This wild vegetable by the roadside is unwanted by anyone, its leaves are as big as a palm, its flowers are pretty, and it is nutritious and can cure coughs

Yesterday was the weekend, and after many consecutive days of overcast and rainy weather in Chengdu, the sun finally came out. The weather was fine, so I could not wait to ride my little "BMW" up the mountain for a stroll. On the roadside on the way back, I saw a winter mallow with quite pretty flowers, and I could not resist picking a handful of tender leaves to take home. To do what? Of course, to go home and cook them. You cannot buy this stuff in the city. Although it looks unremarkable, it tastes really delicious when stir-fried or made into soup.

In our Sichuan region, many people call it winter mallow, and some call it slippery vegetable. Different regions simply have different names. In our rural area, many people pick it to cook, as it is nutritious, clears heat and detoxifies, and can also cure coughs. Generally, if someone in the family has a cough from lung heat, they will go to the roadside to pick a little and boil it in water to drink, and the effect is quite good.

Although it is just a wild vegetable, it is still quite pleasing to look at, with broad leaves, and the flowers it produces are purple. If you like it, you can also dig one up and grow it in a pot at home, so you can pick it whenever you want to eat it. Its vitality is very strong, it is very cold-resistant, and its adaptability to soil is also strong. Just dig up a little garden soil and plant it in a pot and it will grow very well. Most importantly, if you plant it in a pot in winter, you do not need to worry at all about it freezing to death. When there are no flowers at home to look at, treating it as a flower is not bad either.

Enough talk, I have to dig up one plant and take it home to grow. It is both ornamental and edible, and after planting it in a pot, you can pick it every few days. However, if you are cooking it, pinch the tender leaves, as the old leaves will be a bit astringent.

Note this: if you dig one up to grow in a pot at home, it is best to place it in a spot with a bit more light, so it will grow faster.