HOW TO FORAGE FOR YOUR GREENS

WANDA HUANG FORAGER AND SUPPLIER OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES TO SOME OF THE CITY’S BEST CHEFS AND HIGH-END HOTELS

Wear the right gear. Foraging requires a lot of time spent under the sun, so a wide-brimmed hat, comfortable shoes and a longsleeved T-shirt are important.

Bring a backpack and a basket for storing your bounty. I usually have an Ikea bag with me. In the right season, around March-april, I’ve even gone into the wild with a trolley. You’d be surprised how much you can gather.

Start really, really safely. Notice what plants and flowers you see most often, do your research and begin by foraging for those.

Read, read and read some more. But also talk to the villagers you’ll find on your way. They have so much knowledge about the local flora, even more than you would find in books.

Experiment with your foraged edibles in the kitchen and learn what part of the plant you can use. Wild butterfly ginger doesn’t have roots like regular ginger but its leaves are great to wrap and cook rice in, for instance.

Head out: Lantau, New Territories. The best foraging tends to happen around abandoned farmland, as the soil is rich with nutrients.

Look at the whole plant, and not just in terms of palate: its medicinal value, its properties, how it complements other foods. In Western tradition, foods are often discarded based solely on their taste, but edible flowers and wild leaves can be used for detoxing and so many other purposes.