buckthorn seeds

[cinnamonshops]

Hey all,

Hope you'll entertain a question from a newbie to this forum:

I've been purusing a vegetable stock recipe from Eileen Yin Fei-Lo's "From the Earth" vegetarian cookbook, for which she lists "buckthorn seeds" as an ingredient.

I can't remember having been at such a loss over an ingredient in awhile... couldn't find it in any local Chinese groceries or medicinal dry-goods shops, and, even weirder, can't really find any information about it online. Google searches mostly just seem to turn up sea buckthorn oil.

Does anyone have any idea what this ingredient is, and perhaps what some alternative names are? Is it really that obscure?

She also calls for red dates, which seem much, much easier to find.

Thanks!

[nakji]

Does she give a Chinese name for it?

I found this translated reference to a pre-prepared Chinese stock powder on-line:

Natural Healthy Powdery Food Flavoring: Pumpkin powder, instant tea, ginger powder, carrot powder, Hawk thorn powder, sea buckthorn powder, orange powder, strawberry powder, barley powder, malt powder, spinach powder.

So perhaps the powdered berry is used as a stock flavouring? There are lots of "health powders" available, but I've never heard of this one.

If it's an ingredient for stock, and she's not calling for much of it, I'd leave it out.

[andiesenji]

I am pretty sure the item to which she refers is Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides).

Glossy or evergreen buckthorn (Frangula alnus)and common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica L) are totally different plants and very invasive and it is illegal to transport the plants or the seeds between states.

These plants are on the lists of "noxious weed pests" and "exotic pest plants" in almost all states in the US and also in Canada.

[andiesenji]

I forgot to mention in my earlier post that The Republic of Tea has a "Sea Buckthorn and Super Fruits" tea.

So obviously the product is available in the U.S. and I found this link:

Sea buckthorn fruit powder

[liuzhou]

Yes, almost certainly Sea-Buckthorn.

沙棘 in Chinese.

[cinnamonshops]

A belated thanks for all your answers!

Yes, it does make sense that this would refer to sea buckthorn.

And thanks in particular to liuzhou for the Chinese characters -- this might be very useful in my shopping.

[dougal]

Sea Buckthorn grows wild in some places here on the South coast of England. Its happy by the sea, even with sand dunes. The local Parks Dept have just planted some as a thorny hedge in a "wild" (but not very wild really) park area behind a local beach.

Remarkably, it carries its fruit through the winter, and, in very ancient times was apparently an important (phenomenally rich) winter source of Vitamin C in the diet of those days.

I've foraged some, and tasted the juice -- which is what is/was used in (Olde) England.

It needs an absolutely colossal amount of sweetening to be palatable! This might be one reason that the birds don't seem to touch the fruit ... the thorns would be another.

I've not previously heard of it being powdered, or anyone using the seeds for anything.

But if anyone were trying to sub for the flavour of the juice, then I'd suggest a bit of Citric Acid with a touch of Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C). Really - it is that subtle a taste!

[liuzhou]

even with sand dunes

The Chinese name literally translates as "sand thorn"

[Beebs]

It's also known as "seaberry". I have a packet of seaberry Ricola throat drops (they don't taste very good, though).