roadside wild.
What we ate was its freshly sprouted tender leaves, which were divided into green stalks and red stalks. With its green and tender appearance and refreshing taste, Malan head is really an excellent choice for front dishes and appetizers.
Xianggan Malantou
Ingredients: Malantou and dried incense
1. Wash Malan’s head and boil it in boiling water. Remove and drain.
2. Chop Malan head and dried incense.
3. Mix the two, add salt, sesame oil and a small amount of sugar, and mix well.
Clove canteen said:
The iron content of Malantou is similar to spinach, which is a good supplementary source of plant iron. And it is rich in vitamin C, which can promote iron absorption.
Shepherd’s purse head: the most popular
Capsella bursa-pastoris is probably the most well-known wild vegetable.
This little wild vegetable is widely distributed and has a strong nature. You can find traces of it in any grassland or forest in the north and south of the great river. Not to mention its delicious taste, whether it is stir-fried, made into soup or chopped into stuffing, it has its own flavor.
The serrated green shepherd’s purse leaves are the freshest and most tender in March and April each year. When the shepherd’s purse blooms, it is mostly old. Although it looks good, its edible quality has declined.
Shepherd’s purse fried rice cake
Ingredients: shepherd’s purse, lean pork, rice cake, cooking wine, raw flour
1. Wash shepherd’s purse, remove root and yellow leaves, and cut it up.
2. Cut lean meat into shreds and marinate it with a little cooking wine and flour.
3. Heat the pan with oil, stir-fry the pickled pork shreds, and take them out after cutting them off.
4. Slice the rice cake and stir-fry it in a pan. Add water to cover the rice cake and cook it over low heat.
5. Add shredded meat, salt, monosodium glutamate and other seasonings and boil until the rice cake is soft and smooth.
6. Add the minced shepherd’s purse and stir-fry it slightly to get out of the pan.
Clove canteen said:
Many people only remember to drink milk to supplement calcium, but they do not know that eating more dark green leafy vegetables is also a good way to supplement calcium. Especially green leafy vegetables like shepherd’s purse, the calcium content per 100g is 3 times that of milk.
Toona sinensis Head: The Most Personalized
Toona sinensis is a bit like durian in nature: those who love it love it to the bone, and those who dislike it can’t accept the taste in any way. This is all due to the volatile aromatic substance Toona sinensis contained in it-Toona sinensis.
Toona sinensis head category is a lot, generally divided into purple Toona sinensis and green Toona sinensis two kinds. The former is deep in color and thick in aroma, while the latter is light in color and light in aroma. However, because fresh Toona sinensis head contains certain nitrite, it needs to be blanched in boiling water before cooking, and the color of the leaves will also change from different shades of purples to bright green.
Toona sinensis tofu
Ingredients: Toona sinensis head, water tofu/lactone tofu
1. Remove the pedicle of Toona sinensis head, boil it in boiling water, and take it out after the color turns green.
2. Cut the boiled Toona sinensis head into pieces, and cut tofu into small pieces or cubes.
3. Sprinkle tofu with Chinese toon powder, raw soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix well and serve.
Clove canteen said:
Different from the clear simplicity of common wild vegetables, Toona sinensis head is rich in vitamin E and amino acids. When eaten with eggs, tofu, etc., it makes your teeth and cheeks fragrant.
Alfalfa Head: Tender
What Jiangsu and Zhejiang people affectionately call [Caotou] [Yangcao] is just one kind of alfalfa head, which is the tender leaf of alfalfa, also known as southern alfalfa and golden cauliflower.
Today, a bouquet of grass has become the most pleasing seasonal dish in March in Yangchun. The tender green leaves, inspired by white wine or yellow wine, give full play to the fragrance of herbs, and the tenderness that melts at the entrance makes every diner who meets cannot refuse it.
Bouquet Grass Head
Ingredients: Grass Head (Alfalfa Head), Liquor
1. Wash the grass head, blanch it in boiling water and scoop it up.
2. Heat up the pan with oil, pour in the grass and stir-fry.
3. Add appropriate white spirit and continue to stir-fry.
4. When the grass head is completely soft and the bouquet is distributed, add seasonings such as salt and monosodium glutamate. Take the pan and take it out of the plate.
Clove canteen said:
The content of calcium, potassium and selenium in alfalfa head is also the best among all wild vegetables. It is said that in the early years, people used alfalfa as animal feed, and in recent years it has been more and more loved by people.
Pea Head: Most Connotation
Among several kinds of wild vegetables, the one with the most feelings is probably pea head. In the Book of Songs, it is called “Picking Wei, Picking Wei, Picking Wei”, Wang Ji’s “Picking Wei in Long Song” and Wen Tianxiang’s “Picking Wei in Dream”. This “Wei” is its ancient name, also called “Big Nest Vegetable”.
Stir-fried Pea Tips
Ingredients: Pea Tips
1. Wash pea tips and fold off the old hard and thick stalks.
2. Heat up the pan with oil, pour in pea tips and stir-fry quickly.
3. Add salt, monosodium glutamate and other seasonings, and take out the pan after being fully cooked.
Clove canteen said:
Pea heads are indeed gentle and touching in taste, rich in dietary fiber and various vitamins, including carotene. If you don’t like carrots, it is also a good idea to eat pea seedlings.
Small Garlic: The Most Low-key
As a dish, there are many common names for small garlic-mountain garlic, wild garlic, Mao garlic, spring onion and small root garlic, all of which can be called.
Compared with the previous several green and fresh wild vegetables, garlic is a very low-key one. Its smell is spicy, not inferior to garlic. It is said that the western region will use it to make dumplings or pancakes. Besides fresh food, it is often used for pickling as a side dish.
Small Garlic Pancake
Ingredients: Garlic, Flour, Eggs
1. Wash small garlic, cut off roots and chop them.
2. Pour flour into chopped garlic, add eggs and salt, and mix well.
3. Let it stand for a while, and the salted garlic will automatically seep out some water. Add more water and mix it into a uniform batter.
4. Coat the pan with oil, pour in batter, and spread evenly into pancakes. Pan-fry both sides until slightly brown and garlic fragrance overflows.
Clove canteen said:
In addition to pungent taste, small garlic has no less nutritional value than garlic. The content of selenium and germanium in small garlic is very prominent, and it is an active ingredient with antibacterial, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory effects.
Bracken Head: The Most Controversial
Pteridium aquilinum has a unique appearance. The tender leaves born in March have not yet been curled up, just like a dragon head and like a clenched fist. Therefore, it has nicknames such as dragon head dish, cat paw, bergamot dish and fist dish.
Salad Bracken
Ingredients: Pteridium aquilinum, Red Pepper, Garlic, Spicy Oil/Zanthoxylum bungeanum Oil
1. Wash bracken, boil it in boiling water and take it out.
2. Cut red pepper into shreds, add oil to the pan and heat it. Add red pepper shreds and garlic and stir-fry. Add a little spicy oil or pepper oil.
3. Pour the fried seasoning on the bracken head and mix well before eating.
Clove canteen said:
Pteridium aquilinum is a controversial vegetable, and the protopterin in Pteridium aquilinum has certain carcinogenicity. Although all behaviors [regardless of dosage and toxicity] are hooligans, it is better not to eat too much delicious Pteridium aquilinum.
If you want to taste this delicious food, you must remember to blanch it with boiling water before seasoning in the pan to reduce the original fern glycoside.
Chrysanthemum Brain: The Most Characteristic
As the name implies, chrysanthemum brain is just one kind of [chrysanthemum], which looks almost the same as wild chrysanthemum. Because of its fresh and transparent taste, it has become the favorite of Nanjing people’s dining table. The fresh stems and leaves of chrysanthemum brain born in spring and summer taste best.
Chrysanthemum Brain Egg Soup
Ingredients: Chrysanthemum Brain, Eggs
1. Add water to the pan and boil. Add a little sesame oil or common edible oil.
2. Beat up the eggs and pour them into the water to form egg flowers.
3. Wash chrysanthemum brains and sprinkle them into water. Add salt and boil before eating.
Clove canteen said:
With the unique aromatic volatile essential oil of Compositae plants, the taste of chrysanthemum brain is extremely clear, burning and refreshing.
Green leaves are mixed into silk eggs to melt into a bowl of gold and jade crisscrossed soup, which is enough to refresh the mind and refresh the heart. Not only to satisfy the appetite, but also seems to be of some use in relieving spring drowsiness.
Please be careful when you eat
Nowadays, the living conditions of wild plants are increasingly worrying. If rare and protected plants are accidentally picked as vegetables, it is comparable to burning violins and cooking cranes. However, if toxic and harmful plants are accidentally picked, the consequences will also be very serious.
If you lack relevant experience, please be cautious in eating. In fact, many wild vegetables can be bought in the market now. If you want to taste these delicious dishes, you may as well go to the supermarket market to have a look, which is more time-saving and labor-saving.