Mugwort in Cao Bang, a vegetable that grows wild at home, hard to swallow at first, but later becomes a miracle drug.

In Cao Bang, there are many bitter wild vegetable dishes such as bamboo shoots, "Thau ca"... but the vegetable with the most bitter taste that many people in the highlands prefer is rau ngai (mugwort).

Not only the Tay people and the highlanders of our country eat mugwort, but in many other places people also process mugwort into dishes, but mainly for medicinal purposes.

Mugwort grows wild in many places, but not all mugwort is delicious. Mugwort growing on high mountain slopes has a different quality than that growing in lowland areas.

Mugwort in the plains is very pungent and difficult to eat. The quality of mugwort also depends on the weather and the season. In winter and spring, mugwort is the most delicious. During times of thunder and heavy rain, mugwort becomes too bitter, so people in the mountains rarely eat it.

To reduce the bitterness, you should crush the mugwort and then wash or blanch it in boiling water. But it is true that mugwort is bitter but sweet.

After a while, the sweetness and essential oil smell of mugwort will appear, making people who are used to it like to eat it. The bitter-sweet taste of mugwort and some wild vegetables is very similar to the sour taste of white plum and "Mac kham" (wild tamarind) fruit. It tastes sour at first but then tastes sweet, especially after drinking a sip of clear spring water.

Mugwort is a natural vegetable, at first many people do not like it. But after eating a few delicious dishes cooked with mugwort, many people like it. For the Tay people of Cao Bang , mugwort is both a clean vegetable and a medicinal dish.

Many dishes can be made from mugwort tips. Mugwort cake is made similar to the gai cake that many people like.

Slice or crush the tops of mugwort and fry them with eggs. You can also stir-fry mugwort with eggs or when the mugwort is boiling, beat in chicken or duck eggs and stir well. Sick people who cannot swallow rice can eat egg soup cooked with mugwort or fried eggs with mugwort, which will help them recover quickly.

Mugwort is also used to stew chicken with Chinese medicine. Nowadays, many weddings of the Tay people in Cao Bang have this stewed chicken dish.

The stewed chicken dish with mugwort makes the chicken less greasy and almost everyone can eat it. Usually mugwort tops are cooked in soup with minced pork and used in daily meals.

Mugwort is a wild vegetable that grows wild in gardens, on land, and along streams. Many families have brought this wild vegetable home to grow in their gardens as homegrown vegetables.

Another dish often cooked by the Tay people is mugwort soup with pork bones. Chop the pork bones into pieces, stir-fry with salt and fat until almost cooked, add enough water to boil, add mugwort until cooked and you have a delicious soup.

Mugwort and chicken soup is also a delicious, easy-to-eat and nutritious dish. In addition, mugwort can also be cooked with fish, used in hot pot and cooked with some other foods.

Steamed pig brain dish without mugwort is not delicious. Mugwort contains many important chemical components, it is a precious medicine that people have used since ancient times to treat many different diseases.

Eating mugwort will be good for bones and joints, good for people with digestive diseases, respiratory diseases and cardiovascular diseases...

Mugwort is very easy to grow. Just pluck the old and young branches and plant them in the ground, water regularly and after more than a week the vegetables will sprout. Mugwort loves water, and moist soil helps this nutritious vegetable, like a panacea, grow well,...

Source: https://danviet.vn/rau-ngai-cuu-o-cao-bang-rau-nha-ma-moc-va-vat-nhu-rau-dai-kho-nuot-ban-dau-ve-sau-la-than-duoc-20241223100834647.htm