Wild vegetables gain popularity in the market: three tips to tell greenhouse wild vegetables apart

As spring arrives, wild vegetables are starting to enjoy great popularity. Some people buy them at the market, others dig them up in the hills, and the wild vegetables served in restaurants and farmhouse eateries have also become a must-order "designated dish." However, many of the wild vegetables on the market are not really "wild" at all. Experts say that compared with greenhouse wild vegetables, wild vegetables grown in the mountains actually differ little in nutritional value.

In restaurants, wild vegetables become hot favorites

Spring has come, and eating wild vegetables has become people's "top priority." Yesterday, a restaurant launched a wild vegetable series at its Nanfang Huayuan branch, including spring sprouts stir-fried with goose eggs and large-leaf wild cilantro stir-fried with beef.

The restaurant's chairman said these wild vegetable dishes are priced at 10-20 yuan per portion and are very popular, with at least 3-4 wild vegetable dishes on average per table.

A time-honored restaurant in Jiefangbei also launched a wild vegetable series. "We have developed nearly 10 new wild vegetable dishes, priced about the same as other dishes, and they are very popular," the restaurant manager said. The restaurant's wild vegetables include more than ten kinds, such as wild celery, spring sprouts, wild scallions and wild cilantro.

In the market, wild vegetables are as expensive as oil

Yesterday afternoon, at some vegetable markets in Nanping and Jiangbei, we saw freshly listed wild vegetables including wild scallions, wild celery and wild Chinese toon...

Because they carry the word "wild," the prices are high, and some wild vegetables even cost more than pork.

At a vegetable stall in the Nanping farmers' market, a small basin of Chinese toon tied into small bundles was placed in the very middle of various vegetables. The vendor said it was about 56 yuan per kilogram.

A woman who had just bought a small handful of wild scallions from a vendor's stall said: "Such a small handful, one yuan, taken home to stir-fry with meat, adds some fragrance, and the child likes to eat it." There were fewer than 10 stalks, about one jiao each.

Experts say most wild vegetables are not wild

The vendors selling these wild vegetables all claimed that their wild vegetables were picked from fields and hills.

Wild vegetables are all the rage, but are all the wild vegetables sold on the market really wild? Zhang Yimo, director of the resource office of the municipal academy of agricultural sciences, said that in fact most wild vegetables can be cultivated artificially, such as shepherd's purse and houttuynia, and some wild vegetables can be eaten all year round and have long since become ordinary greenhouse vegetables.

An industry insider revealed that it is impossible for wild vegetables to be gathered entirely by hand in the hills and fields. With market demand so large, how could there be so many wild vegetables? If they were truly mountain wild vegetables, the price would certainly be even higher. Nowadays, many wild vegetable seeds can be bought on the market, and you can even grow "wild vegetables" yourself on your balcony at home.

Interpretation > Wild vegetables and greenhouse vegetables have similar nutrition

Many people think that eating wild vegetables is because they grow naturally, without chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and are therefore green and healthy, and more nutritious and healthy to eat. Is that really so? Zhang Yimo gave a professional interpretation.

Zhang Yimo said that wild vegetables growing in the mountains and wild vegetables growing in greenhouses actually differ little in true nutritional value. Greenhouse wild vegetables may even taste somewhat better than mountain wild vegetables.

He said that because rainwater is better controlled inside greenhouses, plus proper fertilization, the soil nutrients are comprehensive, and greenhouse wild vegetables look fresh and tender, taste crisper and more tender, and are easier to eat. Mountain wild vegetables may grow for a longer time and have a stronger flavor, but when eaten, the fiber may be coarser, and some people may not be used to them at first.

"Many people regard isatis root, Andrographis paniculata, bupleurum and ginseng vegetable as wild vegetables; we call them specialty vegetables," said Wang Xiaolin, head of the Jiangjin Wutan Tiangangxing characteristic agricultural vegetable base. He said that because many wild vegetables grow in mountain forests, they may carry some bacteria and viruses, and the nutrients in the soil are not comprehensive; some soil even has excessive heavy metals, so eating wild vegetables is not necessarily safe. Although this kind of specialty greenhouse vegetable is artificially cultivated, the soil nutrients are well controlled, the heavy metal content of the soil is also regularly monitored, and the application ratios of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are strictly controlled. The greenhouse "wild vegetables" grown this way are more balanced in nutrition, richer in variety, and safer to eat.

Identification > Three tips to tell greenhouse "wild vegetables" apart

As for mountain wild vegetables, experts warn the public that they must not pick wild vegetables near industrial sites, because the wild vegetables may be contaminated by sewage and waste.

Experts from the municipal academy of agricultural sciences said that greenhouse wild vegetables and mountain wild vegetables can be distinguished by three tips.

First, from the appearance, greenhouse wild vegetables look better and are relatively clean and neat compared with mountain wild vegetables; dug mountain wild vegetables are uneven in size, and their leaves are not as thick and plump as cultivated ones.

Second, from the taste, true mountain wild vegetables have a stronger flavor and a coarser texture.

Third, from the supply, true mountain wild vegetables are unlikely to be supplied in large quantities.