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.
Purple Sugar Snap Peas (also known as Purple Snap Peas or Purple Honey Snap Peas in some varieties) are a colorful, edible-podded variety of snap peas (Pisum sativum). Unlike flat snow peas (荷蘭豆), sugar snap peas have thick, round, fleshy pods that are sweet and crisp, with plump peas inside—both pod and peas are fully edible. The purple version features striking deep purple pods (sometimes marbled with green) that add vibrant color to dishes.
These peas are relatively rare and prized for their sweetness and beauty. They are available seasonally in Hong Kong wet markets, organic shops, or farms during warmer months. Choose firm, brightly colored pods that snap crisply when broken. Common cooking methods include eating raw in salads for maximum crunch and sweetness, quick stir-frying with garlic, blanching then shocking in ice water, steaming, or roasting. Short cooking times preserve the crisp texture best; the purple color often fades to green when heated due to anthocyanin breakdown, but they remain visually appealing.
Nutritionally, purple sugar snap peas are rich in vitamins A, C, and K, folate, dietary fiber, iron, and potassium. The purple pigment comes from anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants that may support anti-inflammatory effects, heart health, immunity, and skin benefits. They are low in calories, high in water content, and excellent for summer hydration, weight management, and digestion. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, peas are considered neutral and beneficial for strengthening the spleen, relieving summer dampness, and quenching thirst. Like other legumes, they contain some oligosaccharides that may cause mild bloating in sensitive individuals, so moderate consumption is advised, and thorough cooking or blanching is recommended.
Purple sugar snap peas bring both great nutrition and a beautiful pop of color to meals—perfect for making your summer dishes more exciting and healthy! 🟣🫛
🥘 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.
