Careful! Don't pick wild vegetables on the side of the road, don't eat them indiscriminately! Beware of poisoning

With the arrival of spring, all natural things have slept for a winter, poked their heads out under the caress of the breeze, and under the careful care of the gentle rain, delicate new leaves sprouted, stretching their waists in the sun.

The growth of plants not only brings a new green to the earth, but also awakens our taste buds, and people follow the footsteps of spring to the mountains in search of a long-awaited delicacy, which is wild vegetables.

Wild vegetables, as the name suggests, are edible plants that are not artificially grown.

Careful! Don't pick wild vegetables on the side of the road, don't eat them indiscriminately! Beware of poisoning

The mainland has had the custom of eating wild vegetables since ancient times, which may be the reason why people are still willing to dig wild vegetables for consumption.

Zhu Yuanzhang's son of Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty wrote "Relief Materia Medica", a prince who compiled 414 edible endemic plants and illustrated them with exquisite woodcut illustrations to cope with the needs of famine relief.

The book not only records common wild vegetables and their edible parts, but also records some poisonous wild vegetables that require special processing to be edible, which is enough to show the in-depth exploration and understanding of wild vegetables by the ancients.

Today, books about wild vegetables are constantly emerging, and it is becoming more common for people to eat wild vegetables, of course, there are often reports of poisoning by eating wild plants.

Here, we advocate that everyone do not pick wild vegetables on the side of the road, on the one hand, there are certain safety hazards behind the wild vegetable fever, and at the same time, small shovels all the way down, but also damage the local ecological environment, so if you like to eat wild vegetables, you can choose regular supermarkets to buy, have professional quality control control, eat more assured.

Today we will talk about the wild vegetables that can be bought, as people living in the Nanjing area, we have the name of "seven heads and one brain" for common wild vegetables, as the "good heart" of Nanjing people, known as "Nanjing people do not know well, a mouthful of white rice and a mouthful of grass" saying.

The "seven heads and one brain" are toon head, camelina head, alfalfa head, malan head, wolfberry head, pea head, garlic head and chrysanthemum brain.

Toon head

Scientific name: Toona sinensis

Toon young leaves are edible, the mainland has been eating for more than 2,000 years, the most common method is toon eggs, northerners also like toon mixed with tofu.

People who love it are fascinated by it, and they often spend hundreds of yuan a pound every year, and those who don't love it avoid it, perhaps because they can't enjoy its strong taste, just like many people don't eat coriander (coriander).

Toons are delicious, but there is an ailanthus altissima, which also has pinnate leaves, but it looks like toon, but it is not edible.

Source: Author

Cabbage heads

Scientific name: Capsella bursa-pastoris

The deliciousness of camelina has long been known to the ancients, and there is a praise in the "Book of Poetry" that "who is bitter, its sweetness is like camelin", and Du Fu also wrote "who is bitter and sweet as camelin" in "Diming Mansion (Boji Yizuo Sending Dimingfu)".

Su Dongpo is very fond of camelin, and he makes a soup with camelina to achieve a delicacy "Dongpo soup".

In the Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen contained in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Cecine is born and jiji, so it is called camelin", and the "jiji" mentioned here means many things, which shows the wide distribution of camelina and the public.

There is a folk proverb such as "March 3, camelina flowers go up the stove mountain", and in Nanjing, the custom of "March 3, camelina flowers boiled eggs" is also preserved.

Boiled eggs with camelina Source: Author

Of course, the most common way to eat camelina is to chop the young leaves of the camelina and make it into camelina dumplings and buns.

However, the young head of the camelina is quite illegible and can be easily confused with the seedlings of other plants, so don't pick it yourself in the wild!

Sativa head

Scientific name: Medicago polymorpha

Sativa head is also known as "grass head", which is enough to show its origin as a weed.

Alfalfa, also known as "Mu Falfa", is known as the "King of Forage", when Zhang Qian sent an envoy to the Western Regions, bringing a variety of excellent crops to China, alfalfa is one of them.

The Song Dynasty poet Mei Yaochen wrote in "Alfalfa": "When alfalfa comes to the Western Regions, Pu Tao also follows." Hu Ren did not hesitate at the beginning, and the Han envoy was able to hold it. When the horse asks for the sun, when the old seed leaves the palace. Huang Huajin spontaneously stirred up the herding cattle. ”

Of course, when the famine comes, people will also pick young alfalfa leaves as food, and the Shaanxi proverb "Women in Guanzhong have three loves, cotton stirs alfalfa vegetables" is a true portrayal of people eating alfalfa heads.

The alfalfa orchard at the foot of Nanjing's Purple Mountain is where the ancient imperial court planted alfalfa to feed horses, and the alfalfa eaten locally is the tender tip of southern alfalfa, but it is accompanied by sorrel grass Oxalis corniculata and white axle grass Trifolium repens.

At a glance, their young leaves are all three, but southern alfalfa is pinnate three-out compound leaves, sorrel grass and white axle grass are palm-shaped three-out compound leaves, growing together, and how many people can guarantee that they will not pick mistakes? So it's better not to dig in the wild.

Maran Head

Scientific name: Maran Aster indicus

Li Shizhen recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Its leaves are like orchids and large, and its flowers are like chrysanthemums and purples, commonly known as the great of things, for horses, hence the name." ”

Therefore, Maran is also called purple chrysanthemum. The use of Maran head is very simple, after picking the tender tips, washing and chopping, and mixing it with dried fragrant herbs, it is very delicious.

Speaking of Maran, will everyone involuntarily sing: "Little leather balls, banana pears, Maran blossoms twenty-one." Two five six, two five seven, two eight two nine thirty-one..."

Although what I heard as a child was "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, Maran blossoms twenty-one." Two five six, two five seven, two eight two nine thirty-one..."

The malan mentioned here refers to the horse (mǎ lìn) Iris lactea, a plant of the genus Iris that is also commonly known by its common name as malan or maran.

Goji head

Scientific name: Goji berry Lycium chinense

Goji berries can be eaten as vegetables in spring, and the "Book of Poetry" has a record of "Shaanbi North Mountain, words pick its berries". Goji berries are treasures, and the "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "Spring picking of wolfberry leaves, famous as heavenly essence grass; summer flowers, famous evergreen grass; Autumn picker, name goji berry; Winter roots, famous bone skin. ”

People fully tap the value of goji berries, and soaking goji berries in thermos cups is enough to prove people's recognition of its efficacy.

Pea head

Scientific name: Pisum sativum

The "Compendium of Materia Medica" records that "Shanjung, pea also, its seedlings are weak and like, so it got the name pea, planted Hu Rong, and there are many in the northern land today." ”

The pea head is the tender tip of the pea, which has not yet bloomed at this time, and has a fragrant taste after stir-frying.

The ancients also liked to eat pea heads, but they called them "Wei", and in the "Book of Poetry Xiaoya Tsewei", there is "Tsewei Tsewei, Wei also stops... Tsevi Tsevi, Tsevi is soft... Tsewei Tsewei, Wei also just stopped", the ancients tse-tse-picked pea heads.

In addition to eating pea tips, the ancients also made pea seeds into a variety of cuisines, the most famous may be pea cake, when introduced to the capital called pea yellow, mainly from peas, red dates, persimmon cakes and gardenia processing.

"The Grand View of Chinese Imperial Meals in the Past Dynasties" has an account that "the food has always belonged to Yanjing, the peas and yellow have been famous for a long time, the red dates are embedded in gold curies, and the ten texts buy Huangqiong". There are also claims to pick the tender tips of vetch plants and eat them, such as the tender tip of the wild pea (large nest dish) Vicia sativa, which can be seen from its name "Rescue the Famine" that it has been eaten urgently.

Common vetch plants are Vicia cracca, Vicia hirsuta and Vicia tetrasperma.

Little nest vegetable Source: Author

But! Scratch the point! These wild peas contain a toxic compound called vicoside, a toxin that increases as it blooms and bears fruit.

Therefore, it is necessary to blanch water when we make pea tips, so that we can effectively remove the vicoside inside.

Speaking of this, I want to say that the pea tips in the wild should not be picked and eaten, it is really hungry, you can go to the supermarket or vegetable market to buy artificially grown pea tips, in comparison, this pea tips are basically free of toxins.

Small garlic

Scientific name: Allium macrostemon

Small root garlic Source: Author

薤 (xiè) white, also known as small root garlic, is recorded in the "Li Ji Nei Ze": "Fan, spring onions, autumn mustard; Green onions for fat, weeds for paste. ”

It can be seen that BC, the continent has begun to eat Xuebai, which is a very easy to obtain medicinal and food products.

The "Compendium of Materia Medica" praised it as: "The thing is beautiful in zhi, so the xue is vegetable zhi." ”

Wang Zhen of the Yuan Dynasty also said: "Xue, raw is angry, cooked is sweet, planted is not a cockle, and food is beneficial." Bai Juyi also wrote the verse "Wanghuang as winter wine, and Liuxue as spring vegetables".

Xuebai and green onions are both plants of the genus Allium of the Garlic family and have a similar taste, so when cooking Xuebai, you only need to refer to chives or green onions, such as scrambled eggs and pancakes, which are very easy to make.

As for what to pay attention to when eating, then pay attention to the delicious taste of the right time, after all, it has a big taste.

Chrysanthemum brain

Scientific name: Chrysanthemum indicum

If there is any kind of wild vegetable that has the most Nanjing characteristics, it is not chrysanthemum brain, and it can be seen from the seven heads and one brain that it is special by listing it separately.

When it comes to what brains, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind may be pig brains, sheep brains, rabbit brains, etc., how can chrysanthemums also have brains? Do people still like to eat?

Don't panic, and listen to me slowly.

In fact, chrysanthemum brain is a cultivated variety of wild chrysanthemum, a medicinal and food homologous plant with rich nutritional value.

Chrysanthemum brain can also be said to be a chrysanthemum head, after all, the picking is also the tender tip of wild chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum brain is the name of Nanjing people, Nanjing dialect is closer to chrysanthemum láo.

In the front of the house of Nanjing local residents, you can often see the figure of chrysanthemum brain, chrysanthemum brain egg soup is definitely beyond the existence of tomato egg soup, cool and cool, enough to prove people's love for it.

The big family of wild vegetables is more than "seven heads and one brain"!

In addition to "seven heads and one brain", there are many edible wild vegetables in the mainland, and every year in the second month of the lunar calendar, the blue-purple February orchid blooms all over the land, attracting countless tourists to check in and take photos.

February orchid is also known as Orychophragmus violaceus.

According to legend, when Zhuge Liang led troops to fight, due to food shortages, he sent soldiers to dig up Zhuge vegetables and other food, and it is recorded in the "Illustrated Guide to Higher Plants of China": "Zhuge cabbage stems and leaves can be eaten as wild vegetables." ”

Before the February orchid blooms, its tender tips are edible, and those February orchids that grow fat and grow in the sun are slightly less bitter and can be fried after blanching.

When the orchid blooms in February, the elm tree Ulmus pumila is also hung with fruit, because its wings are flat and round like ancient copper coins and named "elm money", homonym "surplus money", northerners like to mix the tender elm money with corn flour steamed, and then mixed with sauce to eat, not to mention how delicious.

Before Qingming, the fresh stems and leaves of Pseudognaphalium affine and Artemisia argyi were also beaten into pulp, mixed with glutinous rice flour, and various fillings were added to make green balls.

Qing Dynasty gourmet Yuan Zhen recorded the production of Qingtuan in the "Suiyuan Food List": "Pounding grass for juice, and powder to make balls, the color is like jasper."

After steaming, the green tuan is green and green, glutinous and soft, fragrant and refreshing, and has been loved by people since ancient times, but it was mostly used for sacrifices in ancient times, and now it has become one of the seasonal specialty snacks after thousands of years.

Not only Qingtuan, but also Wumi, a Jiangnan folk snack, is made by picking fresh leaves of the Vaccinium bracteatum in spring, pounding it into juice and mixing it with glutinous rice.

It is recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Pick the leaves of the southern candle tree and mash them, soak them in water for juice, steam them into glutinous rice or glutinous rice, and make them black rice. ”

When April arrives, Robinia pseudoacacia blooms, and the fragrance of the flowers wafts with the air, attracting bees to eat nectar and get the nectar of locust flowers, but also attracting gluttonous people to pick it. Can't wait to sip this long-awaited sweetness, then harvest a spike of locust flowers, and go home to make a variety of delicacies after simply blanching water.

Qiao women can simply cook scrambled eggs with locust flowers, and they will also make locust flower dumplings, and the natural floral fragrance fills the taste buds of the mouth, which is endlessly memorable.

Of course, people are not satisfied with enjoying this delicacy only in spring, but also dry the locust flowers and store them until autumn and winter to make locust buns.

A similar wild vegetable is Portulaca oleracea, whose young stems and leaves can be eaten directly as vegetables in spring, and the "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "People pick more seedlings and cook them as vegetables." ”

After drying, purslane can be pickled into pickles, and can also be made into buns similar to dried plum vegetables, but purslane will have a faint sour taste, not everyone likes it.

At this time, the flowers of the tree Broussonetia papyrifera are also in bloom, and people will pick the male flowers of the tree to make food, pick those male flowers that are not yet fully open, wash them, and mix them with flour and steam.

Don't look at this look good, but it still tastes good.

In spring, there are too many wild vegetables to eat on the mainland, and northerners like to eat noodle dish (wheat bottle grass) Silene conoidea, broom seedling (ground skin) Bassia scoparia, dandelion Taraxacum mongolicum and gray ash vegetable (quinoa) Chenopodium album.

Southerners also eat cress Oenanthe javanica, kapok flower Bombax ceiba Linnaeus, Artemisia selengensis and Houttuynia cordata.

Konjac Source: Author

East Asian Konjac Source: Author

Verrucous konjac Source: Author

There are also some wild vegetables that are special, they carry their own toxins, and they need to be eaten with caution, such as our favorite konjac tofu, which is made from the tubers of konjac Amorphophallus konjac.

The whole konjac plant is poisonous, and the tuber has the most toxins, if you want to taste the deliciousness of konjac, you need professionals to carry out a series of special treatments, first grind the tubers of konjac into a pulp, and then add a certain amount of alkaline water to stir thoroughly.

After it has been cooked or steamed, the toxins in konjac can be removed.

It should be noted that not all konjac can make konjac tofu, so if you want to eat it, be sure to buy it through formal channels.

In addition, wild plants such as fern Pteridium aquilinum vegetables and wild mushrooms also need special treatment to remove toxins.

So if you see these little ones in the wild, don't bother them, and don't try to eat them.

In short, it is still not recommended to dig in the wild, because the mainland is one of the most abundant countries in the world, and most of us do not have solid knowledge of botanical classification, and the probability of mistakes when picking is extremely high.

What's more, thousands of years of inheritance, the ancients did not develop these wild vegetables into vegetables for cultivation, indicating that our ancestors tried to make these wild vegetables more or less unsuitable for vegetables.

If eating too many wild vegetables will cause gastrointestinal discomfort, and some wild vegetables may be polluted or sprayed with pesticides, why should we pick these wild vegetables as vegetables?

Of course, if you really like it, we can go to supermarkets or vegetable farms, botanists have developed a variety of varieties and technologies for artificial large-scale cultivation of wild vegetables to meet the needs of the public.

In this way, you can not only satisfy the taste buds, but also ensure the health of the body, why not.

Produced by Popular Science China

Author|Qin Yalong, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiangsu Province, Nanjing Zhongshan Botanical Garden

Executive Producer|China Science Expo

Careful! Don't pick wild vegetables on the side of the road, don't eat them indiscriminately! Beware of poisoning

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