Is monkey leg vegetable the same as fiddlehead fern? What is the difference between the two

In modern life, people increasingly enjoy eating plants that were once regarded as wild vegetables, because according to modern nutritional research, most wild vegetables have very strong health-preserving and health-care effects, and for people accustomed to eating rich meat and fish, they are a relatively good conditioning method. There are many kinds of wild vegetables; for example, monkey leg vegetable and fiddlehead fern are very popular kinds. So, is monkey leg vegetable the same as fiddlehead fern?

Monkey leg vegetable and fiddlehead fern are not the same vegetable, but both are ferns.

At first glance, monkey leg vegetable looks quite similar to fiddlehead fern, but in fact there are still differences between them. The scientific name of monkey leg vegetable is Athyrium fern, and it is also called green-stem vegetable, purple vegetable, or monkey leg by local people. This wild vegetable can be seen in Northeast China, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and other regions of China, and the Lesser Khingan Mountains is the region with the largest number of monkey leg vegetables.

Fiddlehead fern is a variety of bracken fern, Pteridium aquilinum, in the family Dennstaedtiaceae and genus Pteridium. It is distributed throughout China, but is mainly produced in the Yangtze River basin and areas to the north, and is also distributed in subtropical regions. It is also widely distributed in other tropical and temperate regions of the world.

The best-tasting part of monkey leg vegetable is the young shoot that has not yet spread out; it looks like a flower bud, curled into a ball. This part is the most tender and sweet. The taste of monkey leg vegetable is slightly bitter, and after blanching in boiling water much of the bitterness is removed. When cooking, stir-frying it with fatty meat is the most delicious. Monkey leg vegetable can absorb a large amount of oil, making it even more fragrant to eat, while the fatty meat tastes rich but not greasy. The whole dish is matched perfectly, very flawlessly.

The edible parts of fiddlehead fern are the unopened young tender leaf buds and the tender upper half of the stems. Its roots contain rich protein, carbohydrates and other trace elements. The cellulose in fiddlehead fern can promote intestinal peristalsis and reduce the absorption of fat by the stomach and intestines.