Description
🚚 The fastest delivery time : 2-day delivery.
🐝 Supplier / Origin : Local Small Farm HKORC Certified
🔖 Certification : HKORC Certificate
🛍 Supplier Information :
🌱 Supplier introduction : Healthy Express is a unique local online shopping platform. It cooperates with more than 30 local farms and importers to provide more than 1,500 kinds of goods, including fruits and vegetables, meat, seafood, poultry and eggs, etc. We offer local, organic, sustainable options. We use a fair trade price to purchase directly from farmers. The pricing enables producers and consumers to have a sustainable relationship, and the three parties benefit the most.
🛍 Product Information:
Local Hong Kong Summer Vegetables and Gourds refer to the seasonal produce that thrives in Hong Kong’s hot and humid summer months (roughly May to August). The saying “eat gourds in summer, eat leafy greens in winter” reflects the natural growing cycle in southern China and Hong Kong.
Key summer crops include various gourds (melons) such as hairy gourd (節瓜 / zucchini-like), loofah (絲瓜), bitter gourd (苦瓜), cucumber (青瓜), winter melon (冬瓜), pumpkin (南瓜), bottle gourd (葫蘆瓜), and chayote (佛手瓜). Popular leafy greens are Malabar spinach (潺菜), amaranth (莧菜), water spinach (通菜 / kangkong), and sweet potato leaves. Other common items are eggplant (茄子), long beans (豆角), okra, chili peppers, and corn.
These vegetables are high in water content (often over 90%), making them excellent for hydration, cooling the body, relieving summer heat, and quenching thirst. They are usually affordable and abundant during peak season, with better flavor and potentially lower pesticide needs when grown locally in season.
Malabar spinach (also known as Ceylon spinach, vine spinach, or slippery vegetable in Cantonese contexts) is a nutritious tropical vine vegetable with the scientific name Basella alba. It belongs to the Basellaceae family and is widely grown in Asia and other warm climates.
The plant features thick, fleshy dark green leaves (or reddish-purple in some varieties) and succulent stems. When crushed or cooked, it releases a natural mucilaginous (slimy) juice, giving it a unique slippery, smooth texture—hence the Cantonese name "saan choi" (潺菜), where "saan" implies slipperiness. The flavor is mild, slightly sweet, and non-bitter.
It is in season during summer months and is affordable and popular in Hong Kong and southern China. Common cooking methods include quick stir-frying with garlic and ginger (to preserve tenderness), adding to soups, or serving in salads. Overcooking can increase the sliminess, so high-heat, short cooking is recommended.
Nutritionally, Malabar spinach is rich in calcium (reportedly 2-3 times higher than regular spinach in some sources), iron, vitamin A, dietary fiber, and mucilage. It is valued for benefits like promoting digestion and relieving constipation, supporting heart and bone health, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, and providing antioxidant and skin-moisturizing effects. It is generally cooling in nature, so those with cold constitutions or certain kidney stone concerns may consume it in moderation.
🥘 Suggested Recipe：
Common cooking styles: stir-fry with garlic and ginger (quick and high-heat to keep texture), add to soups (e.g., winter melon or loofah soup), or serve cold in salads. Nutritionally, they provide vitamins A and C, dietary fiber, potassium, and antioxidants. Benefits include promoting digestion, reducing swelling, supporting heart health, and clearing internal heat. Some (like bitter gourd and winter melon) have cooling properties in Traditional Chinese Medicine, so people with cold constitutions should enjoy them in moderation.
Buying fresh local summer produce at wet markets or organic farms is a great way to support Hong Kong’s agriculture while enjoying the freshest, sweetest seasonal flavors! 🥒🌿
🔅 Notes:
☘️ Preserve vegetables
1. Leafy vegetables and softer vegetables, if packaged, should be placed in the cold box in the original package;
2. Organic Vegetables are more prone to spoilage if they have water droplets. Put the vegetables in a ventilated place to dry or wipe off the water vapor, then wrap the vegetables in slightly damp newspaper and put them in a plastic bag before refrigerating. ;
3. Organic vegetables do not use preservatives or special treatments. Vegetables are generally stored for three to five days. Some vegetables will decompose enzymes, so they should be eaten as soon as possible.
☘️ How to wash vegetables
1. Wash vegetables before cooking to keep them fresh;
2. It is not advisable to soak the vegetables for too long, and they should be washed first and then cut to avoid the loss of vitamins;
3. Washing vegetables with dilute salt water or Dish Drop can easily remove vegetable insects;
4. Cut vegetables with a stainless steel knife to reduce vitamin loss;
5. Vegetable leaves contain a lot of nutrients, so you should avoid shredding, chopping or grinding the leaves;
6. Immediately after cutting, to avoid the loss of vitamins due to air oxidation.
