A must-eat magical vegetable in winter! Nutritious, delicious and anti-cancer, promise me you will try it

"No Picking"

"If you buy together with your mother, the weight of the mother cannot be less than that of the child"

"You can't pick up all the children, there must be a mother"

"Please bring your mom along when you buy groceries"

"If a mother and son buy together, the price for the son alone is double the normal price (regardless of whether the son found it or broke it)"

Image source: Screenshot of social platform

In the vegetable markets of Sichuan, you can often see these strange slogans. They actually refer to "ercai", a kind of vegetable that looks like a small mustard tuber. It is the must-have vegetable for people in Sichuan and Chongqing in winter, and it is also a vegetable blind spot for northerners. Today we will learn about it.

What exactly are “mother” and “son”?

Ercai is a nickname given by everyone. Its real scientific name is Brassica rapa, a variety of stem mustard of the genus Brassica (tái) in the family Cruciferae. It is also known as multi-headed vegetable, horn vegetable, and sprout vegetable.

Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, began to grow ercai as early as the early 1970s, so its planting area is mainly in the Sichuan Basin, that is, the Sichuan-Chongqing region. These areas are hot and humid in autumn, so they are most suitable for growing ercai. Then it gradually developed to Guizhou, Yunnan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai and other middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and surrounding areas.

To explain why there are names like "ma" and "er", we have to start from the appearance of ercai.

The base of the stem of ercai is a thick, shortened fleshy stem. The shortened stem and the axillary buds on the shortened stem swell to become the main edible organs. They are arranged in an overlapping tower-like shape. The shortened stem, axillary buds, outer leaves and the whole plant are edible.

Image source: Screenshot of social platform

In layman's terms, its root is swollen into a spherical or oblate shape with many small spherical protrusions on it. From the appearance of the ercai, it presents a "one mother and many children" shape, as if "countless children surround the mother, with many brothers and sisters". The "mother" here refers to the shortened stem of the ercai; the "children" refers to the emerald green buds that grow from the axillary buds on the shortened stem when the ercai seedlings grow to a certain stage.

Er'ercai tastes more fragrant and tender than Ercai ma, so it is more popular and more expensive than Ercai ma. Because people like to eat "er" but not "ma", many stores require that "you must buy the ma when buying Er, and you are not allowed to peel the Er" to avoid leaving the "ma" alone.

The basil is delicious and nutritious

The taste of ercai is pretty good, with a fresh and slightly sweet taste, crisp and tender. Not only that, the nutrition of ercai is also great.

According to testing by the School of Agriculture and Biology of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, ercai is rich in nutrients such as calcium, iron, phosphorus, and vitamins. Its calcium and phosphorus content ranks among the highest among all vegetables. The content of vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and niacin is also high.

Other studies have found that ercai is rich in nutrients such as glucosinolates, carotenoids, vitamin C, polyphenols, soluble sugars, and has a high antioxidant capacity. In addition, the lateral buds (ercai part) of ercai have more health-promoting compounds than the swollen stems (ercai mother), especially the lateral bud leaves, which are rich in antioxidants and have higher antioxidant activity.

Some people think that ercai has a strange smell, mainly because it contains glucosinolates. Glucosinolates are a sulfur-containing substance, also called glucosinolates, which are important secondary metabolites in Brassica vegetables and are also key nutrients in these vegetables. Glucosinolates and their degradation products are associated with a reduced risk of certain chronic diseases and can reduce the risk of many cancers, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, etc.

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There are three types of glucosinolates, including aliphatic, indole and aromatic. Among them, aliphatic glucosinolates are natural phytochemicals with high anticancer activity, which can prevent cancer by arresting various stages of the cell cycle and inducing multiple apoptotic pathways. Nearly 90% of the edible part of broccoli is aliphatic glucosinolates, and the content of total glucosinolates in its lateral buds is significantly higher than that in the swollen stems.

In addition, ercai contains a high level of soluble sugar, so most of them taste sweet. However, fatty glucosinolates are the main source of the spiciness and bitterness of Brassica vegetables, and ercai contains a high level of this component, so some ercai may taste slightly bitter.

In general, the lateral buds of ercai have higher nutritional value than the swollen stems.

Why is it uncommon in the North?

The axillary buds (the "child" part) are the main edible part of the mustard plant. They have fresh tissue and high water content. They are more susceptible to various environmental influences after harvesting. Various metabolisms are active during storage. They are prone to wilting, browning, and rotting when stored at room temperature.

If proper storage measures are not taken during the picking, transportation and storage process, the quality of ercai will be seriously degraded, resulting in unnecessary losses. The most important thing is that ercai is generally on the market in winter. The winter in the north is cold, ercai is easy to freeze, and it is not convenient to transport and store.

However, with the development of logistics, ercai can now be seen in some supermarkets in the north.

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Now is the season for ercai, which is also a must-have dish on the table of every household in Sichuan and Chongqing. It is crisp and refreshing, and it is also nutritious. If you come across it in the vegetable market, you must buy it to try it! Remember "Don't pick up the ercai, buy it with your mother".

References

[1] Wang Fengying, Xu Guangming, Wang Muwen. Cultivation technology of broccoli (Mustard) in Huzhou area[J]. Yangtze River Vegetables, 2023(9):33-34

[2] Liu Yihua, Zhang Zhaorong, Leng Rong, Li Juan, Xiao Li. Genetic study on the shape of the tuber of Brassica juncea (Zhacai). Journal of Plant Sciences, 2014, 32(1): 34-39

[3] Zhong Jianguo, Zhang Yimo, Liu Xiaobo, Liu Jizhen. Discussion on the development of mustard (erhubarb) industry in Chongqing[J]. Chinese Vegetables, 2013(10):11-13

[4] Sun, B., Tian, ​​YX, Jiang, M., Yuan, Q., Chen, Q., Zhang, Y., Luo, Y., Zhang, F., & Tang, HR (2018). Variation in the main health-promoting compounds and antioxidantact activityofwholeandindividualediblepartsofbabymustard(Brassicajunceavar.gemmifera).RS Cadvances,8(59),33845–33854.https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ra05504a

Planning and production

Author: Xue Qingxin, registered nutritionist

Review | Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center