Flowers are seasonal cuisine in Yunnan
Yunnan University's dining service center incorporates roses into its menu, offering a customized rose feast for students and faculty. [Xinhua/Photo]
While Guangdong natives are busy enjoying the blossoms during spring and summer, Yunnan folks are indulging in edible flowers and can always find unique cooking methods for flower dishes.
Every spring, when the edible roses covering over 30 Chinese acres of Yunnan University's campus are in full bloom, the university's dining service center incorporates these roses into its menu, offering a customized rose feast for students and faculty.
Dishes such as deep-fried rose petals, rose-stuffed tofu, rose-glutinous rice balls, rose-infused yam, steamed meat with rose, rose buns, rose milk jelly, rose sushi, and rose ice jelly are prepared, allowing students and faculty to savor the refreshing flavors of spring. However, this floral feast is only available for one month each year, and the demand far exceeds the supply.
In Yunnan, eating flowers is nothing rare.
With a cultivation area of over 2 million acres, Yunnan is China's largest flower production base, accounting for one-third of the country's total. It produces 20 billion stems of fresh-cut flowers annually, with a market value of 5 billion yuan.
In many places in Yunnan, consuming edible flowers is a common practice. Walking along the streets of Kunming, one can find various flower-favored delicacies.
Crossing-the-bridge rice noodles garnished with fresh flowers, flower cakes, rose candies and so on are listed as regular items on many restaurants' menus.
In local markets, scotch broom and pomegranate flowers have become daily ingredients. The "floral feast" has become a highlight for Kunming locals to entertain their friends and family.
Yang Zhong, a nationally recognized master chef from Kunming's Guandu district, considers Yunnan the renowned "Kingdom of Plants" and "Kingdom of Animals." The natural environment provides abundant and diverse ingredients for Yunnan cuisine. With various mushrooms, insects, and flowers integrated into the local cuisine, the unique "floral feast" of Yunnan is thus created.
Yunnan has over 160 varieties of edible flowers. Each flower-related dish offers a distinct taste. The classic dishes include scrambled eggs with scotch broom, stir-fried pork with banana flowers, taro flowers fried in fermented bean paste, dried meat with cooked coriaria japonica, etc.
In Kunming, Chen Shenghe, recognized as an intangible cultural heritage inheritor of flower cuisine since 2006, has been innovating floral cuisines.
Currently, there are several exquisite restaurants in Kunming specializing in floral cuisines, attracting a loyal customer base. In the future, this refined and locally-inspired feast will play a significant role in Yunnan's food culture.
Source: New Weekly; trans-edited by Guo Yao