Dongping Shepherd’s Purse

Dongping Shepherd’s Purse

　　Shepherd’s purse, also known as “Ji Cai” or “Husheng Cao,” is an annual herbaceous plant of the Brassicaceae family. Its basal leaves grow in tufts, are either pinnate or not, and are covered with fine hairs. In spring, it produces small white flowers, and when mature, it forms short seed pods containing seeds. Shepherd’s purse is quite cold-resistant and in our county, it mostly grows wild in wheat fields during early spring.

　　The tender shoots of shepherd’s purse are used as a vegetable, with wild ones being best harvested before they flower in early February. Cultivated varieties are not limited by this. Shepherd’s purse has a delicious taste and is highly nutritious. Analysis shows that every 100 grams of wild shepherd’s purse contains 4.2 grams of protein, 0.32 grams of fat, 4.8 grams of sugar, up to 4.4 milligrams of various vitamins, as well as trace elements such as calcium, phosphorus, and iron, along with over ten kinds of amino acids essential to the human body.

　　Shepherd’s purse has long been consumed as a vegetable, with ancient records to prove it. The Book of Songs mentions, “Who says bitterweed is bitter? It tastes as sweet as shepherd’s purse.” The Song Dynasty poet Lu You once wrote, “In spring, the goodness of shepherd’s purse makes one forget to return,” showing just how long its history as a food has been.

　　There are many ways to eat shepherd’s purse. The most common is to pick it, wash it, and eat it raw with its roots and leaves dipped in sauce—it has a crisp, tender, and refreshing taste. It can also be stir-fried with eggs or mixed with meat to make dumpling fillings. Every year from February to March, wild shepherd’s purse dug up from the fields is sold at markets in both urban and rural areas of our county, with an annual trading volume of over 10 tons. Many farmers dig up shepherd’s purse to sell for money, and during this time, many restaurants and eateries compete to buy it as a premium vegetable to serve guests.

　　With people’s growing awareness of returning to nature, the demand for wild vegetables has been increasing. Nowadays, cultivated varieties such as broad-leaf shepherd’s purse and loose-leaf shepherd’s purse have also appeared on the market.

　　Shepherd’s purse contains components such as shepherd’s purse acid, alkaloids, amino acids, and mustard ketones. It is cool in nature and has a mild, sweet taste. It functions to cool the blood and stop bleeding, and can be used to treat conditions such as hematemesis, hematuria, metrorrhagia, and dysentery.