What season do willow sprouts usually grow in
In many places, people pick willow sprouts to eat in early spring, and there are many ways to prepare them: you can blanch them and serve them cold, pan-fry them into pancakes, steam them in buns, wrap them in dumplings, scramble them with eggs, make shredded willow-leaf fish, brew them as tea, and so on. So what season are willow sprouts in?
1. What season are willow sprouts in?
Willow sprouts should be picked when the willow tree has not yet bloomed, usually in February and March. After picking, first blanch the willow sprouts in boiling water, then soak out the bitterness in cold water, add salt, drizzle with sesame oil and fragrant vinegar, or mix with mashed garlic, ginger juice and yellow bean paste, and they are ready. They can also be mixed with cornmeal and pressed into flat cakes; the willow sprouts can also be mixed into rice or steamed with dough and eaten. Some people also dry the willow sprouts and fry them in soybean oil in summer to eat. Willow sprouts can also be brewed as tea. Choose freshly sprouted tender buds, dry them, then brew them together with tea leaves in boiling water. They look delicate and smell fragrant, and taste pleasant to drink.
2. The benefits of willow sprouts
The willow tree is used in medicine through its branches, leaves, bark, root bark, and rootlets. Willow head calms the liver, reduces (disperses) heat, can lift and raise, removes toxins, and brings out rashes, and treats conditions such as measles in children. Willow leaves have the benefits of clearing heat, promoting rash eruption, promoting urination, and removing toxins. Modern medical research has made willow leaves into injection solutions, sugar-coated tablets, or water decoctions for treating upper respiratory tract infections, tracheitis, pneumonia, cystitis, suppurative parotitis, mastitis, pharyngitis, and so on.
Willow sprouts are very delicious, but they are only available in early spring. If you miss them, you have to wait another year, so you must treasure willow sprouts.