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| Tubers of Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia) a close relative of our Wapato (Sagittaria laitoflia) |
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| Arrowhead being cultivated in China |
Every year I look forward to the Chinese New
Year with a little more anticipation than our Gregorian Calendar based celebration
of New Year’s Eve. While some of our traditions
resonate with me (kissing, resolutions, and singing about friendship), I find the
drunken debauchery and fireworks unappealing.
I also sense that most people have forsaken traditional feasting on New Year’s
Day for chips and television. The Chinese tradition of bringing the New Year
in with cultivated native foods and feasting is what attracts me to their
version of the Holiday. Cured duck, fish,
preserved fruits, and wintertime vegetables are featured during family feasts,
and a close relative of my favorite wild root vegetable—Wapato (Sagittaria latifolia)—is imported to
Chinatowns across America for the occasion.
Called Chi Gu (“benevolent
mushroom") in Chinese, and Arrowhead (Sagittaria
sagittifolia) in English, the tubers are grown by the Chinese in shallow
ponds. When I was in China in 2009, I saw
a few small Arrowhead patches.
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| Garnished with a benevolent mushroom |
Last week in Seattle I was lucky
enough to find a grocer in Chinatown that still had some Arrowhead in
stock. I purchased as much as I could
carry and Katrina and I prepared a dish featuring the mashed starchy
tubers for a potluck. We peeled about a
dozen tubers and boiled them for 10 minutes.
Then we mashed them with a tablespoon of olive oil, and a half cup
of coconut milk, and seasoned them with sea salt, cracked black pepper, and
diced chives. For garnish we placed an unpeeled
tuber on our mountain of mashed Arrowhead.
Both Arrowhead and Wapato have a flavor
that is starchy, sweet, and mildly fruity.
Their texture is very similar to Potatoes, perhaps a little drier and
grainier. I often compare their flavor
to a mixture of sweet corn and Potatoes with a hint of grapefruit.