Fat choy

Fat choy (traditional Chinese: 髮菜; simplified Chinese: 发菜; pinyin: fàcài; Jyutping: faat³ coi³; Nostoc flagelliforme) is a terrestrial cyanobacterium (a type of photosynthetic bacteria) that is used as a vegetable in Chinese cuisine. When dried, the product has the appearance of black hair. For that reason, its name in Chinese means "hair vegetable". When soaked, fat choy has a soft texture which is like very fine vermicelli.

Fat choy
Nostoc flagelliforme under a microscope
Scientific classification
Domain: Bacteria
Phylum: Cyanobacteria
Class: Cyanophyceae
Order: Nostocales
Family: Nostocaceae
Genus: Nostoc
Species:
N. flagelliforme
Binomial name
Nostoc flagelliforme
Harv. ex Molinari, Calvo-Pérez & Guiry, 2016
Synonyms
Fat choy
Traditional Chinese髮菜
Simplified Chinese发菜
Literal meaning"hair vegetable"
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese頭毛菜
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