Every March and April is the peak season for wild vegetables. Experts say that eating a moderate amount of wild vegetables has excellent health benefits. However, the health benefits of different wild vegetables vary greatly, so when buying, be sure to choose the variety that is right for you.
Purslane: Also known as Portulaca oleracea or longevity vegetable, its medicinal functions are to clear heat and detoxify, cool the blood to stop bleeding, and can treat diabetes. It can be cooked in many ways: stir-fried after blanching, cold-dressed, or used as a filling.
Dandelion: Also known as Taraxacum mongolicum, its main functions are to clear heat and detoxify, reduce swelling, and promote urination, which is good for the liver. It can be eaten raw after blanching, stir-fried, or used in soups. For example, Dandelion with Jellyfish Salad, Stir-fried Dandelion with Shredded Pork; 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, reduce swelling.
Sow Thistle: It can clear heat and dry dampness, reduce swelling and discharge pus, resolve stasis and detoxify, cool the blood to stop bleeding, and can inhibit leukemia. Common ways to eat it include Garlic Mashed Sow Thistle Salad, Sauce-dressed Sow Thistle, and Sow Thistle Stewed with Pork Liver.
Bracken Fern: Also known as Juecai or Dragon's Head vegetable. When the bracken fronds are coiled, it indicates they are fresh and tender; when they are old, the fronds unfurl. Eating bracken can clear heat, lubricate the intestines, lower qi to resolve phlegm, promote urination, and calm the mind. However, dried or salted bracken should be soaked in water before eating to rehydrate it.
Shepherd's Purse: Its main therapeutic effects are to cool the blood and stop bleeding, nourish deficiency and strengthen the spleen, clear heat and promote urination. In spring, pick the tender stems, leaves, or overwintered buds of shepherd's purse. After blanching, they can be eaten cold-dressed, with sauce, in soups, as a filling, or stir-fried. It can also be simmered into a delicious shepherd's purse porridge.
Amaranth stems and leaves: They have the effects of clearing heat and promoting urination, detoxifying, nourishing yin and moistening dryness. In addition to being stir-fried, cold-dressed, or used in soups, amaranth is also often used as a filling. For example, Cold-dressed Amaranth, Amaranth with Chicken Shreds, Amaranth Dumplings, etc.
Watercress: Also known as water celery or river celery. 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 having antibacterial properties.
Spiny shoot Aralia: Also known as Ci Long Ya. The part of the Spiny shoot Aralia that is eaten is mainly its tender buds, which can have the effects of replenishing qi, activating blood, dispelling wind, promoting urination, relieving pain, and nourishing the kidney and essence.