Beijing table new and old flavor vegetables to restore the cultivation of three eggplant varieties and "persimmon wax gourd"

June 22, 2017-in A Dream of Red Mansions, Grandma Liu ate the ingredient "eggplant", seven-leaf eggplant, old Beijing's favorite persimmon wax gourd. The reporter learned from the Agricultural Technology extension Station of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture that Beijing has added "new" to the camp of old-flavored vegetables, mainly six-leaf eggplant, seven-leaf eggplant, nine-leaf eggplant, and persimmon wax gourd.

Six-leaf eggplant data map

The vegetable greenhouse at the Beijing Garden Agricultural Development Center in Beijing can be said to be a gathering place for old-flavoured vegetables. The top of the fruit-laden "Apple Green Tomato" has turned pink, the pedicel looks like a green apple, and sandy meat can be seen when broken. If you go on, you can see the "Beijing autumn melon" in greenhouse 1 and the "Beijing cantaloupe" in greenhouse 2. Greenhouse 6, 7, and 8 are respectively planted with new varieties of "six-leaf eggplant,"seven-leaf eggplant," and "nine-leaf eggplant."

"the seven-leaf eggplant grows on the seventh leaf of eggplant. Its meat is delicate, and it is the best ingredient for old Beijing famous dishes such as' roasted eggplant 'and' boiled eggplant'. In A Dream of Red Mansions, the eggplant granny Liu ate when she entered the Daguan Garden was cooked with seven-leaf eggplant from Fengtai vegetable camp." Cao Hua, a vegetable expert at the Beijing Agricultural Technology extension Station, told the reporter that among the three eggplant varieties, six-leaf eggplant is the most early-maturing, afraid of heat, not afraid of cold; nine-leaf eggplant ripens late, afraid of cold and not afraid of hot; and seven-leaf eggplant is not afraid of neither cold nor heat, and its quality is the best. At present, these three kinds of eggplant are planted in vegetable bases such as Beijing Garden, Crab Island and rural buildings in Changping District. Planting and picking are all in accordance with the season, and citizens have eggplant for nine months of the year.

The reporter learned that in addition to three eggplant varieties, there are also the "persimmon wax gourd" that is deeply loved in old Beijing, and the total area of the four varieties is more than 50 mu. Cao Hua told reporters that the "persimmon wax gourd" is named because of its flat, round-shaped persimmon, with a strong taste and high mineral and vitamin content. The quality of persimmon wax gourd is the best from May to July and September to October every year, and the yield per mu can be as high as 2500 kg. At present, it is planted in the township residential building in Changping District and the special food base along the river in Shunyi. Old Beijingers like to use this kind of wax gourd to make "mutton boiled wax gourd", and the delicious food "stuffed wax gourd" is also very distinctive.

According to the person in charge of the Beijing Agricultural Technology Promotion Station, it has been eight years since the old-flavor vegetable varieties were excavated and restored in Beijing. In 2009, the beautiful radish in the heart of flowers and leaves, which has been cultivated in Beijing for more than a century, was restored. Since then, from 2010 to 2011, "large walnut cabbage" and "small walnut cabbage" have been restored. From 2012 to 2015, varieties such as "Beijing cantaloupe", "apple green tomato", "Beijing autumn melon", "whiplash red carrot" and "five-color leek" were also restored one after another. By the end of this year, with the addition of these four old-flavored vegetables, the city has resumed the cultivation of more than 1,000 mu of "old-flavored" vegetables.

Source: Beijing Evening News reporter Sun Wenwen correspondent Ke Nanyan