How to Eat Wild Vegetables
There are many ways to eat wild vegetables. Most wild vegetables, after being washed, should be blanched in hot water. They can then be mixed, stir-fried, or steamed and eaten like regular vegetables. Wild vegetables can also be used in noodles. A bowl of fragrant toon zha jiang mian (toon bean paste noodles), though a vegetarian dish, is full of flavor. Alternatively, finely chopped wild vegetables can be used as a filling in wontons and dumplings. When you take a bite, a strong, fresh aroma fills your nose, an indescribably wonderful taste. When you have a dry mouth or feel 'heatiness' in your body, you can simmer a pot of wild vegetable porridge on low heat. The rich vegetable broth coats the sticky rice paste, creating a light yet lingering flavor. It also increases your intake of vitamins and fiber, and has the effects of nourishing yin and tonifying the kidneys, as well as regulating the digestive system.
According to records, during years of famine when food was scarce, people once created a "Eight Great Wild Vegetable Dishes" in the style of the "Eight Great Bowls" of folk cuisine. This included: oil-fried chicken-of-the-woods mushrooms, vinegar-soaked Houttuynia cordata, stir-fried banana flowers, clear mint soup, sweet buckwheat greens with dipping sauce, deep-fried toon shoots, stir-fried fiddlehead ferns with broad beans, and wood ear mushroom stew with pig's blood. In those times, gathering all the ingredients for such a vegetarian feast must have required immense thought. Today, eating wild vegetables has become a fashionable enjoyment. These plants from the mountains and wilds have not only entered the tables of ordinary people but have also been elevated to fine dining. In the hands of many renowned chefs, they have been completely transformed into exquisite dishes, truly deserving the name "wild mountain delicacies." As early as 2002, Qingdao Television even aired a program featuring two chefs in a competition using wild vegetables. Furthermore, "White Oil Fish Mint Grass" (Houttuynia cordata) is a traditional famous dish from Guizhou.
Which Wild Vegetables Are Inedible
When engaging in activities like traveling or exploring in the wild, many people find their appetite wanes after a few days of eating convenience food, leading them to use the abundant wild vegetables to cook delicious meals. In emergency situations, such as when food supplies run out, wild vegetables become a primary source of sustenance. However, many poisonous wild vegetables are often mixed among the edible ones, posing a great danger to foragers. Below, we introduce some of the more poisonous and widely distributed wild vegetables to help you identify them when foraging.
Wolf's Bane (Duan Chang Cao): Also known as "Gelsemium elegans." It grows 0.5 to 1 foot tall, with a light yellow root that has a sweet taste. Its leaves are linear, and its flowers are yellow, white, or sometimes purplish-red. The entire plant is toxic, with the root being the most poisonous. Ingestion causes vomiting, heartburn, and persistent abdominal pain; severe cases can be fatal.
Wild Carrot (Lao Gong Yin): Also known as "Cnidium monnieri" or wild carrot. The root is gray in its seedling stage and turns light yellow as it matures, resembling a carrot. The leaf stalks are yellow. The seedlings and stems of Wild Carrot turn red and are odorless, whereas the true Wild Carrot has a very strong smell, and both its leaves and roots are highly toxic. Ingestion can be fatal.
Xanthium (Cang Er Zi): Also known as "Cocklebur." It grows in fields, roadsides, and low-lying areas. Small seedlings appear in March and April, resembling soybean sprouts in shaded areas and sunflower sprouts in sunny ones. When mature, it grows large, with heart-shaped leaves that have sawtooth edges, and produces hard, spiky seeds in the fall. The entire plant is toxic, with the young buds and seeds being the most poisonous. Ingestion can be fatal.
False Sow Thistle (Qu Cai Niang Zi): Its root survives the winter, and it sprouts in spring. Its leaves are narrow, thick, and hard with sawtooth edges; most leaves grow close to the ground. It sends up a stalk 0.5 to over 1 foot tall in autumn. Its seeds are very small and have white hairs on them. Its seedlings can be confused with those of true sow thistle, but true sow thistle has wider, softer leaves with less distinct sawtooth edges. Eating False Sow Thistle causes facial swelling.
Poison Hemlock (Du Qin): Also known as wild celery, Anemone chinensis, or "ginseng." It grows in damp places. Its leaves resemble celery leaves, and it produces umbrella-like flowers in summer. The entire plant has a foul odor. Every part is toxic, with the flowers being the most poisonous. Ingestion causes nausea, vomiting, cold extremities, and paralysis; severe cases can be fatal.
Wild Rehmannia (Ye Sheng Di): Also known as "pig's mother" or "old man's drink." It produces purple-red flowers in spring, some with yellow hues, shaped like唇形的芝麻花 (lip-shaped sesame flowers). Its root is yellow, its leaves are hairy, and it has a bitter taste. Ingestion causes vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, and unconsciousness.
Poisonous Mushrooms: There are many types, common ones include 1) Death Cap (also known as Amanita phalloides, green-gilled mushroom), 2) Deadly Galerina, 3) Destroying Angel, 4) Deadly Parasol, 5) Green-gilled Lepiota, 6) Deadly Webcap, 7) Faded Parasol, and 8) Phallus impudicus (stinkhorn). They grow on decaying matter, often in shapes like small pens or umbrellas. They are brightly colored, including white, red, and yellow. All eight types listed above are highly toxic.
It is worth noting that there is no necessary connection between a mushroom's color, shape, ecological characteristics, and its toxicity.
There are many folk methods for distinguishing poisonous from edible mushrooms, but experts have found not a single one to be completely reliable. Therefore, outdoor enthusiasts should be extremely cautious when foraging for mushrooms. If there is any doubt about whether a mushroom is toxic, you must坚决不采，不食 (resolutely not pick or eat it) to prevent accidents.
Additionally, plants like Datura (mountain eggplant), Buttercup (monkey garlic), Arisaema (snake corn), Red Chenopodium (falling黎), Ox Tongue Plant, and Lycoris radiata (wild garlic) are also toxic and inedible.
Precautions for Preparing Wild Vegetables:
1. Wild vegetables that require soaking: Some wild vegetables, like yam leaves and wild garlic, contain mild toxins. Without soaking, they can cause discomfort after consumption. These wild vegetables must be soaked in clean water for at least two hours before cooking to detoxify them;
2. Wild vegetables from trees are not suitable for stir-frying: There are not many types of wild vegetables that grow on trees, such as刺嫩芽 (young shoots of the angelica tree) and榆树钱 (elm tree seeds). These are better suited for steaming or making into pastes. If stir-fried, they become sticky and astringent, making them difficult to swallow;
3. For wild vegetables like purslane, coating them with starch beaten with an egg before deep-frying them into salt and pepper purslane creates a better flavor;
4.东风菜 (Feng Dong Cai, or Kalimeris indica) pairs well with meat dishes. Stir-fried pork shreds with Feng Dong Cai or shrimp fried with Feng Dong Cai are both excellent choices.