An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal spices used in Chinese hotpot

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Abstract

Chinese cuisine is one of the most famous cuisines of the world. The use of spices and condiments is an indispensable procedure in Chinese culinary culture, especially the hotpot culture. However, there has been no systematic investigation on spices and condiments used in Chinese hotpot so far. An ethnobotanical survey was conducted to collect information on spices and condiments used in Chinese hotpot. The results showed that a total of 67 spices were commonly used for the preparation of Chinese hotpot, involving 82 plant species of 50 genera in 26 families. All of these spices are also used medicinally in China yet half of them were not native to China. Plants of Zingiberaceae and Apicaceae are important botanical resource, and fruit parts of a plant are the main source of the production of spices used in Chinese hotpot.

Highlights

► An ethnobotanical survey on spices used in Chinese hotpot was conducted. ► Crude spice materials and voucher specimens were identified by plant taxonomists. ► The research revealed that 67 spices were commonly used in Chinese hotpot. ► These spices are also medicinally used in China.

Introduction

The International Standards Organization (ISO) defines spices and condimnets as “vegetable products or mixtures thereof free from extraneous matter, used for flavoring, seasoning and imparting aroma in foods.” The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines spice as “any aromatic vegetable substance in whole, broken, or ground form, except for those substances traditionally regarded as foods, such as onion, garlic and celery, whose significant function in food is seasoning rather than nutritional; that is true to name; and from which no portion of any volatile oil or other flavoring principle has been removed.” These definitions were thought to be outdated and limited. Spice was thus further suggested to include “all parts of a plant that provide flavor, color, and even texture” (Raghavan, 2007).

The pursuit of perfect flavor is crucial in Chinese culinary culture. As a branch of Chinese culinary culture, hotpot culture gains popularity in Chinese communities. Hotpot is a special Asian cuisine. Usually, a metal pot with soup is kept simmering; dishes such as sliced meat, leafy vegetables and seafood are then placed into the pot, and the cooked food in hotpot is usually eaten with a dipping sauce. Different styles of hotpot are found in different regions, such as instant-boiled mutton in Beijing, mutton hotpot in Inner Mongolia, numb and spicy hotpot in Sichuan and Chongqing, and Canton hotpot in Guangdong and Hong Kong.

Spices are always added in order to improve taste and smell of hotpot. As there is no fine line among spice, herb, food and medicine (Duke, 2003), many Chinese medicinal materials are also used as spices adding into hotpots of different styles in different regions of specific cultural background (Table 1).

China is both an importer and an exporter of spices (Keay, 2006). The consumption of spices in China has been increasing annually. However, attention should be paid to the genuineness identification and quality evaluation of spices, although they are generally recognized as safe by FDA. As a matter of fact, an incident of food poisoning that sickened 198 people (including 18 severe cases received first aids) occurred because Guangdong star anise (Illicium lanceolatum A. C. Smith) was misused as Chinese star anise (I. verum Hook. f.) (He, 1995). Besides, Japanese star anise (I. anisatum L.) is also poisonous. The LD50 of water soluble fractions of 95% ethanol extracts of its pericarp and seed were 0.5 g/kg and 2.17 g/kg, respectively, when intraperitoneally administered in mice (Yang, Sun, Huang, & J.M., 2006). Moreover, some spices may have potential hazard to the customers. A survey revealed that poppy shell (the dried pericarp of ripe fruit of Papaver somniferum L.) was used as a spice that could add aroma and make the soup taste better in some small hotpot restaurants (Chen, 2001). Poppy shell contains 0.06–0.40% of morphine. Frequent administration of poppy shell should be avoided because it is addictive (Chinese Pharmacopeia Commission, 2010). Since 2008, the Ministry of Public Health of China has listed poppy shell as an illegal food additive and has banned its use in hotpot restaurants.

In view of the above, an enthnobotanical investigation on spices used in Chinese hotpot was conducted.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

A variety of spices and other materials are used to prepare Chinese hotpot of different styles with different flavors. They are distinctive from one another due to factors such as geographic location and culture background. Four representative styles of hotpot were investigated in this research: instant-boiled mutton in Beijing, mutton hotpot in Inner Mongolia, numb and spicy hotpot in Sichuan and Chongqing, and Canton hotpot in Guangdong and Hong Kong. These hotpot styles originated from 4

Botanical origins

Plants of Zingiberaceae and Apicaceae are important botanical resource of spices. Our research revealed that 67 medicinal spices were commonly used for the preparation of Chinese hotpot, involving 82 plant species of 50 genera in 26 families: Zingiberaceae (15 species), Apiaceae (13 species), Liliaceae (5 species), Rutaceae (5 species), Fabaceae (4 species), Lauraceae (4 species), Magnoliaceae (4 species), Boraginaceae (3 species), Brassicaceae (3 species), Piperaceae (3 species), Solanaceae (2

Discussion and conclusions

The present ethnobotanical survey revealed that 82 plant species belonging to 50 genera in 26 families were used as spices in Chinese hotpot.

Among them, about half of them (40 species) were not native to China but originated from ancient Southeast Asia, Mediterranean area or other areas. The Silk Road, a system of commercial routes on both land and sea that linked various people from China to the Mediterranean (Liu, 2010), played an important role in the naturalization of these non-native

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank all the informants who contributed to this study with their knowledge and friendship. The authors are also grateful for the kind help from Prof. Delin Wu, Mr. Kumar and his father, Ms. Fanny Hung, Ms. Jessie Yuen, Mr. Wei Zhang, Ms. Mengtao Wu, Mr. Eric Brand and Ms. Qinghua Deng.

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