How to grow and eat chicory seeds? Introduction to European vegetable varieties
The first order on "Vipshop" was 260 boxes of chicory, and a shop was successfully opened on Taobao. Europe's "Vegetable Prince" is now being served on more Chinese citizens' dining tables. This is a scene of "order agriculture" implemented in April this year by Huang Jiazhen, a Wenzhou businessman and executive chairman of the Netherlands-China Chamber of Commerce, after successfully introducing chicory from the Netherlands.
Chicory is also called "golden magnolia," with the scientific name "chicory." It is an ellipsoid-shaped, creamy yellow and purple young shoot grown from the top of chicory roots after hydroponic cultivation. It has been around for 4 centuries and is internationally recognized as an alkaline therapeutic health vegetable. It has become a dietary favorite among people in Europe and America, was announced by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the "World's Top Ten Nutritional Vegetables," and was announced by China's National Health and Family Planning Commission as one of the "101 Medicinal and Edible Vegetables."
Chicory first appeared in China during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when the International Olympic Committee required chicory to be a specially supplied vegetable. At that time, relevant departments specially invited Dutch agricultural expert HENRY to come to Fengning County, Hebei, to trial-plant chicory and supply it exclusively to European and American athletes and officials at the Olympics. After the Olympics ended, the Dutch agricultural expert finished the trial planting and returned to the Netherlands. This matter alarmed many domestic agricultural science experts, and many places chose to trial-plant this highly popular high-end health vegetable, but all failed due to reasons such as climate, soil requirements and technology.
Huang Jiazhen, now 56 years old, is from Guoxi, Ouhai District, Wenzhou City. In the early days of reform and opening up, he started a standard parts factory in his hometown and became one of the few local "millionaires." In November 1991, he moved his whole family abroad to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. He successively founded multiple companies engaged in import and export trade in Argentina, the Netherlands and China, and served as vice president of the Argentine Zhejiang Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce and executive chairman of the Netherlands China General Chamber of Commerce.
A few years ago, Huang Jiazhen, who was already living in the Netherlands, learned by chance that there was still no chicory planting base in China, and conceived the idea of introducing chicory from its place of origin, the Netherlands, to China. He consulted experts from Wageningen University in the Netherlands many times about the technology. Huang Jiazhen's sincerity and perseverance moved the university experts, who recommended that he meet Dutch agricultural scientist Mr. KORSE. After 3 years of difficult negotiations, he finally reached a cooperation consensus with KORSE, and successively chose Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, Liaoning and other places for small-scale trial planting. The result determined that Shenyang, Liaoning, was the best suitable place for chicory, which is cold-resistant, drought-resistant, favors large day-night temperature differences, and likes to grow in ample sunlight.
In April 2014, Huang Jiazhen joined with KORSE of the Dutch MILEKA Agricultural Industrial Company, invested 100 million yuan, and founded a modern agricultural enterprise specializing in planting ecological, organic, active alkaline therapeutic vegetables - Shenyang Baokun Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. In 2016, it began large-scale chicory planting successfully, and by this year it has expanded the planting area to 3000 mu. The company fully implements the "order agriculture" model, forming a soilless cultivation chicory base with cooperation provided by Dutch agricultural scientist KORSE, the full introduction of Dutch high-end agricultural technology, and imported specialized machinery for planting.
According to Huang Jiazhen, the base is located in Guanghui Agricultural Expo Park, Yuhong District, Shenyang City. The chicory planted there is a pollution-free vegetable that has undergone secondary growth. From sowing to harvest, no chemical fertilizers are used and no pesticides are sprayed throughout the process. It is pollution-free and nuisance-free, and is a safe, high-quality, healthy and nutritious food. In 2016, the company used chicory roots for deep processing to brew chicory health wine. At present, it has developed a product series of chicory vegetables and chicory health wine for the market. Among them, the price of chicory vegetables is about 35 yuan/jin, mainly sold to high-end hotels, restaurants and high-end supermarkets in Beijing, Shanghai, Hebei, Shenyang, Chengdu and other places, with an annual output value of 400 million yuan. This year, the company has also introduced black radish, rich in carotenoids, anthocyanins and various nutrients, as well as chickpeas, the "king of beans," rich in plant protein, multiple amino acids and other high nutrients, and new varieties of alkaline therapeutic vegetables such as qamgur, known as the "longevity sacred fruit."
In April this year, Shenyang Baokun Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. successively reached cooperation agreements with the famous flash sale e-commerce platform "Vipshop" website and Taobao, officially opening the chapter of "order agriculture" cooperation.
Recommended recipe: Purple chicory mango salad
Ingredients: 1/2 mango, 1 head of purple chicory (about 100 grams), 10 grams of curly leaf lettuce (or other small-leaf lettuce), 5 grams of baby spinach, olive oil, fruit vinegar.
Directions: 1. Peel the mango and shave it into long thin strips (the thinner they are, the more naturally they will curl). Tear the purple chicory leaf by leaf, wash and drain well. Wash and drain the curly leaf lettuce as well. 2. Place the purple chicory at the bottom of the plate, arrange the fresh curly leaf lettuce on top of the purple chicory, and place the rolled mango rolls on top. 3. Mix olive oil and fruit vinegar evenly into a vinaigrette, pour it over the vegetables, then sprinkle with some nuts according to personal preference.
Warm reminder: Purple chicory shoots can be eaten raw, stir-fried or served as a cold dish, but must never be cooked or stir-fried at high temperatures. The leaf shoots can be peeled and dipped whole in sauce as a fresh and appetizing salad. The outer leaves of the shoots can be stir-fried over high heat.