Species sheet · The Edible River
Chinese arrowhead
The lucky corm of Chinese New Year.
- Fried into chips, the Cantonese New Year snack
- Braised with pork and soy sauce
- Simmered in a sweet broth for Japanese osechi
- In French
- Sagittaire de Chine
- Scientific name
- Sagittaria trifolia
- In the water
- A plant of Asian marshes and paddies, with arrow-shaped leaves standing above the water. The small corm at the end of its underground runners is eaten.
- Season & buying
- Harvested in winter, just in time for Chinese New Year; in Japan, kuwai is one of the festive New Year dishes.
- Common length
- ~60 cm
- How to identify it
- Arrowhead-shaped leaves on long upright stalks
Round, bluish to white corm tipped with a curved sprout
White three-petalled flowers
On the plate
Starchy flesh, slightly bitter, tasting of hazelnut and potato.
Avoid: Serving it unblanched: its slight bitterness puts people off; blanch it first to soften it.
In Japan its long sprout pointing upwards makes kuwai a lucky charm: people wish for success that shoots up straight like it.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
