Chinese Mugwort
Artemisia argyi
The Hakka people believe that Chinese mugwort has the properties of removing dirt and filth, and the plant grows exceptionally well near Ching Ming Festival, thus Chinese mugwort leaves are added into Hakka rice cake as an ingredient near Ching Ming times. The Chinese mugwort Hakka rice cake, also referred as ‘Ching Ming Rice Cake’, is used as an offering to ancestors during tomb sweeping rituals. Chinese mugwort has heat-clearing, liver-fire suppressing and detoxifying properties. These properties make the rice cake a fitting snack for workers to replenish physical strength after farming and conducting physical labour. It is a type of everyday food therapy.
Chinese fevervine
Paederia foetida
Its sap carries an unpleasant chicken-dropping-like smell when it is fresh, yet it changes into a pleasant aroma when the plant is dried. Thus the plant (referred to as ‘chicken-dropping vine’ in Chinese) is also known as ‘chicken-fragrance vine’. The vine climbs on other plants or rocks, and it is commonly found in the Lingnan region. The Hakka people pick Chinese fevervine around Ching Ming times, when its leaves are the most lush, to make Chinese fevervine rice cake, also known as ‘Ching Ming Zai’. It was said that after eating Chinese feverine picked during Ching Ming, the humid toxins in the body will be suppressed and cleared, therefore acne will not grow during the summer. The snack is a festive food for the Ching Ming festival. They are made, offered and eaten along with ancestral worship rituals.
Thin evodia
Melicope pteleifolia
Its leaf is the main ingredient for the traditional Cantonese herbal drink ’24 herbs’. It contains volatile oil. The herb tastes bitter with a sweet aftertaste. It clears away heat and detoxifies. When applied externally, it can also be used to cure bruises and pains. In folk medicine, the herb is mixed with other herbs such as the leaves of ivy tree and dried in shade to make tea for preventing cold. The plant grows in shady and humid valleys, and blooms fine white flowers from May to June. It is a host plant for swallowtail butterfly larvae. The name of the plant comes from the palm shaped, trifoliate compound leaves and the bitter taste of the leaves.
Chaste tree
Vitex agnus-castus
The ubiquitous plant that is nicknamed ‘weed’ serves many functions for the Hakka people. Its leaves and branches repel mosquitos when burnt. They are also used for bathing, shampooing, cleaning, and even tea-making. Its fresh leaves are used as medicine to reduce inflammation, reduce swelling, relieve pain, kill insects and relieve itching. When the herb is boiled into a herbal tea, it clears away heat and detoxifies, relieving symptoms of cold and headaches.