Xidaidang villagers are busy harvesting gorgon fruits. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]

Farmers in Xidaidang village, Xishan district of Wuxi, have recently been busy harvesting gorgon fruits, a seasonal food favored by Jiangnan natives.

Gorgon fruits are enveloped by two layers of shell. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]

Gorgon fruit is also called chicken head-shaped rice as the shell enveloping the fruit looks like a chicken head before cracking the shell.

Xiedaidang village is the largest gorgon fruit plantation in Wuxi. Its 500 mu (33.33 hectares) of paddy fields are currently filled with the green leaves of gorgon fruits.

Harvesting gorgon fruit is dangerous due to the thorns on their leaves, so gorgon fruit harvesters are usually seen fully armed to work in the paddy field.

A bowl of boiled fresh gorgon fruits with sugar. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]

How to eat gorgon fruits

Fresh gorgon fruits taste soft and waxy and emit a faint fragrance. The most popular way to cook the fruits among Wuxi natives is to boil them first and then mix them with sugar. Some people also like boiling them with lotus seeds, white fungus, and small rice dumplings.

Gorgon fruits can also be stir fried with almonds, shrimp meat, and crab meat.