Mian-ge (Jute-Leaf Soup)

Mian-ge, also written mian-ye, is a summer soup peculiar to the Taichung area, made by removing the bitterness from young jute leaves and simmering them with dried fish, sweet potato and potato into a slightly slick, jade-green savoury porridge, an everyday cooling dish for older Taichung generations.

Mian-ge grew from old Taichung farming use of jute, whose fibres were woven into cloth while the tender leaves were eaten, becoming a local speciality; because it is laborious to make and distinct in flavour, it now survives chiefly in old Taichung shops and markets and is seldom seen elsewhere.

Usually taken as a summer lunch or cooling snack, served hot in a bowl, the slick jade broth with savoury dried fish and potato chunks is a nostalgic taste on the old Taichung summer table.

The slick jade-green broth, the herbaceous note of young jute leaves and its status as a Taichung-only speciality define mian-ge.