Daylily
Hemerocallis citrina · Edible flower
Top 10 pairings
The daylily is the edible flower and unopened bud of plants in the genus Hemerocallis — not a true lily — long grown across East Asia for food as well as ornament. Its dried, spindle-shaped buds, sold in China as jin zhen ("golden needles") or huanghuacai, lend a sweet, faintly musky, chewy note to hot-and-sour soup, moo shu pork and Buddhist vegetarian dishes.
Picking a good onedrag
Supple, amber, sweet with hayBrittle or damp, musty, mould-specked
Shop packetEveryday bestThe bag as bought: rinse, soak, squeeze dry, knot or trim, then into hot-and-sour soup or moo shu. Fresh buds are a different article - blanch and soak those.
Where it came fromLoose from a dry-goods bin, sold to be eaten
Colour of the strandsGold, a few darker strands through the batch
Bend one strandDrier and springy, snaps cleanly when folded
Bud and stalkMostly whole, some broken tips and short stalk
Smell in the bagQuieter, dry and hay-like, the musk faded