Wenzheng Mountain Bamboo Shoots 问政山笋

Where it comes from

The mountain's soil is a dark sandy earth known locally as wujin sand (乌金砂土, "black-gold sand"), and its bamboo gives three crops: spring shoots, whip shoots in summer and autumn, and winter shoots. The spring shoot is judged the best. The Republican-era Shexian gazetteer (歙县志) ranks Wenzheng first among spring shoots, with red sheaths and white flesh so brittle that it shatters when dropped, and the Ming-dynasty Wanli edition singles out a white-sheathed shoot that can even be eaten raw, crisp as lotus root, sweet as pear and fragrant as orchid.

From the Qianlong to the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty, Shexian's tribute to the court included two barrels of Wenzheng shoots of 20 jin each, alongside Hui ink and She inkstones, which is why they are also called tribute shoots (贡笋). A story holds that the Qianlong Emperor, touring south of the Yangtze, was drawn by the smell of ham simmered with Wenzheng spring shoots on a Huizhou merchant boat and afterwards made the shoots a tribute item. In 2016 the Wenzheng tribute-shoot cooperative obtained a national geographical indication for the name.

The mountain's name, "asking about government", is traced to the Taoist Nie Shidao (聂师道), who built a retreat here and was known as Master Wenzheng, and to Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋), who in the twelfth month of 1358 stayed at Baoxiang Temple (宝相寺) on the mountain and questioned local scholars on how to govern.

Flavour and texture

In spring the shoots are dug with white shells tinged pale yellow. Fresh Wenzheng spring shoots have red skin and white flesh; they are crisp and tender and leave a sweet aftertaste. The Ming gazetteer compares the flesh to congealed fat.

How it is made

For Huizhou (徽州) people trading away from home, Wenzheng shoots were a taste of home they longed for. When the spring shoots broke through the soil, their families dug them early in the morning and sent them by boat from Yuliang (渔梁) down the Xin'an River. On board, the sheaths were peeled off layer by layer, and the shoots were cut into small pieces, put in a clay pot with Huizhou ham and simmered gently over charcoal day and night. When the pot was opened on arrival in Hangzhou, the broth was clear and rich and the shoots were still fragrant, sweet, crisp and tender.