Yanjing explores new ways of selling vine tea

The Chinese Village Chef Competition opened in Shawan Village, Mipo Town, Baojing County on September 24. The team from Yanjing Township of Yongshun County made dishes with vine tea, such as steamed pork with vine tea and braised chicken with vine tea, which became a highlight of the event.

Vine tea is rich in beneficial substances such as flavonoids, amino acids, and vitamins, with unique effects such as clearing heat, detoxifying, and nourishing skin. In recent years, Yanjing Township has made efforts to develop vine tea. At present, there are 2,200 mu (about 146.67 hectares) of vine tea, and villagers have benefited greatly from it. However, due to the fact that the sales channels for vine tea have not expanded with the increase of development scale, the excess vine tea is difficult to be sold in a timely manner. In order to solve this problem, starting from 2023, the township has put a lot of effort into increasing the added value of vine tea products.

A group of local chefs have found the way of combining vine tea with food through continuous experiment. Vine tea with an excellent taste is combined with special ingredients such as steamed pork, free-range chicken, free-range eggs, and cured meat to create delicious dishes with rich flavor of vine tea.

“Vine tea is soaked in hot water at around 90 degrees Celsius for a period of time. The tea water is poured into a pot with the cleaned chicken, and then it’s simmered over low heat for about 30 minutes,” said Peng Yinglong, owner of the Ajun Restaurant. In addition, there are also other specialty dishes in the restaurant like steamed pork with vine tea and stir fried eggs with vine tea, with a price ranging from 10 yuan to 80 yuan.

“Everyone loves the taste of the dishes with vine tea, which makes my business better, and tea farmers have also made a lot of money from selling me vine tea,” said Peng Yinglong.

Since vine tea was introduced as a food ingredient, it has sold well. Three more restaurants have been added in the township, attracting tourists to taste delicious food. Tea farmers have strong confidence in the development of the vine tea industry and future life.


Chinese source: hunantoday