Dried lily buds

Aiguilles d’or (lis séché)

What it is

These are unopened daylily buds dried to golden threads; Chinese calls them jin zhen, golden needles, and the plant is the same Hemerocallis grown in gardens for its one-day flowers. They are among the very few vegetables sold only in dried form, because a picked bud opens or wilts within hours.

In the kitchen

Soak twenty to thirty minutes in warm water, then pinch off the hard stem tip, which stays woody however long it cooks. Tie each bud in a single knot and it will hold its shape through a braise.

Goes with

Wood ear Dried shiitake (donko) Pork Egg Chinkiang vinegar Chicken Ginger White pepper

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