Delicious Food on Sanqing Mountain

Locally known as moon beans, there are two varieties. The white golden bean has pure white, smooth seed coats. The mottled golden bean features red-and-white stripes on the skin. Both varieties are high-quality and rich in starch and protein.

This native Sanqing Mountain crop gets its name "Sanqing Beans". Its seeds are white as jade, and the soup cooked with these beans turns clear and refreshing. In ancient times, it was paid as tribute to the imperial court.

From the sixth to the eighth lunar months, groups of stone frogs inhabit and hunt along rocky stream cliffs on Sanqing Mountain at night, croaking repeatedly. This is the prime season for catching them. Mountain farmers carry pine torches or flashlights to hunt along the streams. After the ninth lunar month, the frogs hide deep inside rock crevices and become hard to find. Stone frogs have hairy long claws. Large ones can weigh up to 250 grams. Those living in the mountain stream near Second Stone Bridge have red skin and are commonly called red stone frogs.

Each year at the turn of summer and autumn, clusters of fresh red mushrooms grow among rotting fallen leaves in the high mountain forests of Sanqing Mountain. Unlike other mushrooms, their stems are firm and tough instead of crisp. Sanqing red mushrooms have an excellent flavour. They make premium ingredients for soup and stewed chicken or duck.

This is a classic home-style dish among local villagers. Wild mountain cassava is stir-fried with pork and a dash of chilli, creating a wonderfully rich flavour.

Each cucumber is carved into the shape of bamboo shoots and arranged in four rows. Small holes are chiselled between each bamboo joint, then filled with seasoned vegetarian egg white, fresh milk and tremella fungus. Seasoned golden vegetarian crab roe is sprinkled over the filling. The dish looks elegant and tastes light. The mixture of egg white and milk is creamy white with a delicate fragrance and tender texture. According to chef Wang Huiqun, this dish is extremely popular. Diners always pause to admire its beautiful presentation before starting to eat.

Also known as fiddlehead, bracken clears internal heat, relieves flatulence, dissolves phlegm and cures indigestion and intestinal heat-toxicity. Wild bracken grows naturally in high mountain woods on Sanqing Mountain, free from pesticides, chemical fertilisers and urban sewage pollution, making it a pure wild health food. Modern medical research confirms that it prevents cancer and aids weight loss. Honoured as the King of Mountain Vegetables, it is a pollution-free green food combining nutrition and medicinal value.

Purslane is the only wild herb officially approved by the Ministry of Health as both food and medicine, nicknamed the Ganoderma lucidum of farmland. It grows wild naturally in Sanqing’s mountain forests without any chemical contamination, making it a genuine all-natural wild health product.