Fat choy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Nostoc flagelliforme |
Fat choy (Nostoc flagelliforme; Traditional Chinese: 髮菜; Simplified Chinese: 发菜; pinyin: fàcài; Cantonese: faat3 choi3), also known as black moss or hair moss, is a terrestrial cyanobacterium (a type of photosynthetic bacteria) that is used as a vegetable in Chinese cuisine.
When dried, the product has the appearance of black hair. For that reason, its name in Chinese means "hair vegetable". The last two syllables of this name in Cantonese sound the same as another Cantonese saying meaning "struck it rich" (though the second syllable, choi, has a different tone) -- this is found, for example, in the Cantonese saying, "Gung1 hei2 faat3 choi4" (恭喜发财, meaning "congratulations and be prosperous"), which is often proclaimed during Chinese New Year. For that reason, this product is a popular ingredient in dishes used for the Chinese New Year. It is enjoyed for its texture, which is like very fine vermicelli.
Fat choy grows on the ground in the Gobi Desert and the Qinghai plateau. Over-harvesting on the Mongolian steppes has furthered erosion and desertification in those areas. The Chinese government has limited its harvesting, which has caused its price to increase. This may be one reason why some commercially available fat choy has been found to be adulterated with strands of a non-cellular starchy material, with other additives and dyes.[2][3] Real fat choy is dark green in color, while the counterfeit fat choy appears black.[4]
[edit] Health effects
A research team from the biochemistry department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong said that international research has shown that fat choy, besides having no nutritional value, has also been found to contain Beta-methylamino L-alanine (BMAA), a toxic amino acid that could affect the normal functions of nerve cells. Professor Chan King-ming of the team told the media that eating fat choy could lead to degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and dementia.[5]
[edit] References
- But, Paul Pui-Hay; Ling Cheng; Pui Kwan Chan; David Tai-Wai Lau; and Joyce Wing-Hin But (2002). "Nostoc flagelliforme and Faked Items Retailed in Hong Kong." Journal of Applied Phycology 14: 143-145.
