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Text: Jiang Yuxuan
Editor|Jiang Yuxuan
Preface
In the past, sword beans were a very important vegetable in rural life, and some sword beans were grown in every family's vegetable garden. Due to the rapid growth and abundance of fruits, sword beans are always harvested in the summer.
Those green and yellow sword bean fruits, when ripe, will have a special layer of bean husk covering the outside. When making sword bean dishes, it is common to peel off the husk and leave the green fruit inside.
The loss of sword bean dishes
The fruit is crisp and delicious, and even more fragrant after being cooked or pickled, and when the season comes, people exchange sword beans with each other and even trade them at the village stall market.
Some farmers even select the best sword bean fruits, select and pickle them, and then make them into pickled sword beans for later consumption. Pickled sword beans are a very popular specialty snack in the village, full of aroma, salty and sour taste.
Even in remote rural areas, in summer, the main dish on people's tables must also have the figure of sword beans, although sword beans have their special flavor and nutrients, but with the change of rural lifestyles and dietary Xi, modern people's understanding and love of sword beans has gradually decreased.
More and more people are leaving the countryside for city life and pursuing a more refined and diverse menu of dishes. The cooking process of sword beans is tedious, requiring boiling to remove toxicity, which is more time-consuming and labor-intensive than other vegetables.
Fresh sword beans are also not as widely available as they used to be, leading to the gradual disappearance of sword beans from the mainstream table, but despite this, farmers continue to grow and eat sword beans in some traditional rural areas.
They believe that regardless of the growing environment and the quality of the harvest, the production process can remove the toxicity from it and transform it into a delicious dish that is safe to eat. Of course, for the younger generation of farmers, sword beans are not a priority for planting, because they prefer to grow more shelf-stable and non-toxic vegetable varieties to meet the needs of the market.
In the past rural life, sword beans were a ubiquitous vegetable, with rich nutritional value and unique taste, and were indispensable on the table of farmers.
With the process of modernization and the improvement of food safety awareness, sword beans have gradually withdrawn from people's sight. Although it is still cultivated and eaten in some traditional rural areas, with the passage of time and the influx of new types of vegetables, the figure of the sword bean is fading away.
Poisonous sword beans
The highly toxic nature of sword beans is gradually being revealed, and people have a deeper understanding of the risks of its consumption. As a result, many local governments, media and health experts have launched campaigns to urge people to stay away from sword beans and guide them to explore more healthy and green food options.
This plant played a special role in food processing in the past, representing a traditional way of food preservation. However, the development of modern society and the increase in food safety awareness have prompted people to shift to safer and more scientific food processing methods.
In some mountainous areas of Hunan, the use of this plant to marinate food used to be a common way, but over time, locals have gradually changed this Xi and moved towards safer ways of preserving food, such as adopting modern pickling methods or using equipment such as refrigerators for food storage.
Food safety is a concern that everyone should be concerned about. Plants that were once commonly used in rural areas have a history and tradition in food processing, but with the passage of time and the increase in food safety awareness, people have begun to abandon this traditional way of being potentially risky.
The change of food processing is not only the upgrading of technology, but also the improvement of food safety awareness. This transformation takes time and process, but more importantly, it reflects the importance society places on health and safety.
The toxicity of sword beans was initially established in the 70s of the last century, caused by a poisoning incident that occurred in a county in Sichuan, resulting in the death of dozens of farmers. After testing and analyzing the body fluids and diet of the deceased, scientists finally determined that the sword bean was the culprit.
This discovery caused great attention from the government at that time, and the health and epidemic prevention department organized forces to carry out in-depth investigation and research on sword beans, and the prevention and control measures were gradually put in place in the following years, and the incidence of sword bean poisoning incidents decreased year by year.
In that era of material scarcity, the consumption of sword beans was still very common, especially in the southern countryside. Every year in October, the eldest lady in the village begins to process sword beans and store them in large urns for pickling.
The finished sword beans are bright in color and have a sour and crispy taste, which has become a folk custom. The old people liked its special taste and taste very much, and with the improvement of living conditions, most of the common people have rarely eaten this game.
The status of the sword bean is gradually declining, mainly because it cannot meet the growing demand of people. Nowadays, people are pursuing a healthier and more nutritious lifestyle, and they no longer dare to eat pickles containing highly toxic substances.
People can buy fresh vegetables and other ingredients more easily, and they no longer need to keep food for a long time as they did in the past. As a result, pickles are being replaced by a traditional way of food preservation, and people are more inclined to eat fresh ingredients to make a variety of delicious dishes.
From the once delicacy, to the later poison, to the current medical treasure, the status of the sword bean has changed dramatically. In this process, people's understanding of sword beans is also deepening, from the initial blind eating, to the later scientific understanding, and then to the current rational use, the value of sword beans has been fully reflected.
epilogue
The disappearance of the knife bean is not a regret, but an evolution of food culture. We should respect and cherish the foods that have accompanied us through the years, which have witnessed history, integrated into culture, and will continue to move forward with us.
However, as society evolves and lifestyles change, so do our food choices. In this process, we need to pay attention to the diversity of our diet and maintain a moderate intake to ensure our own health and safety.
At the same time, we also need to pay attention to food safety issues and avoid eating raw food to reduce potential risks.