In season

Teochew Mountain brother said:

Lag8ghuêh8 gai7 Dio5suan1 dêg4sung2 siang6 deng1si5

六月個潮汕竹筍上當時｜六月个潮汕竹笋上当时

Bamboo shoots are in season during the Sixth Lunar month in Teochew

Siang6 deng1si5 means the most appropriate time and the Mandarin translation is 正當季 means to be in season.

We all know about sung2guê2 筍餜｜笋馃 and in countries where fresh bamboo shoots could not be found, people use mang5guang1 芒光 as a substitute and mang5guang1 is yam bean in English.

NOTE: Do notice the correct Teochew character 餜 for guê2 and many people in our homeland use this character 粿 for guê2 – Guê2 are any steamed cakes which have a Teochew origin made with or without rice flour. If its origin is elsewhere it is given a different ending such as go1 糕 and go1 can also be written as 餻。

One famous steamed cake which is not made from rice flour is bho5bhi2guê2 無米餜 which is made from potato flour and Chinese chives. Swatow gu2cai3 guê2 韭菜餜 is also not made from rice flour.

In London, our Teochew hung2guê2 is written as 潮州粉果 and they have used the wrong guê2 character. I have no idea if the Cantonese people are making fun of Teochew culture or what! They are educated enough to write using the correct character for guê2!