Qian Shi, the “chicken-head rice” of the ponds

Qian Shi is simply “the fruit of qian”, the name of a water plant. The prickly water lily, or euryale, is the only surviving species of its genus: an annual of ponds and lakes with enormous floating leaves over a metre wide, where everything is covered in sharp spines. Its fruit, a spiny capsule the size of a small orange, resembles a bird’s head, hence the popular name Ji Tou Mi, “chicken-head rice”. Beneath the hard shell lies a white, starchy kernel. Qian Shi is first of all a grain that is eaten: China lists it among the substances that are both food and medicinal plant, and it is cooked in rice congee or in soup with lotus seed and Chinese yam. Its most prized terroir is Zhaoqing, in Guangdong.

Two flavours, two organs

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qian Shi is neutral, sweet and astringent in flavour, associated with the Spleen and Kidney. A classic text explains it in two points: it tonifies the Spleen through its sweet flavour, it firms the Kidney through its astringent flavour. All its actions come down to one idea: holding what escapes from below. The Kidney stores Essence, which the tradition calls Jing; the astringency closes, the sweetness adds substance back. And by strengthening the Spleen, which governs Dampness, it helps transform it at the source.

Neither dry nor heavy

What makes it precious lies elsewhere. Xu Dachun put it this way: the Spleen dislikes Dampness, the Kidney dislikes Dryness, and the herbs for the one and the other often pull in opposite directions; this one reconciles them. Most herbs that dry Dampness are drying, most of those that nourish are clogging; Qian Shi does neither, hence its place in long-term use. Roasted, it becomes warmer and easier to digest, and its action on the Spleen grows stronger. The texts compare it with Chinese yam: yam tonifies more, Qian Shi holds back more. Very hard, it is soaked for one to two hours and cooked until tender.