Plant atlas Short
Yellow Velvetleaf: The Pond Green in Isan Salad
Yellow Velvetleaf · ผักก้านจอง · Limnocharis flava
Yellow Velvetleaf — ผักก้านจอง (phak-kaan-jong) — Limnocharis flava.
Yellow velvetleaf is a shallow-water vegetable; its leaves and tender stalks provide fiber, vitamin C, and iron. Fiber adds bulk to meals, can help with fullness, and can slow carbohydrate absorption as part of a mixed diet. Soup Phak Kan Chong is a savory Isan dish of tender blanched velvetleaf stalks tossed in a spicy, toasted rice and fermented fish sauce dressing, served with sticky rice. Kaeng Om Phak Kan Chong is an aromatic herbal stew from northeastern Thailand featuring yellow velvetleaf simmered with meat in a spicy, dill-scented broth, served with sticky rice. The vitamin C here helps your body absorb the plant's own iron in the same leafy bite, but only eat yellow velvetleaf grown in clean water, since it readily soaks up heavy metals like lead and mercury from polluted water. It thrives in shallow backyard ponds or slow-moving decorative drainage channels.
Soup Phak Kan Chong — ซุปผักก้านจอง (soup-pak-kan-jong)
Kaeng Om Phak Kan Chong — แกงอ่อมผักก้านจอง (gaeng-om-pak-kan-jong)
Food and nutrients
A source of: vitamin C, iron, fiber
Research context
Yellow velvetleaf is a high-fiber leafy vegetable traditionally eaten to aid digestion
Sources
Source: Annadurai A et al. (2021). Ethnopharmacology/phytochemistry of Limnocharis flava: review. No primary transit-time/colon-outcome study located
Narration transcript
Opening
This one grows standing right in the shallow water of Thai paddies and ditches, sending up pale-yellow, three-petaled flowers over broad, light-green leaves. Yellow velvetleaf — ผักก้านจอง, pak-gan-jong. You eat the tender young leaves and the crisp, triangular leaf-stalks, blanched into an Isan salad or dropped into a spicy northeastern stew.
ซุปผักก้านจอง (Soup Phak Kan Chong)
This savory Isan dish, soup phak kan chong tosses tender blanched velvetleaf stalks in a spicy dressing of toasted rice and fermented fish sauce, served with sticky rice.
แกงอ่อมผักก้านจอง (Kaeng Om Phak Kan Chong)
This aromatic herbal stew from northeastern Thailand, kaeng om phak kan chong simmers yellow velvetleaf with meat in a spicy, dill-scented broth, served with sticky rice.
Nutrition summary
Blanched for that Isan salad, these young leaves are notably high in manganese, with iron, copper, and a little zinc.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is used to build collagen and helps protect cells from oxidative stress.
Iron
Iron is part of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in your blood, and it supports normal energy metabolism.
Fiber
Fiber adds bulk to meals and can help with fullness.
Closing
One thing to know: because yellow velvetleaf grows soaking in pond water, it readily draws up whatever is dissolved there, including heavy metals like lead and mercury. So eat only the kind raised in clean water. In a tidy backyard pond, it's an easy, fast-spreading green. Follow Longevity Biome, and LIKE this video for regular updates.
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