Top 10 Cancer-Fighting Wild Vegetables: Inexpensive, Delicious, and Highly Effective!

Regularly eating wild vegetables is beneficial to health, and bitter vegetable also has the effect of inhibiting leukemia. The scientific name of bitter vegetable is Quma Cai or Ju Mai Cai. Its stem is yellowish-white; the leaves are round-lanceolate, green on the surface and gray-green on the back; the flowers are bright yellow and ligulate. Dried bitter vegetable is rich in elements such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, iron, manganese, zinc, and copper.

1. Fern

It has a sedative effect. Fern, also known as Er Cai or Long Tou Cai, is relatively common among wild vegetables. When the fern leaves are curled, it indicates that they are fresh and tender; when they get old, the leaves will unfold. Eating fern can play a role in clearing heat, lubricating the intestines, lowering qi and resolving phlegm, promoting urination, and calming the mind. However, it is best to soak dried or salted fern in water before eating to rehydrate it. Common cooking methods include stir-fried pork tenderloin with fern, steamed pork with fern, and cold-dressed fern.

2. Purslane

It can treat diabetes. Purslane, also known as Ma Chi Xian or Chang Shou Cai (Longevity Vegetable). It is generally reddish-brown, with fleshy, long-obovate leaves, named for its resemblance to horse teeth. It contains various nutrients such as protein, fat, thiamine, riboflavin, and ascorbic acid. Because it contains a relatively high amount of acidic substances, it tastes slightly sour when eaten. The medicinal function of purslane is to clear heat and detoxify, cool blood and stop bleeding. Because it is rich in noradrenaline, it can promote pancreatic islets to secrete insulin, regulate the body's sugar metabolism process, lower blood sugar concentration, and maintain stable blood sugar, so it has a certain therapeutic effect on diabetes. In addition, it also contains an unsaturated fatty acid that can inhibit the production of cholesterol and triglycerides, and has a protective effect on the cardiovascular system. It can be eaten in many ways, such as stir-frying after blanching, cold-dressing, or as a filling. For example, purslane scrambled with eggs, steamed purslane buns, or cooking garlic purslane to clear heat and stop dysentery.

3. Platycodon Root

It has anti-ulcer effects. Platycodon root, also known as Ming Ye Cai or He Shang Mao, is what Korean people call Doraji. It can produce small blue flowers at the tip of its branches. What we usually eat is the root of platycodon, which has effects such as expelling phlegm and relieving cough, relieving pain, reducing fever, calming, lowering blood sugar, anti-inflammation, anti-ulcer, anti-tumor, and antibacterial.

4. Dandelion

It is good for the liver. Dandelion, also known as Pu Gong Ying, is a plant many people have seen in the wild. Its pollen contains vitamins and linoleic acid, while its stems and leaves contain choline, amino acids, and trace elements. The main functions of dandelion are to clear heat and detoxify, reduce swelling, and promote urination. It has a broad-spectrum antibacterial effect and can also stimulate the body's immune function to achieve the effects of promoting bile secretion and protecting the liver. It can be eaten raw after blanching, stir-fried, or made into soup, such as jellyfish skin mixed with dandelion, stir-fried shredded pork with dandelion; it can also be mixed with green tea, licorice, honey, etc., to make a cup of dandelion green tea that can clear heat and detoxify and reduce swelling.

5. Bitter Vegetable

It can inhibit leukemia. The scientific name of bitter vegetable is Quma Cai or Ju Mai Cai. Its stem is yellowish-white; the leaves are round-lanceolate, green on the surface and gray-green on the back; the flowers are bright yellow and ligulate. Dried bitter vegetable is rich in elements such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, iron, manganese, zinc, and copper. Bitter vegetable can clear heat and dry dampness, reduce swelling and discharge pus, resolve stasis and detoxify, cool blood and stop bleeding. The ethanol extract of bitter vegetable, concentrated by water decoction, has an inhibitory effect on acute lymphocytic leukemia, acute and chronic granulocytic leukemia. More common ways to eat it include garlic-mixed bitter vegetable, sauce-mixed bitter vegetable, and bitter vegetable stewed with pork liver.

6. Shepherd's Purse

It tonifies deficiency and strengthens the spleen. Shepherd's purse, its flowering period is from April to June, and people can often see small white flowers of shepherd's purse in the fields and on the roadside. Its main therapeutic effects are cooling blood and stopping bleeding, tonifying deficiency and strengthening the spleen, clearing heat and promoting urination. In spring, pick the tender stems and leaves or overwintered buds of shepherd's purse, which can be cold-dressed, dipped in sauce, made into soup, used as a filling, or stir-fried after blanching. It can also be cooked into a delicious shepherd's purse porridge.

7. Amaranth

Eat more amaranth on hot days. The root of amaranth is generally purple or light purple; its stem rarely has branches and has green or light purple stripes; the leaves are ovate. What we usually eat are the tender stems and leaves of amaranth, which have the effects of clearing heat and promoting urination, detoxifying, nourishing yin and moistening dryness. In addition to stir-frying, cold-dressing, and making soup, amaranth is often used as a filling. For example, cold-dressed amaranth, amaranth with shredded chicken, amaranth dumplings, etc.

8. Watercress

It lowers blood pressure. Watercress, also known as Shui Qin or He Qin. Its stem is hollow, the leaves are triangular, and the flowers are white. It mainly grows in humid places, such as riversides and paddy fields. Watercress has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, moistening the lungs, strengthening the spleen and harmonizing the stomach, promoting digestion and guiding stagnation, promoting urination, stopping bleeding, lowering blood pressure, resisting hepatitis, resisting arrhythmia, and antibacterial. Common dishes we eat include stir-fried pork with watercress, watercress and lamb dumplings, and watercress mixed with peanuts.

9. Aralia Elata

It nourishes the kidneys and benefits essence. Aralia elata, also known as Ci Long Ya, mainly grows in shrubs and forest clearings. Unlike other wild vegetables, it is not a herbaceous plant but a woody plant. Its bark is gray and covered with large, hard thorns; the flowers are light yellowish-white; the fruit is a berry, spherical and black. The part of Aralia elata that is eaten is mainly its tender buds, which can play a role in tonifying qi, activating blood, expelling wind, promoting urination, relieving pain, nourishing the kidneys, and benefiting essence.

10. Scallion Root

It prevents arteriosclerosis. Scallion root, also known as Xie Bai or Li Suan. Its stems and leaves look very similar to garlic, and it also has the taste of onion and garlic. Its effects are to activate yang and transform qi, open the chest and dissipate stagnation, promote qi and guide stagnation, treat dysentery, and inhibit the increase of peroxides in the blood of patients with hyperlipidemia, preventing atherosclerosis. The main ways to eat it are scallion root mixed with tofu, or making a scallion root and white fungus porridge.