Experimental Veg: Wosun

As most of you, dear readers, know, the Camel and the Slow Chopper were united by food since near the beginning. Inspired by Joel Salatin-- the farmer who made “pastured-poultry” famous-- the Camel raised a flock of chickens back in summer of ‘07. At the same time, the Slow Chopper was raising tomatoes on her porch by the Hudson River. Even after moving to China, we’ve maintained an herb garden on the sun-porch and attempted growing a few vegetables.

Wosun stalks (center) for sale at the Tuanjiehu Vegetable Market (Beijing, China)

Despite the pleasure of basil topped salads and unlimited source material for bouquet garni, gardening on the 15^th floor does not supplant the excitement and surprises of a trip to the farmer’s market. Each weekend, we fetch our bikes from the basement garage, and pedal down tree-shaded bike lanes to the closest neighborhood center, Tuanjiehu. As we bike in, we pass under the metal gate stating, “Welcome to Tuanjiehu” and “Model Community Culture Award - 1992”. Along the way, we pass numerous small shops, for clothes, snacks, real-estate, lawyers, and even a Xinjiang specialty products store. The sidewalks are clean and the gardens are well kept. At the first four-way intersection, there is a full-service commercial center— a supermarket, the wet market, a post office, some banks, and a bookstore. It’s all kept up rather nicely. As we pull off the main street and up to the market, we lock-up the bikes near the bakery and make our way in.

The quantity of produce and number of stalls are quite overwhelming. About 150 feet long, the market has two entrances, one on either end. Both doors are marked by the scent of fried snack foods and the wafts of freshly pressed soy milk. On the left are 20 stalls of vegetable sellers—mounds of green with patches of color. On the right are 6 or so fruit stalls, twice the length of the vegetable ones, bathed floor too ceiling in the warm citrus hues of yellow, orange, and red. Each stall has a decent selection, no stall having everything. We have our favorite stops along the route, sometimes because they are friendlier, giving us discounts for loyalty, or because they recognize us and our adventuresome streak, pointing out the arrival of new exotics. In addition, there are grain sellers, butchers, prepared foods, a tailor, and a complaints booth—to keep ‘em honest.

Each veggie seller has a wide selection of produce. We’ve seen all types of beans. Long and short. Wide and thin. Plump and taught. Leafy greens are of particular abundance, no less than 5-7 varieties for sale amongst each purveyor’s spread. Over the summer, tomatoes and cucumbers have formed small mountains, bookending the produce and delineating boundaries between each stall. To the disappointment of the likes of Barbara Kingsolver, there are Japanese asparagus available year-round, only 3RMB per bundle. Just like the Peruvian in America, the Japanese asparagus comes bound in a purple rubber band, indicating country of origin.

The fruit choices, even more flashy than the veg, are always changing with the seasons. Right now, peaches are plentiful. The domestic peaches, all 5 varieties, are currently only 10rmb per 3 jin which is roughly 1.25 USD per 3.1 pounds (a jin 斤 is commonly known in the English as a catty; one catty is just over one pound and equivalent to 500g). Mangosteens just hit the market at 15RMB per catty and dates are going for 12RMB at the same quantity. The first tangerines, although green, hit shelves this past week going for just over 1RMB per catty as a promotional item in nearby supermarkets. Out of season and import fruits are available. Pining for a Washington apple refrigerated for 10 months? Want a Sunkist label on your orange? Bananas from the Philippines? There are always imported fruits available at 5 times the cost of domestic, seasonal varieties.

Despite our familiarity with “Chinese” vegetables such as water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and bean sprouts, the farmer’s market vendors continue to surprise us. Back in the spring, we came across a “wild vegetable” called Horse Tooth 马齿菜, that went nicely in a variety of salads. A more recent discovery was the jiaobai, the root and stem of wild rice, endemic to Northern China. It makes for a nice addition to stir fries. Needless to say, these Saturday morning market runs have become somewhat of a ritual. The new fruits and vegetables are the addictive element that keep us coming back.

The most recent highlight was not so much a discovery, but rather our first attempt with an unfamiliar vegetable: wosun. Wosun (Chinese: 莴笋; pinyin: wōsŭn) goes by celtuce in English speaking countries, but is often called stem lettuce, celery lettuce or asparagus lettuce. Lettuce, conjures up images of salad and moist, wavy leaves; yet, wosun is prized for its thick, crunchy stem. About the length of one’s forearm and thicker than a carrot, wosun is easily distinguished from any of its cousins. Once stripped of its tough outer layer and its leaves, the stem can be processed into discs or strips, making a tasty salad or used as a base in stir-fries. Below are instructions on how to make a simple side dish, best served cold.

Simple Mustard-Sesame Wosun Salad

Wosun

Dried goji (gouqi) berries (8-16, for garnish)

Dijon mustard

Sesame oil

1. Remove the wosun’s tough skin, cut into thin 1-inch strips.Take some salt and cover the strips, letting them sit for 30 minutes (to remove excess water). Thoroughly rinse the salt and brine off the wosun and set aside.
   
2. Boil water, blanch the goji berries to rehydrate, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove and rinse in cold water to prevent over-cooking the berries.
3. Mix sesame oil and mustard together (3:1, adjust proportion and sauce amount to taste, like one would with a salad dressing). Mix with the rinsed wosun in a bowl and top with the goji berries.

Please? Pretty please? With a goji berry on top?

Meditations on experimentation:

Experiment with various mustard types, even wasabi. Also, consider topping with more flavorful garnishes such as cilantro or fry some black peppers or prickly ash in oil (huajia, majiao) to replace the sesame oil. Another option would be to add a small amount of white vinegar or a fruit based vinegar to the mustard and oil mixture (apple, wine, etc), thus making a vinaigrette.

Written by The Camel