Uncommon vegetables from Kunming

spring wild edibles in the 篆新 farmers market

On Monday I spent a few hours in Kunming’s largest farmers market (篆新农贸市场), trying to avoid a sunshower. I still got rained on but ended up taking a ton of photos. The light was perfect and everyone was crazy about flowers. Not the kind of flowers you’d think. Flowers in Kunming are sold by the half-kilogram, consumed by the bagful, and stir-fried like vegetables. They aren’t there for garnish or aesthetic, they are the main event.

The immediacy of seasonal produce in Yunnan is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. The patchwork of produce seems to change with the shifting of the clouds. If there are seasonal wild vegetables in the markets, you buy them, and you eat as much as you can because they’ll probably be gone by next week. In the last two weeks, freshly plucked “golden sparrow flowers” (金雀花) and ephemeral toon leaves (香椿) have been worth their weight in gold: one grows in rarefied mountain air, the second in the warmth, and toon also requires a tall ladder to reach its tender tips, a harvesting process that can break your neck and will undoubtedly leave the tree looking ugly and bare for the rest of the year. All this for a small cache of fragrant leaves that lasts 2 to 3 days at most, but the flavor is worth it. Eat with abandon. Miss out on this harvesting window and you’ll have to wait until next year.

I could go on and on about the diversity and freshness of the produce in Yunnan—it’s a veritable cook’s paradise— but I’ll let these photos speak for themselves. Also, let me know if you’ve eaten any of these in the comments, I’m curious.

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(Bottom) 水性杨花, Ottelia acuminata, the sinuous stems from a freshwater plant, also called 海菜 or “sea vegetable” since they’re harvested from Erhai, a lake near Dali. (Middle) Golden sparrow flowers and white jasmine buds. (Top) Orange clusters of golden ear (金耳) tremella aurantialba, brain-shaped, gelatinous edible fungus with a chewy stickiness like a pork trotter and powerful medicinal function.

金雀花 or jinquehua, poetically named “golden sparrow flowers” — unopened yellow buds of the common broom or Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius). They’re delicate, slightly crunchy and mild in taste with a slight sweetness like peas or chives, most often fried with egg (below).

Jinquehua 金雀花 scrambled with chiles and eggs. On the right: yuhehua 玉荷花 (jade lotus flowers), more details below.

茉莉花: Unopened jasmine buds (Jasminum sambac) are enjoyed three ways in Yunnan when fresh: steeped in hot water for tea, cooked in cold-tossed salads (blanched, then dressed with vinegar, soy sauce, chilies) or stir-fried with suancai, fermented vegetables. They’re also dried and used to flavor green tea leaves (for jasmine green tea).

The young shoots plucked off the tops of Chinese angelica trees (Aralia elata) are called 刺脑包, 树头菜, 刺老芽 (“thorny brain bag,” “tree top vegetable," “spiky old shoot”). To remove the bitterness you blanch them, slice into pieces and then stir-fry or pan-fry them with something fatty. Angelica shoots are also enjoyed as a spring delicacy in Korea and Japan, where they are pickled or deep-fried with a tempura batter.

Image: 砍酱哥

蕨菜, purple fiddle-head ferns. In Yunnan people call them king of the wild mountain vegetables (山菜之王), and enjoy them cold-tossed, pickled, or fermented.

香椿, Chinese toon (Toona sinesis), native to southern China and coastal provinces like Shandong. They don’t have much flavor when raw, but blanching dilutes their nitrates and activates their onion-garlicky flavor. The leaves and stems grow in clusters and must be harvested when purple/red and tender. Heavenly stir-fried with eggs or tofu, or used as an aromatic for cold-tossed dishes. You can also finely chop the leaves and preserve in oil as “toon sauce” 香椿酱。

棠梨花, the flower buds from the wild Himalayan pear tree (pyrus pashia). Delicious stir-fried, but must be blanched with salted water to remove bitterness before eating. Most commonly cooked with douchi (fermented black beans), chiles, chives and pork belly - they have a distinctive, woodsy fragrance.

The same wild Himalayan pear buds soaked in salted water. On the right: (top) 核桃花 (juglan regia), the stems of drooping walnut flowers, (bottom) 攀枝花 panzhihua, (can’t find the English or Latin for this ! )

Finally, something slightly more recognizable. Yunnan is famous for its wild roses - they’re harvested from the mountains (most famously in the prefecture of Wenshan), picked by hand and sun-dried. Many towns produce their own rose-filled pastries and sweets.

鲜花饼, flaky pastries made with fresh rose jam.

More wild roses, dried and sold for tea.

臭菜 “stinky vegetable,” senegalia pennata or climbing wattle, a fern native to south and southeast Asia and also enjoyed in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Thailand. In Yunnan people either chop it up and stir-fry with eggs in a scramble/omelette, or cook it in soups.

折耳根 “broken ear root” or 魚腥草, "fish-smelling grass," Houttuynia cordata, also known as fish mint or chameleon plant. Eaten as a fresh herbal garnish and most frequently combined with fresh cilantro, chiles, vinegar and soy sauce in Guizhou and Yunnan. More on this to come.

Tender Sichuan peppercorn leaves and tips! 花椒尖.

马桑花, masuri berry flowers, Coriaria nepalensis, stir-fried with Chinese chives and lots of chiles and garlic.

Magnolia flowers (玉荷花, Magnolia grandiflora) stir-fried with Chinese chives, garlic, and chiles.

The same magnolia flowers, stir-fried with shelled fava beans, garlic, and tomato.

Fresh fava beans, 蚕豆 (candou).

Spring peas 豌豆, ready for shelling. 8 RMB (1 US dollar) for 1kg/2 pounds.

Indian gooseberry or amla (Phyllanthus emblica), a sour fruit with a bitter astringency— called Yunnan olives 滇橄榄 in Chinese, sold whole or as fresh-pressed "olive juice."

Yunnan province contains one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, home to 51% of all higher plant species in China, despite its 4% landmass size. Among the 15,000 seed plants found in Yunnan, there are 151 rare and endangered plant species (42.6% of China's protected plants), and 900+ types of mushrooms.

Wild matsutake, porcini, and foraged morels. The mushroom season is just starting, and will reach its peak this summer/early fall.