QUESTION: Chinese cuisine is famous for using a much wider variety of ingredients than almost any other in the world. An old saying is that people from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong will eat anything with four legs--expect a chair; they will eat anything that flies--expect an aircraft; and they'll eat anything from the sea--except a ship.

One ingredient resembles human hair and no Chinese New Year celebration would be complete without it. Often mistaken for a type of seaweed, it is actually a type of freshwater algae that grows in the Mongolian dessert.

What is this strange and mysterious ingredient?

A. Egg noodles;
B. Prairie grass;
C. Hairmoss;
D. Flax.

ANSWERS:
C is absolutely correct. Hair Moss. Also known as black moss, hair seaweed, and hair vegetable, dried hair moss resembles black human hair.

It is often featured in vegetarian dishes served on New Years Day, as it is a Buddhist tradition to not kill any meat or fish on the first day of the year.

Chinese pharmacists value hair moss for its healing properties as it is believed to be useful in cleansing out the colon.

Enjoy!