Notes » King-Size Kudzu
Notes » January 2007
King-Size Kudzu
Someone break out the kudzu recipe book!
A gargantuan kudzu root has been pulled from the ground beneath an abandoned farm in the New Territories:
The 1.4-metre kudzu, or pueraria lobata, tuber was dug up by villager Yeung Chun-fong as he foraged for the medicinal root on weed-choked land near Fanling.
It was so big that Mr Yeung, 62, had to call two friends to help him dig it out. It took them seven hours.
"I saw the vines as big as an arm and climbing to the treetops," Mr Yeung said ... "I dug up the soil and saw the root's head as big as two hands. I knew it must be huge."
That thing is big enough to cure all the Sunday-morning hangovers in Wan Chai, and then some.
The tubers, known locally as goh, are usually no longer than 30cm. Mr Yeung's specimen is 66cm in circumference and 23cm across, and almost as tall as its discoverer ...
Crop expert and Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department agricultural officer Chan Siu-lun said it was the biggest goh he had seen and wanted to inspect it in detail at Mr Yeung's home in Wang Shan Keuk village. He believed the root was at least four years old.
He said Mr Yeung should submit it to the Guinness World Records, which at present has no record for kudzu.
It does now. But the Guinness folk had better document it soon, before it disappears into cooking pots throughout the village.
The huge root had two other tubers growing from it, both about a metre in length - one of which has already been sliced up for soup.
Mr Yeung found the farmland, about 15 minutes' walk from Sha Tau Kok Road, two weeks ago and dug up some goh to take home.
His wife ... sent him back for more, which is when he found the massive root and excavated it with friends ...
Looks like she won't be buying any from the local wet market anytime soon.
"After we dug it up, we all said we had never seen such a big goh," he said. "It was so heavy that we had to take it home in a taxi."
That must have been a sight: either they put it in the trunk and left a section hanging out the back, or they stuffed it in the front seat and wrapped a seat belt around it. One wonders how much the "luggage" surcharge was.
[ ... ]
Asked what they would do with their windfall, the Yeungs said much of it would be shared with neighbours, but some will be dried and sent to their son in Scotland and a relative in Holland.
How much do you want to bet that other villagers are now scouring that same piece of farmland for a similar find?
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