Fujian Scenery Notes

Sanming is a typical mountain city, and the whole city lies between Wuyishan and Daiyun Mountain. Here, the peaks are towering, the mountains are undulating, the streams are densely covered, and the valleys and basins are scattered, which breeds rich and diverse plants, among which wild vegetables are closely related to local life. We don't often report Sanming, but after a potherb feast, we suddenly found a different "flavor world" in this mountain city in central Fujian. ...

? Sanming potherb flavor guide?

Species: There are more than 500 kinds of wild vegetables in Sanming. At present, there are 150 kinds of wild vegetables being popularized. On this basis, the local potherb restaurant can be guaranteed to supply at least 5 kinds of potherb every day.

Popular local wild vegetables: shepherd's purse, water spinach, cress, Commelina communis, Artemisia annua, Malantou, bracken, broad-leaved leek, garlic with small roots, houttuynia cordata, Toona sinensis, Aralia elata, ginseng and so on.

Cooking method of wild vegetables: The cooking method of wild vegetables is similar to that of home cooking, but for detoxification or better taste, there will be one more processing step, such as blanching, soaking, pickling, dry frying and so on.

Wild vegetables, that is, wild edible plants, are strictly edible plants that rely on nature rather than man-made sources and reproduction. Wild vegetables are rich in flavor, with a strong flavor of herbs and spices. There are not many varieties of wild vegetables that are truly recognized by Sanming locals and integrated into life, but they are enough to make this day of living by the mountain full of dripping Shan Ye breath.

The common wild vegetables in Sanming are wormwood, ragweed, shepherd's purse, bitter herb and bracken. Local people like to eat wild vegetables as much as people in other mountainous areas of China. Take Datian County, where we have been, as an example. Just after Tomb-Sweeping Day, everything recovered, and the wild vegetables were fresh and tender, and you could almost see them on the dining table. Picking fresh tender shoots of bitter herbs, blanching them in water to remove astringency, and adding them to the soup together with the small intestine, the taste is fresh and refreshing, which is the bitter herbs and small intestine soup that can be seen everywhere in snack bars, and is often used to match local snacks. Pteridium aquilinum is the protagonist of the local people's spring dinner table. During the day, they go out to pick a handful of fresh bracken, and then they can add red wine to fry and eat fresh food from Shan Ye that night.

It was also at this time that Qingming Guo came into being. It is made of mouse grass mashed into juice and glutinous rice flour, wrapped in local dried bamboo shoots or bean paste, and tastes like grass when bitten. Shepherd's purse and pork jiaozi are also popular in some places. Local friends can't help swallowing when they mention it-it's a unique taste of spring.

Centella asiatica and absinthe

Most rural houses in Sanming are surrounded by Shan Ye, and are relatively independently wrapped in the arms of mountains. Such a good ecology is a hotbed for the growth of various wild vegetables. Villagers don't need to go far. They can pick common wild vegetables at home, by the river and between the ridges. In addition to eating, some herbs are "natural medicines" for them.

For example, wormwood can cure cold, plantain diuresis, houttuynia cordata to remove fire, sage to lower blood pressure, purslane to lower blood sugar and so on. They are all "rural soil" passed down from generation to generation. The local people have lived on the hillside for generations, and they are close to nature. According to their experience, they eat wild vegetables or medicinal materials, but if they ask further, few people can tell the reason.

The way to defend wild vegetables

Wu is a researcher and popularizer of Sanming local wild vegetable knowledge. In his words, the local people's understanding of wild vegetables is only the tip of the iceberg. Many wild vegetables were considered as weeds in the mountains before they were known. Wu is currently writing a book about Sanming wild vegetables, their medicinal value and edible methods.

Because of the work of the TV station, he met Song Weiwen, a famous local herb expert, many years ago, and then followed Song Weiwen to do field research in Sanming to identify local herbs, and at the same time supplemented his professional knowledge by reading literature and historical materials extensively. Today, he is a recognized teacher in Sanming potherb field.

Since he came into contact with wild vegetables, Wu's keen outdoor trip has also become interesting. He started field survey in advance to find out which place is rich in wild vegetables, so he took his friends there to identify wild vegetables. I know more wild vegetables, and everyone began to discuss how to eat wild vegetables. It happens that camping in the wild also needs to make a fire to cook, and wild vegetables have become the main ingredients.

But eating wild vegetables is not an easy task, and it needs a long and scientific understanding process. Knowing wild vegetables is not just messing around in the wild. It is extremely risky to try grass with your own body. The seedlings of many plants are very similar in morphology, and it is easy to be mistaken if they are not carefully distinguished. For example, Artemisia sphaerocephala and Ranunculus ternatus are very similar. Although some plants are non-toxic, their tastes are quite different, such as Agastaches and Achyranthes bidentata.

root of bidentate achyranthes

In the process of knowing wild vegetables, he is Wu's professional guide. He takes nature in Shan Ye as his class and shares his knowledge of herbal medicine with you in a rigorous and meticulous way. He often warns you not to take risks without accumulating certain professional knowledge. In addition, the first taste of wild vegetables should be moderate. "Usually eat less for the first time, and pay attention to sampling. You can eat a little more the second time, and then eat boldly after you are sure that you can eat safely.

In addition, cooking methods are also very important, one is to remove toxic substances contained in wild vegetables, and the other is to show delicacy through cooking. "Wu said. Wild vegetables are edible plants that have not been domesticated by human beings. They exude exuberant Shan Ye energy and attract these natural people. They disguised themselves as "mountain people" and stepped into the hinterland of the mountains. Knowing herbs and eating wild vegetables is not only a way for them to get along with nature, but also a process for them to outline and visualize "mountains" to the outside world. If it is not a conscious exploration, even if they have lived here for generations, many people will not.

Over time, the original outdoor club has also become a "potherb knowledge and culture exchange group". Among these people who get together to play outdoors, there are many chefs, restaurant owners and food lovers. They love to study the cooking and cooking methods of wild vegetables, and even set up a boiler between heaven and earth to make a fire and hold a "wild vegetable cooking competition".

Since 2009, the "Wild Vegetable Cooking Competition" has been held almost once a year, which has already become a local characteristic activity in Sanming. Participants are mostly outdoor teams who love wild vegetables. They are divided into different outdoor clubs. Every year, they choose a place rich in wild vegetables as a competition venue, pick and make them on the spot, and invite Chinese medicine experts, scholars and gourmets to comment. For more than ten years, the cooking competition has integrated the local grass roots and medicated diet culture into a larger-scale local cultural activity, which has a certain influence in the whole country. A group of outdoor cafes successfully let many foreigners know Sanming through "wild vegetables". Many people have learned about all kinds of wild vegetables and the natural environment of Sanming, which is the birthplace of these herbs.

? Enjoy wild vegetables, and the mountain people have their own tricks.

Under the influence of Wu, many people began to manage wild vegetables, and Shan Bao and his wife were one of them. They used to run a farmhouse restaurant in Daejeon. Because they followed Wu perennial to identify wild vegetables outdoors and studied the practice of learning wild vegetables, the couple accumulated a lot of knowledge about wild vegetables.

"Every time I go back outdoors, the most exciting thing is to know different wild vegetables. We will pick some back and cook them for our friends in different ways. We will judge together, communicate together, and sometimes make particularly amazing dishes. We will add it to the menu in the store. I tried a lot and the dishes were enriched. The original farmhouse restaurant unconsciously became a potherb restaurant. " Huang Xiaohua said that at present, they have developed more than 100 kinds of wild vegetables, and several of them won the championship in the competition. In recent years, many people come to see them from other places and taste fresh food.

We have an appointment with Shanbao to pick wild vegetables in the countryside, and then go to his restaurant to taste wild vegetables. Shanbao made an appointment with his friend Chen Hong, who is also a potherb expert, and drove in the direction of Dashi Village. I thought this trip to find wild vegetables needed to go to wild mountains, but the car stopped at a farm in the country.

Although wild vegetables are wild, they are not isolated. Many wild vegetables can be found in front of the mountain and behind the house. Mountain treasure and friends step on the spot in advance, and you can see a variety of wild vegetables at once in this area. Malan heads spread out one by one on the ridge, Solanum nigrum grows vigorously under the grape trellis, and motherwort with red flower clusters is scattered on the side, in addition to Chinese milk vetch, Rosa laevigata and even the tender leaves of mulberry trees. These plants are not rare, but few people know that they are edible wild vegetables. For example, Solanum nigrum and Shanbao tell us that it is already a home-cooked dish of Guangxi people, but it is still little known in Sanming.

When we were picking Solanum nigrum, the owner of the farm came over and asked the cooking method of Solanum nigrum. The original weeds, at the suggestion of an insider, suddenly turned into nutritious wild vegetables, and the farm owner got a treasure. In a short time, five or six kinds of fresh wild vegetables have been bagged, including Malantou, Solanum nigrum, Chrysanthemum indicum, Achyranthes bidentata and tender mulberry leaves. Shanbao has calculated the food list for the evening.

Figure 1- Figure 4 shows Achyranthes bidentata, Achyranthes bidentata, Solanum nigrum and Artemisia selengensis respectively.

Shanbao's cooking method about wild vegetables is quite pioneering. This has something to do with Sanming's local food culture-this is a new city established after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Although it is located in the mountainous area of central Fujian, there are many migrants living together, and the taste of food is not fixed. Wild vegetables are a gift from Dashan. "Mountain people" love to toss and turn wild vegetables into creative dishes in their hands.

I have seen many people picking tender mulberry leaves in summer and frying them in water as herbal tea. It is also the first time to know that mulberry leaves are also a dish. Shanbao dragged it to a pulp and fried it, which was unexpectedly fragrant and delicious.

The giant knotweed seen in the field looks like a small tree. The stem of the tree was peeled off and turned into hot and sour crispy bamboo shoots under the cooking of Shanbao.

For example, tender mulberry leaves, Shanbao couple's favorite practice is to stir-fry the pulp, called "tempura", with a little foreign flavor. This method completely retains the shape of mulberry leaves, the whole piece is as bright as jade, and the taste is wonderful. It not only retains the fragrance of mulberry leaves, but also makes the crude fiber of mulberry leaves brittle by frying. Rinse soup with fresh Achyranthes bidentata and Solanum nigrum, and highlight the rare sweetness of spring buds in the simplest way.

The picked wild chrysanthemum seems a little old, so it is stewed with preserved eggs to make it soft and rotten, and it melts in the mouth. The rich aroma makes people memorable. Shanbao tells us that the favorite of wild vegetables is the overbearing original fragrance of plants and trees that are completely out of nature. No matter how you cook, the pursuit is to "force" them out of the original flavor and show their delicious taste at the same time.

As potherb lovers, both leaders like Wu and practitioners like Shan Bao are interested in promoting Sanming potherb culture. Shanbao restaurant is well run, but besides potherb lovers, there are some curious tourists, and not many locals come. Shanbao skillfully handed over the work of picking wild vegetables to local farmers and taught them the skills of identifying wild vegetables and some cooking methods. Farmers pick wild vegetables for restaurants and integrate them into their lives over time.

Under the leadership of Wu, there are also some local organic ecological farms and agricultural academies that have carried out wild vegetable seedling raising. They all take "wild vegetables" as a guide to get to know the mountains step by step, trying to nourish the lives of local people with better "mountain flavor".

Author/Zhang

Photography/Wu Yuchen