Thu Hà

Every year, when new wild forest vegetables season comes, my younger sister, who lives in the northern province of Cao Bằng, sends me a package of the wild greens, a dear gift for us because we like it so much.

The wild forest vegetables include sweet leaves or rau ngót rừng, erythropalum scanden or rau bò khai, fiddlehead ferns or rau dớn and golden berry or rau tầm bóp.

These types of vegetable are picked by mountaineers from high in the mountains, said my younger sister Nguyễn Thúy Hiền. “This year, they have earned an even bigger amount of money from these vegetables, due to a good season compared with last year,” she told me.

Wild sweet leaves, locally known as rau ngót rừng, attract not only mountaineers but also city foodies. — Photo dulichnahang.com

There are two versions of the rau ngót rừng, both of which cooks can use, the sweet leaves and its flowers, both very tasty, and both of which can be added into soup.

The sweet leaves are great when cooked with a minced pork soup, adding another layer of flavour. But they also retain their colour, even after being cooked, the vegetable remains green, fragrant and has a sweet tang, with a nutty and cool taste.

Meanwhile the wild flowers are picked from a tree, which is around one and a half metres tall and from thriving foliage. At the end of winter, the old leaves fall and by February, young buds are forming and developing and will be ready to be harvested in March and April. These vegetable and flowers only grow in the wild in the forest, not in cultivated gardens, said Hiền.

It’s really enjoyable to use the wild flowers in a soup with tofu, said Hiền.

Erythropalum scanden or bò khai or dạ hiến, a kind of wild forest vegetable can be cooked into many tasty great dishes such as phở xào (fried noodle). — Photo baove.congly.vn

Erythropalum scanden or bò khai or dạ hiến also has its own special flavour. Fragrant from the forest, the earth and the nature, it is a culinary hit, with not just locals but also foodies. It can be boiled, cooked as phở xào (fried noodles with bò khai, beef, and garlic) and also as a soup, Hiền said.

It is now being sought by not just mountaineers and locals, but hunted by visitors from other regions including Hanoians.

Fiddlehead ferns or rau dớn is a kind of fern species grown along a flume near big rocks. People only pick its young buds when they are about 20cm long.

Fiddlehead fern, locally known as rau dớn, particularly fried rau dớn, is interested by many foodies. — Photo doingoailaocai.vn

These are the young, coiled fronds of the ostrich fern, known for their taste, similar to asparagus. They are a popular springtime delicacy in some regions.

The greens are also used to treat popular ailments such as colds, coughs and sore throats.

The crispy and crunchy vegetable is cooked over medium heat for just a few minutes, to ensure it keep its richness and remains savoury and firm. The boiled ferns dipped in fish sauce and chilli is a traditional popular dish beloved by many eaters.

Locals also often make it into a salad, mixed with bacon or fried with garlic. “The young fiddlehead fern has a truly authentic taste. It has a cool sweet taste, which goes well with the fattiness of pork and gives it a spicy element which makes it hard for eaters to forget," said Hiền.

It should be parboiled before cooking into many other dishes, such as adding it to fried beef and garlic, or eaten on its own dipped into some quality fish sauce or when it is added to salads.

“These dishes have won over a lot of eaters including gourmets,” said Hiền, adding that the vegetable helps to release heat from the body, acts as a mild diuretic and can help ease a cough.

Almost visitors to Cao Bằng agreed that apart from these above-mentioned wild vegetables, eaters like tầm bóp or golden berry so much. — Photo doingoailaocai.vn

Golden berry, locally known as rau tầm bóp, with its bitter flavour, creates its own characteristics. To make it into a tasty great dish, the golden berry should be parboiled for 2-3 minutes to reduce its bitterness, then fried up with garlic and beef.

“While the vegetable’s mix of sweet and bitter is a particular favourite of my parents, my husband and I, my children are not overly keen, because they do not to like the bitterness," said Hiền. "The gold berry is very suitable for hotpot.”

For Cao Bằng residents, eating these wild forest vegetables is something special and each of them has its own flavour. Because they are natural and safe, they are very good for a person's health, said my younger sister Hiền, adding that almost all visitors to this mountainous province agree that these vegetables presented by the natural world, are a real gift. — VNS