Cyperus tegetiformis
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| Shichitoi | ||||||||||||||||
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| Cyperus tegetiformis |
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Cyperus malaccensis var. brevifolius |
Shichitoi (Cyperus tegetiformis) or Short-leaved Malacca Galingale is a species of thin long sedge grass. They must be planted in the land between the sea water and fresh water, mainly in Vietnam, and process in Dongguan (once also planted the grass), so they are also called salt water grass.
They are used in packaging in South China, mainly before the 1980s, for packaging goods. At that time people packaging things by winding up the grass over the things and tie knots. There is a long loop tied up for people to hang it with the index finger. For meat, people used newspaper (later waxed paper, still used in wrapping herbs and Char siu) to wrap them and package by the grass. They are mostly replaced by plastic bags but are still used to package zongzi and Chinese mitten crab. But liquid in the food may drop down when walking, so people used the plastic bags. Now there is are few people left growing and selling it[1][2]
For packaging dry goods, Cyperus tegetiformis can provide a cheap, biodegradable and readily available alternative to plastic bags. In 30 September 2007, The Greeners[3] , a green student council in Hong Kong campaign the "Days of Salt water grass". In some days from October to February, more than 130 shops in 6 Hong Kong markets will use the grass to tie the fruits and vegetables and will not use the plastic bags.[4].
