Dongxiang Fern Cake

Dongxiang Fern Cake

　　Dongxiang Fern Cake This product is made from refined starch extracted from wild fern roots. It can be used both medicinally and as food, rich in trace elements such as iron, zinc, and selenium, as well as various amino acids. According to *Compendium of Materia Medica* and *Modern Chinese Herbal Medicine*, it helps clear heat and toxins, promote urination, aid sleep, and nourish deficiencies in the five internal organs.

　　The main ingredient for making fern cake is the fern plant. Its tender shoots, also known as fiddlehead ferns, can be eaten, while its roots are processed to extract starch, which is then boiled into solid blocks to make fern cake.

　　Fern cake can be prepared in many ways. Most people enjoy stir-frying it with cured pork, resulting in a dish that is colorful, delicious, and fragrant enough to fill the whole yard. Others mix cooked rice with fern powder, stir well, and pan-fry it into cakes, or make it into fern cake meatballs to serve in chicken soup. Some also turn fern cake into vermicelli to make cold jelly dishes. Fern roots are also a staple winter food for many wild animals, such as wild boars, native pigs, and porcupines, which love to dig them up.

　　According to relevant sources: Fern roots are rich in starch and are listed in *Black Health Foods*. They can be both eaten and used medicinally, containing abundant trace elements such as iron, zinc, and selenium, as well as vitamins and various amino acids. *Compendium of Materia Medica* states that they are slightly sweet and cool in nature, with effects such as lubricating the intestines for bowel movement, reducing fat and blood pressure, promoting circulation, lowering qi, and resolving phlegm.