[Video/Modern Express]

The unique snack lengzheng, or steamed green wheat, can usually be found on street sides in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, around mid-April each year.

A Nantong native sells homemade lengzheng on a street side in the city. [Photo/Modern Express]

It is a popular seasonal snack among Nantong natives that is only available for about one month every year. Like durian fruit, lengzheng is quite divisive, with most people either loving it or hating it.

The food is made from plump unripen green wheat after the Qingming Festival, which falls on April 5 this year.

Unripe green wheat used to make lengzheng. [Photo/Modern Express]

After the green wheat is unshelled, it is stir-fried in an iron pot on a slow fire and then ground into filament with a stone mill. The wheat has a strong fragrance and soft but chewy taste.

Freshly-made lengzheng. [Photo/Modern Express]

Steamed green wheat is usually stir-fried with Chinese chives and pagoda tree flowers. It can also be used to make porridge and rice or made into cakes with glutinous rice and sesame.

Steamed green wheat is believed by traditional Chinese medicine doctors to strengthen muscles and bones, remove moisture from the body, and relieve diarrhea.