JOURNAL 



OF 



The New York Botanical Garden 



Vol. XXXIV May, 1933 No. 401 



GUM-JUM OR GUM-TSOY: A FOOD FROM THF 

 FLOWERS OF DAYLILIES 1 



The flowers of daylilies (Hemerocallis) are extensively used as 

 a food in the Orient and in this use the}' are regarded as a 

 delicacy, especially by the Chinese. The)' may be used fresh 

 from a plant but they are employed chiefly in a dried form, which 

 is easily handled in commerce and provides a supply at all times. 



In certain areas in China and especially in Szechwan and along 

 the Yangtze Valley, daylilies are grown as a crop plant for the 

 yield of flowers, which are gathered shortly before they open. 

 Evidently they are then easier to handle and probably those wilted 

 and closed after the period of flowering have less substance. The 

 flowers are dried, just how the writer has not learned, and then 

 shipped in large bundles or hampers to some point where they are 

 wrapped in paper for retail. Packages of pound and half-pound 

 sizes are sold very generally in food shops under the names gum- 

 tstiy, meaning golden vegetable, and gum-jum, meaning golden 

 needles. 



In culinary uses the flowers of daylilies are employed chiefly 

 in soups, in various meat dishes, and with noodles. In prepara- 

 tion the basal end of the dried flowers, consisting of the ovary, is 

 removed and the rest is cut into several segments. Enough water 

 is added to the quantity desired to insure complete soaking, which 

 soon makes the parts become soft, pliable, and somewhat gelatin- 

 ous. In this condition the material is added to soups that are 

 already cooked, and when the whole is brought to a boil again, a 



1 For most of the information here given the writer is indebted to Mr. 

 F. H. Lewis, of the United States Appraiser's Office in New York. 



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