In nature, plants are always bullied and spend their lives fighting against predators. In order not to be eaten, plants strive to evolve and develop, have their own "little temper", and protect themselves from the inside out.
Long-term self-evolution has made some plants unsuitable for consumption, some of them have strange smells, some are rich in toxins, and some have an indescribable taste. They hide for thousands of years, but they are still found by Chinese diners and served to the table, processed into delicious dishes.
Next, let's take a look at what plants have worked so hard and still can't escape the fate of being eaten.
1. Mustard
When I mention the word wasabi, I feel a spicy sensation from my mouth to my nose. But after eating mustard for so many years, have you ever wondered what the source of this spicy taste is? In fact, it is an isothiocyanate that wasabi has worked hard to evolve to resist predators in nature.
When ancient Chinese foodies unexpectedly discovered that it was non-toxic to eat, and thought, "Hey, it's a good ingredient to choke on your nose after eating!" So I used it as a spice. Who would have thought that the isothiocyanate evolved from mustard became the reason why it was eaten. As a spice crop, the history of mustard in China can even be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty, and we have eaten mustard for more than 3,000 years......
Wasabi is divided into two types: yellow mustard and green mustard, and our native one is yellow mustard, which is made by grinding mustard seeds, which is spicy and choking, so it is often used in cold dishes. All kinds of cold dishes in our summer are inseparable from the help of mustard, mixed mung bean jelly, mixed seasonal vegetables and side dishes, mixed seafood, mixed salad, mixed sashimi, etc., in many cold dishes can almost see mustard.
As a result of the efforts of mustard to evolve, it is still difficult to escape the Chinese cooking technique, and I just want to say "delicious, just this choking feeling!" ”
II. Sweet potato
Everyone should have eaten konjac, snacks konjac shuang, fat loss konjac noodles, as well as konjac tofu, konjac vermicelli, konjac chips, etc., is a variety of eating ingredients.
But konjac is actually poisonous, people who have eaten it don't worry, even if konjac strives to evolve into a plant that is poisonous to the whole plant, and the tuber is the most toxic, it can't stop Chinese chefs from finding a way to eat it. Konjac has been cultivated in China for more than 2,000 years, and it has a long history of eating.
Legend has it that a long, long time ago, Taoist priests in Mount Emei, Sichuan, used konjac tubers, which are the most toxic tubers, to make starch, and konjac tofu from konjac starch. After the Taoist priest tasted it, he found that not only the toxicity was gone, but the taste was also very delicious, and then it was passed down like this, and the way of eating konjac was passed down, and then more ways to eat were derived.
The current konjac has long lost the limelight of "konjac", and because of its low calorie, it has been changed by the majority of diners and turned into a "health food", I don't know what it thinks about the toxicity it strives to evolve......
3. Bitter gourd
Bitter gourd worked hard to evolve bitter in the course of its natural evolution in an attempt to scare away the animals that ate it, but it was immediately captured as an ingredient when it was introduced to China from Indonesia during the Song and Yuan dynasties.
At the beginning, bitter gourd was widely spread in the southern region, and it was mentioned in the "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration" compiled by Xu Guangqi in the Ming Dynasty that the southerners ate bitter gourd. It is said that because bitter gourd only bitters itself and does not pass on the bitterness to other vegetables that are fried together, it was also called "gentleman's dish" by the ancients.
In the hands of Cantonese people, bitter gourd can be said to be eaten in a variety of ways, frying and stewing are proficient in everything, bitter gourd scrambled eggs, bitter gourd stir-fried beef, bitter gourd pork rib soup, etc., almost every household likes to eat bitter gourd. Later, the effect of bitter gourd was understood by more and more people, and the people who ate bitter gourd spread from south to north, and it gradually became the preferred vegetable for Chinese to clear heat and remove fire in summer.
And the bitter flavor has changed from the hero of scaring away animals to the hero of bitter gourd being eaten, which is really funny.
Fourth, chili peppers
In order to dissuade predators, chili peppers have evolved capsaicin that only targets mammals, and birds do not feel spicy and uncomfortable when eating chili peppers. The purpose of making the pepper suitable for eating only by birds is to make it easier for the birds to spread the seeds on their own. But the chili pepper has been calculated and omitted the "mammal" of humans.
When chili peppers were introduced to China as an ornamental plant at the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was estimated that it would be used as an ingredient by the Chinese. After eating chili peppers by mistake, our foodie seniors felt "hot in their mouths after eating, so strange and exciting." Since then, "spicy dishes" around chili peppers have been born.
If you want to eat spicy, the spicy of Sichuan and Chongqing, the spicy of Guizhou, the spicy of Hubei, the spicy of Hunan, the sour and hot of Yunnan and Guizhou, all kinds of spicy food, Chinese cooking gives full play to the deliciousness of chili peppers and is loved by people all over the country. Not only can it be eaten fresh, but also related chili products such as chili paste, dried chili peppers, chili oil, etc., also retain the spicy taste of chili peppers.
At present, there should be no need to worry about the spread of its own seeds, after all, it is an important vegetable variety, and it is now cultivated in any region, which is beyond the reach of birds combined......
V. Xiangqi
Legend has it that there is a dish that people who like it like it very much, and those who dislike it can't smell it at all, and this is coriander.
Those who can't smell it at all are actually because they have the OR6A2 gene in their bodies, which causes them to smell coriander like bed bugs, and coriander is used to dissuade humans from eating coriander.
But there is another group of people who don't have the OR6A2 gene in their bodies, and they will appear: "This is coriander, it tastes very good." "Some people like to sprinkle some chopped coriander in their daily meals, but that's just a general preference, and only use cilantro as a condiment.
And those who love coriander to the ultimate level, eat hot pot to shabu coriander, eat noodles to put coriander, eat stir-fried vegetables to use coriander, and even some businesses have developed products about coriander: coriander instant noodles and coriander juice drinks.
Coriander, which evolved to prevent human consumption, may not understand why there are still people who love themselves so much......
Sixth, see the hand green
Another mushroom that evolved a biotoxin to avoid eating may also have something to say. It hoped to use toxins to intimidate other creatures and hallucinations to scare away predators, a trick that did work in nature, but it did encounter Yunnan people.
It is a common fungus in Yunnan, and it is marketed in large quantities after May in the rainy season every year. Yunnan people buy it home, whether it is stir-fried or stewed, the delicious taste makes people want to eat it.
Tourists from other places have heard its name for a long time, and some people deliberately go to Yunnan to eat mushroom hot pot. The waiters in the mushroom shop were afraid that when the mushrooms were not yet ripe, some people couldn't wait to clip a chopstick first, so they didn't even dare to put the chopsticks on the table. The unripe hand green contains toxins, and when the time comes, after eating it, you will be poisoned, and you may see the colorful villain dancing in front of you.
The poisonous mushroom can only poison people when it is not ripe, and I don't know what kind of mood it should be. But in order to eat, we still have to say, "Go back to the pot, this time it will definitely be cooked." ”
7. Peppermint
"Please give me high-energy menthol to ward off predators." This is the evolution of mint before it met Chinese foodies, and it uses its special fragrance to drive away many animals, but this special smell also attracts pickers.
The use of peppermint in medicine has been recorded in many pharmaceutical works, and it is one of the commonly used traditional Chinese medicines in mainland China. Later, we found that peppermint not only has medicinal value, but also edible value, it can be used as a seasoning, as a spice, and can also be used to mix wine, make tea, and so on.
This discovery is amazing, and mint has since worn many hats, from a simple medicinal herb to mint porridge, mint cake, mint herbal tea and so on. These foods are refreshing to eat because of the addition of mint. Many beverage shops use mint to enhance the flavor when mixing drinks and teas.
- Lao Jing said -
There are many more about this type of plant, such as folded ear root, durian, chestnut...... And the animals have pufferfish. I even saw that in some places, even the stones had to be fried, which tasted bad. They have worked hard not to be eaten, and we have worked even harder to eat. #今日餐桌美食分享#
I am a foraging agent in the market, and I have been fighting with the world for many years, and I am still glorious and full of interest! I like to focus on eating, drinking, and having fun in the market, updating recipes and food anecdotes every day, follow me, and share the world with you.