Ingredients · Flower

Lily

Hemerocallis spp. (see note) · Asphodelaceae

Lily
Almost certainly daylily rather than a true lily, and the distinction matters. Dried daylily buds are a long-standing Chinese ingredient, sold as golden needles — jinzhen — and they go into hot and sour soup, Buddha's delight and moo shu pork. True lilies, genus Lilium, are a different plant altogether and are not the culinary one. One product carries it, unqualified, so the species is unconfirmed; on the evidence of trade practice it is the daylily. The flowers are more palatable cooked than raw.

What it’s like, and how to use it

The partFlower
KindFlower
CaffeineCaffeine-free
Where it is fromChina
TasteMild, faintly sweet and slightly musky, with a delicate vegetal body
How to brew it
  • 185°F / 85°C
  • 3 to 5 minutes, with the blend

How to use it

In this shop, steeped as part of a fruit-and-tea blend, where it contributes delicacy rather than a distinct flavour. In Chinese cooking, soaked and knotted, then added to hot and sour soup or a braise.

With food

Mushroom and wood ear. Pork. Egg. Vinegar. Ginger.

With spices

White pepper. Ginger. Star anise.

With tea

Black tea and Ceylon, which is what it sits with here.

Its story

Where it comes from

Daylilies are native to Asia and the dried buds are a standard Chinese dried good. Our label says only lily, so the species is unconfirmed and worth asking the supplier about.

What happened

Golden needles are one of those ingredients that sit in every Chinese dried-goods shop and almost no Western pantry. They are a vegetable more than a flavouring — used for texture and a gentle sweetness in soups and braises — and the name is a good description of what they look like in the packet. The confusion with true lilies is worth clearing: Hemerocallis is not in the lily genus despite the common name, and Lilium species are a separate matter entirely.

On the shelf with it

Every product it goes into.

Every ingredient in the shop

Explore

Other ways in

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