Golden Needles

Golden Needles, also called Gum Jum, are dried flowers of Day Lilies, from the genus Hemerocallis and used in Asian cuisines, especially the Chinese cuisine. Golden needles are used for example for the famous Szechuan (Sichuan) hot & sour soup Suan La Tang and for a Chinese vegetarian dish, called Buddha´s delight, which is traditionally served on the first day of Chinese New Year, when Buddhist should restrain from eating meat. Other well-liked dishes with dried day lilies are Moo Shu Pork, a recipe from North China, which is quite popular in the USA and the delightful Chinese Daylily Soup. Before usage dried day lilies (Golden Needles) should be soaked in warm water for about 5 minutes to soften the flowers. Please be warned, that care must be used, if You`ll pick Your own lilies,
as some lilies are toxic as well.

Golden Needles are deemed as “Brain Food”, as the dried day lily flowers contain a lot of lecithin. Dried daylily flowers, commonly called Golden Needles are sometimes confused with Enokitake (Flammulina velutipes) mushrooms, as the tasty Enoki mushrooms, extremely popular in Japan, are sometimes also called Golden Needles. A picture of a day lily flower has been published on our botanical website The Beauty of Orchids & Flowers:
Orange Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva)

© The Foodist
Image: Golden Needles (dried day lily flowers)

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