Huangshan Stone Ear

Huangshan Stone Ear

　　Huangshan Stone Ear — a delicacy among mountain vegetables, commonly known as "stone clothing," is a specialty of Huangshan. Shaped like wood ear mushrooms but several times larger, it is a rare and medicinal vegetable. Stone ears grow in the damp crevices of steep cliffs and usually take six to seven years to mature. They hold significant medicinal value. Li Shizhen recorded in *Compendium of Materia Medica* that stone ears can "improve vision and invigorate clarity."

　　Harvesting stone ears is an extremely arduous and dangerous task. Herbalists tie thick ropes around themselves and descend from cliffs to pluck them mid-air. A slight misstep could result in fatal injury. As a result, some stone ears, growing in locations too perilous to reach, remain unharvested for centuries and grow as large as washbasins.

　　Huangshan Stone Ear is a medicinal mountain vegetable and considered a premium delicacy in Huizhou cuisine.

　　 Huangshan Stone Ear resembles wood ear mushrooms in shape but is larger, with a black surface covered in fine spines. Its back has a pale green film resembling moss, with a stem at the center. It grows in the damp crevices of sheer cliff faces and typically takes six to seven years to mature. Li Shizhen’s *Compendium of Materia Medica* states: "Stone ears are sweet, neutral, and non-toxic, and can improve vision and nourish vitality." The Qing Dynasty supplement to *Compendium of Materia Medica*, *Supplement to the Compendium of Materia Medica*, describes stone ears as "beneficial for long-term consumption, enhancing beauty, vitality, and spirit." Folk remedies often use stone ears to treat sore throats, with notable effectiveness. The supplement also says: "Used in soups, they are a true delicacy." Cooking stone ears with meat or stewing them with chicken yields delicious results, highly praised by diners. Harvesting Huangshan Stone Ear is a challenging endeavor. Huangshan’s high elevation, dense forests, and significant temperature variations between mountaintop and valley mean harvesting generally occurs between May and October. Herbalists choose clear weather days and venture out in groups, carrying thick hemp ropes and specially made bamboo baskets. They climb cliffs and scale steep walls, and once locating stone ears, first determine a safe descent point. One end of the thick rope is tied to a sturdy tree atop the cliff or looped through a rock hole, while the other is secured around the herbalist’s waist. From there, they lower themselves down into valleys dozens of meters deep to gather the stone ears — a truly labor-intensive process.