Recently, the national epidemic situation is grim, some people can't grab vegetables, some people dig up wild vegetables, and some people even look at the green belt.
(It's actually time to eat wild vegetables, right?) /Source: Weibo)
Some people think that wild vegetables not only taste tender, but also have high nutritional value, and some people think that wild vegetables have a risk of poisoning, and it is best not to eat them. So, can wild vegetables still be dug? Can I dig in the park?
The wild vegetables you pick may be poisonous vegetables
Wild vegetables refer to naturally growing edible herbs or woody plants that have not been widely cultivated, usually refers to the young leaves of some grasses or the young shoots of some trees, most of which are green leafy vegetables.
Common wild vegetables such as toon, grass head, bracken, lettuce, amaranth, gray cabbage, goji berry, marlan, dandelion, purslane, wild peas, cress and so on.
(Toon/Source: Figureworm Creative)
(Cabbage/Source: Figureworm Creative)
(Dandelion/Source: CFH Nature Herbarium)
(Purslane/Source: CFH Natural Herbarium)
It should be noted that some poisonous plants look very similar to wild vegetables, even if they use map recognition software, they cannot distinguish between them, and it is easy to cause food poisoning after picking and eating.
If the parsley and the water cress look similar, but the parsley contains celerine, methyl celery and toxin, accidental ingestion may cause epilepsy, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, arrhythmia, dilated pupils, breathing disorders, coma and other symptoms.
(Cress [left] and parsley [right]/Source: CFH Natural Herbarium)
Sea potatoes, also known as tianhe, guanghe, guanyin lotus, dripping guanyin, etc., are often eaten as taro or taro. Skin contact with its juice is prone to itching, accidental ingestion of its stems, leaves will cause itchy tongue, throat, swelling, salivation, stomach burning pain, or nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, convulsions and other symptoms, severe cases may lead to suffocation, heart paralysis and death.
(Sea potato/Source: CFH Natural Herbarium)
The appearance of mandala is similar to that of okra, toxic ingredients include alkaloids such as scopolamine, atropine and scopolamine, generally appear symptoms 20 to 30 minutes after eating, no more than 3 hours at the latest, symptoms disappear or basically disappear within 24 hours, and severe cases will appear faint, cramps, cyanosis after 24 hours, and finally faint death.
(Mandala/Source: CFH Nature Herbarium)
Stone garlic (also known as the other side of the flower) looks very much like garlic before flowering, especially the root part, but it contains more than 10 kinds of alkaloids, which can have an impact on the human digestive tract and nervous system. After contact with the skin, it is red, swollen and itchy, entering the respiratory tract will cause nosebleeds, and the symptoms of internal poisoning are: salivation, vomiting, diarrhea, stiff tongue, convulsions, cold hands and feet, weak pulses, shock, and even paralysis of the respiratory center and death.
(Stone Garlic /Source: CFH Natural Herbarium)
Are wild vegetables more nutritious?
Because of the longer growth cycle, or the impact of life environment, wild vegetables are often more flavorful than "family vegetables", but the nutritional composition of wild vegetables and "home vegetables" is similar, and the individual nutrient content of some wild vegetables may be slightly higher than that of cultivated vegetables, such as protein, vitamin C, vitamin B1, calcium, iron and other nutrients:
The protein of goji berries (5.6 g/100 g) is more than twice that of spinach (2.6 g/100 g).
The vitamin C of grass head (118 mg/100 g) is more than 3 times that of spinach (32 mg/100 g).
The calcium of spinach (294 mg/100 g) is more than 4 times that of spinach (66 mg/100 g).
However, these nutrients can also be obtained through a normal diet, there is no need to rely on wild vegetables to supplement, and wild vegetables also have some obvious risks of consumption.
Zhejiang Province has carried out heavy metal content determination of 3 kinds of wild vegetables in 8 regions of Jiangsu Hangzhou, Jinhua, Quzhou, Huzhou, Lishui, Shaoxing, Ningbo and Wenzhou, and the results found that the contents of Pb, Cd, Hg and As exceeded the standard, especially the Pb content exceeded the standard by 56.7%.
(Source: References[4])
Therefore, natural growth does not mean that green pollution-free, grown near the factory, roadside and other poor sanitary environment of wild vegetables, more susceptible to heavy metal pollution, enriched with various toxins.
Wild vegetables grown in the park seem to have a good environment, but they are also easily polluted by herbicides and other herbicides, and there is a problem of excessive pesticides.
In addition to heavy metals exceeding the standard, some wild vegetables may also have slight toxicity, and it is necessary to pay attention to ways and methods when eating.
For example, the nitrate content of toon buds is low at the beginning, and as toon buds continue to grow, their nitrate content is also rising. Especially in pickled toon buds, the content of nitrite increases. Blanch the toon in boiling water for about 1 minute to remove more than two-thirds of the nitrite and nitrate.
Purslane contains alkaloids, coumarin, flavonoids, oxalates, anthraquinone compounds, etc., if you eat too much, you will have abdominal pain, diarrhea, muscle weakness, mental atrophy and other symptoms. After the mild patient stops eating, the symptoms will disappear on its own, and patients with persistent symptoms should seek medical attention immediately.
Bracken contains protofern and other harmful substances, excessive consumption will cause nausea, vomiting, bloating, abdominal pain, mainly perumbilical colic, occasionally can see heavy pain in the lower abdomen, accompanied by diarrhea, stool is not formed, boiling water for 15 minutes or steaming for 10-12 minutes before cooking.
Although the cabbage is nutritious but has a high oxalic acid content, before eating it, you should blanch the water, boil the pot under water, and blanch the water for 1 minute.
In fact, now a lot of traditional wild vegetables, such as cabbage, artemisia, toon, etc., have been artificially cultivated, everyone into the regular supermarket or vegetable market, you can buy, do not have to wade through the mountains to choose a piece of "feng shui treasure land" digging, quality is still guaranteed.
(Toon in the supermarket / Source: see watermark)
In short, if you want to pick wild vegetables on a spring day, you must be cautious, do not pick wild vegetables that you do not know, are not familiar with, and are uncertain, and do not pick wild vegetables that grow in parks, around highways and near factories, and in areas with poor sanitary environments through which wastewater flows.
When cooking, the wild vegetables should be picked and cleaned, blanched in hot water, and have a history of allergies to wild vegetables, infants, pregnant women, nursing mothers and people with digestive system diseases should not eat or eat less wild vegetables.
If you are unwell after eating wild vegetables, you need to stop eating them, seek medical treatment immediately, it is best to take pictures of the whole wild vegetables before eating and save them for the convenience of doctors.
Edit: Dr. Spring Rain
Resources:
[1].While preventing and controlling the epidemic, please also be vigilant against wild vegetable poisoning[J].Hunan Safety and Disaster Prevention, 2021(02):62-63.
Li Xianghao,Xue Jing. Analysis of three cases of poisoning by accidental consumption of wild celery[J].Chinese Journal of Practical Internal Medicine,2007,27(S2):159-160.
LIU Huan. Can wild vegetables on the side of the road be picked? [J].Food Industry,2021(05):78-79.
Shang Suwei,Wu Cuirong,Jiang Buyun. Determination of Heavy Metal Content of Three Wild Vegetables in Zhejiang Province[J]. Jiangsu Agricultural Sciences, 2014(4):266-267.] DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1002-1302.2014.04.100.