Enping Leizhacai (Prickly Ash Vegetable)

Enping Leizhacai

Enping Leizhacai is a geographical indication agricultural product.

　　Enping Leizhacai was originally a wild vegetable that grew in mountain valleys. Thanks to its unique taste and medicinal health benefits, the people of Enping brought it to their dining tables. This eventually led to the development of various processed products such as Leizhacai tea and Leizhacai shower gel, paving the way for industrialized production. To date, Enping City has a total of 31,000 mu of usable Leizhacai resources, including 8,200 mu of cultivated Leizhacai, with an average yield of about 1,000 kg per mu. The annual production of Enping Leizhacai products reaches 6,250 tons, with an annual output value of 120 million yuan.

　　It has a sweet and mellow taste, rich aroma, and a lingering aftertaste. It offers benefits such as clearing heat and detoxifying, relieving summer heat and thirst, counteracting alcohol and tobacco, aiding weight loss, and fighting fatigue.

　　The Leizhacai harvested around the Qingming Festival is the most tender. It can be stir-fried with garlic, fermented black beans, and fatty pork. In summer, it can be cooked with pork liver, lean meat, or century egg whites, or even stewed with crucian carp. Personally, I find the Leizhacai and crucian carp soup to be the most delicious, with a subtle minty flavor — it's truly the best therapeutic soup to beat the summer heat. That gave me an idea: why not use it as a substitute for cilantro when stir-frying snails?

　　In spring, it serves as a transitional vegetable; in summer, it becomes a heat-clearing soup ingredient. This is why the people of Enping can’t go without Leizhacai all year round. The city’s wild and cultivated area has now reached 30,000 mu, producing 90,000 dan (approximately 4,500 tons) of fresh Leizhacai annually. It has become a symbol of Enping. Anyone who comes to Enping on business or for sightseeing will surely find Leizhacai on their dining table. Nowadays, it has been further processed into dried Leizhacai and Leizhacai tea, making it convenient for locals and tourists to take back home for instant heat-clearing and detoxification. Its efficacy has gradually earned it a reputation within the province. Some companions, having heard that Leizhacai grows easily, insisted on taking a few cuttings back to the kitchen to plant. But after half a month, there were no signs of growth in several large pots, and they realized that what Xiao Taotao said was true — you can only have fresh Leizhacai soup if you’re in Enping.

　　Geographic Scope

　　Enping City is located in the southwest of Guangdong Province, at the junction of central and western Guangdong. The region contains the only primeval forest in the Pearl River Delta. To the northeast, it connects with Kaiping City; to the southeast, it neighbors Taishan City; to the west and southwest are Yangchun City and Yangdong County of Yangjiang City; to the northwest, it borders Xinxing County of Yunfu City; and to the south, it faces the vast South China Sea, with a coastline of 21 kilometers. The protected area of Enping Leizhacai covers the entire territory of Enping City, including 11 towns (or subdistrict offices) under its jurisdiction: Encheng Subdistrict Office, Shahu Town, Niujian Town, Juntang Town, Dongcheng Town, Liangxi Town, Shengtang Town, Datian Town, Dahuai Town, Hengbei Town, and Najitown, as well as 151 villages including Michang, Shalan, Hewan, Shilian, Shiquan, Luping, Naxi, Behe, Xiahu, and Shanghu. The protected area spans 71,306 hectares, with a total production of 789,000 tons. The geographic coordinates of the protected area are between 112°31′ to 112°46′ east longitude and 22°13′ to 22°41′ north latitude.

　　Product Quality Characteristics

　　1. External Sensory Characteristics: Fresh Enping Leizhacai features intact tender shoots, free from yellow or old leaves, dirt, or rot. The leaves are palmately compound, with three leaflets arranged alternately — the central one being the largest, oval or long-ovate in shape, measuring 4–10 cm in length and 2.5–4.5 cm in width. The texture is crisp and tender, the color bright green, the size uniform, and it carries the unique aroma of Leizhacai. The edges have fine or sparse blunt teeth, and the surface is hairless or sparsely prickly along the veins. When eaten, it tastes slightly sweet, crisp, and free of residue. 2. Internal Quality Indicators: Enping Leizhacai is highly nutritious. Fresh product moisture content ranges from 77.3% to 84.8%, ash content from 1.68% to 1.80%, crude protein from 3.34% to 3.47%, and crude fiber from 2.9% to 3.5%. It contains 8.7–8.9 mg of zinc, 1.24–1.58 mg of iron, 4.72–5.12 mg of manganese, 93.97–159.16 mg of calcium, and 45–50 mg of phosphorus per 100g. Leizhacai can be harvested year-round, but the optimal harvest periods are around the Qingming Festival in spring and during September to November in autumn and winter. 3. Safety Requirements: Enping Leizhacai is derived from wild varieties and has been domesticated. It is hardy, fast-growing, resistant, and boasts a distinctive fragrance, with relatively few pests and diseases. The quality of the growing environment meets the requirements of NY5010-2002 "Environmental Conditions for the Production of Pollution-Free Vegetable Agricultural Products," and the product quality meets the standards for pollution-free agricultural products.