Once used as pig feed, it has an extremely high calcium content; now it has become the number one vegetable of June

Friendly reminder

Hemu Report aims to share and popularize information about various plants and their uses, for reference only. If medicinal use is needed, it is recommended to consult a professional physician to avoid problems!

Friends living in rural areas mostly have their own vegetable gardens, and they also plant quite a few seasonal vegetables to eat in the garden. After all, growing vegetables in the countryside is quite convenient, and eating them is reassuring too. The author's home has a vegetable garden and also grows quite a few vegetables, such as green peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, chives, and so on. Basically, they can rotate what they eat every day, and a month is not enough to finish them all. Last month, Mom planted a rare "vegetable" in the vegetable garden, which made the neighbors come over every few days to pick some to eat.

Speaking of this rare "vegetable", many friends who have lived in the countryside should have seen it. It is "hancai" (Rorippa indica, commonly known as Indian field cress).

Hancai, also called hancai greens, is a relatively common wild grass in the countryside. It can be said to be found in rural areas of almost every province and city in our country. However, in the past, hancai was not well regarded by farmer friends, and quite a few farmer friends even disliked it, because hancai likes to grow near moist farmland and paddy fields, and hancai has particularly strong adaptability and vitality, and will also compete for the nutrients of crops. Therefore, in the past, many farmer friends treated it as a harmful weed, and often after pulling it up, they took it to feed pigs as pig feed.

But now, as the value of hancai has been discovered, people like it more and more. Quite a few farmer friends will also dig some hancai from the wild in spring or early summer to eat, and quite a few farmer friends, such as the author's family, will plant some hancai in their own vegetable gardens.

So what values does hancai have? One is its medicinal value. According to "Chinese Materia Medica", the whole plant of hancai can be used as medicine. Hancai contains a substance called roripamine, which gives it effects such as clearing heat and promoting diuresis, activating blood and promoting menstruation, relieving cough and reducing phlegm, strengthening the stomach and regulating qi, and detoxifying. It can be used to treat conditions such as cough with phlegm and asthma, cold with fever, incomplete eruption of measles, rheumatic arthralgia, sore and swollen throat, boils and carbuncles, lacquer dermatitis, amenorrhea, traumatic injuries, jaundice, and edema.

Compared with the medicinal value of hancai, its edible value makes farmer friends like it even more. The tender stems and leaves of hancai can be eaten as a wild vegetable, and its nutritional value is also quite rich. According to data, every 100 grams of tender stems and leaves of hancai contains 4.15 mg of carotene, 0.6 mg of vitamin B2, 9.8 mg of vitamin C, 30 mg of potassium, 28.9 mg of calcium, 4.63 mg of phosphorus, 180 mg of calcium, and other nutrients. In particular, its calcium content is extremely high, ranking at the top among vegetables, and it has very high edible value.

Precisely because of this, hancai is increasingly loved by farmer friends, and even quite a few friends in the city also like it. Regularly eating hancai also has the effect of clearing the lungs and nourishing the stomach and liver. Therefore, there is a folk saying that "June amaranth is as good as eggs, July amaranth is not exchanged for gold", and hancai has thus transformed into the "number one vegetable" of June.

Ever since hancai was planted in the author's vegetable garden, the neighbors have come over every few days to pick some and take it home to eat. Hancai is very good whether stir-fried plainly or stewed in soup, but the most common way to eat it is garlic hancai, which is light and tasty. (The picture shows the garlic hancai the author made at noon.)

Friends, have you eaten hancai? Do you like eating hancai? You are welcome to leave a message and share.

Text/Hemu Report, images/actual photos

If you like Hemu's articles, you are welcome to follow.