Mountain Delicacies and Game

Mountain Delicacies and Game

　　Northern Shaanxi boasts vast territory with extensive forested areas. Natural forests such as the Huanglong Mountain Forest, Qiao Mountain Forest, and Lao Mountain Forest span several counties, creating a favorable ecological environment. The region is home to a rich diversity of wildlife and forest specialty products. Among them, first-class nationally protected wild animals such as the leopard and brown eared-pheasant are conserved within nature reserves. Animals like roe deer and pheasants are frequently spotted in the wilderness, traditionally hunted in the area. The vast forests nurture and produce a wide variety of high-quality forest specialty products, including chestnuts, walnuts, ginkgo nuts, wood ear mushrooms, tremella, various types of mushrooms, mountain peaches, and mountain apricots, among many others. Tremella, a type of edible fungus harvested in Yan’an for a long time, is collected by locals just before thunderstorms following spring rains. Any surplus is dried for storage. Using tremella as a filling for dumplings or buns has become a common dish in Yan’an—nutritious and delicious, it is known as a “little mountain delicacy” and considered a unique local food. In addition to growing wild, ginkgo trees are now widely cultivated. Ginkgo health tea, made from its leaves, helps lower blood pressure, reduce blood lipids, and soften blood vessels, offering excellent medicinal benefits. It has also become a new popular souvenir for tourists in the region. (Yan’an)