Fat Choy / Black Moss (Fa Cai)
食べると大金持ちになる！？広東の正月を支配する「黒い髪の毛」
Description
Terrestrial cyanobacteria growing in NW China deserts, dried. Called Fa Cai (Hair Veggie) because it looks exactly like 'black human hair'. The Cantonese pronunciation 'Fat Choy' is identical to 'Fa Cai' (Get Rich), making it an absolutely essential premium lucky dry good for Lunar New Year (Chunjie) banquets in Guangdong/HK.
Classification: Premium Ingredient, Ingredient, Dry Goods, Fa Cai, Black Moss, Nostoc, Lucky Charm, Fa Cai (Get Rich), Guangdong New Year
Shops selling Fat Choy / Black Moss (Fa Cai)
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On this site you can check dictionary details and, later, places to buy or eat related items.
The How to use section below is a general reference, not instructions from the listed shops.
How to use
Ingredients
- Nostoc flagelliforme (Cyanobacteria/Black Moss
- Dried)
Instructions
- [Typical Uses]
- [Fa Cai Hao Shi (Fat Choy, Dried Oyster & Pork Braise)]: Braise rehydrated Fat Choy with dried oysters (Hao Shi = Good things happen), pork, and lettuce in soy and oyster sauce. The ultimate pun dish meaning 'Good things happen and you get rich'; the year doesn't start without eating this at Chunjie.
Learn more Substitutes, pairings, tips
Key spices
Tasteless. Absorbs soup/sauce umami via capillary action、offering a faint 'squeaky、crisp' bite
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
(Irreplaceable due to luck factor. Mimic texture only with ultra-thin vermicelli or Mozuku seaweed)
Pairing
Dried Oysters (Hao Shi) / Braised Pork / Oyster Sauce
Trivia
Looks truly like hair from a horror movie, but coated in oyster sauce, it absorbs umami like a sponge and is unbelievably delicious.
Eating tips & etiquette
To protect desert environments (prevent desertification), the Chinese govt strictly restricts harvesting wild Fat Choy, now designated a 'Class 1 Protected Plant'. Thus, prices skyrocketed like pure gold, and 'artificial Fat Choy (fakes)' made of cornstarch flood the market.
Allergen
None