Chwinamul (aster scaber greens)
CautionThe blanched leaf itself has no documented canine toxicity, but chwinamul reaches the table tossed with minced garlic, soy sauce, salt and perilla oil. The dressing is the hazard, not the green.
This food guide has not been reviewed by a veterinarian. It summarises general information from sources and should not be used to decide whether a food is suitable for an individual dog or to assess an emergency.
Check before feeding
Check the precautions before sharing
Risk depends on preparation, ingredients or amount. Read the precautions below; body weight alone cannot establish a safe portion.
Signs and health concerns
This list includes both observable signs and conditions identified through examination or testing. It cannot establish the cause or whether an exposure is safe.
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Loose stool
- Excess gas
- Abdominal pain
- Excessive salivation
- Lethargy
- Gastrointestinal blockage
- Pale gums or mucous membranes
- Haemoglobin in urine
More about this food
Chwinamul is a Korean spring green — Aster scaber — blanched and dressed as a banchan side dish. There is no published evidence that the leaf itself poisons dogs, but there is also no reason to feed it. What actually causes harm is how it is prepared.
The dressing comes first. Chwinamul is almost always tossed with minced garlic, plus soup soy sauce or doenjang, salt, and perilla or sesame oil. The Merck Veterinary Manual puts the clinical threshold for raw onion in dogs at 15-30 g/kg, states that garlic is 3-5 times more toxic than onion, and notes that raw, cooked, dehydrated and granulated forms all cause toxicosis. Sulfur-containing oxidants damage red blood cells and form Heinz bodies, and hemolysis typically appears 3-5 days after the meal, not the same evening. On the salt side, Merck reports signs at about 2-3 g/kg and a lethal dose near 4 g/kg. AKC's rule for vegetables is the same one that applies here: serve them plain, without seasoning, salt, sugar or oil.
Dried chwinamul — muknamul, the winter form — is the second issue. Unsoaked, it is a wad of tough fibre that does not break down. A small dog that swallows a piece can end up with an obstruction, and the rehydrating water is usually salted too.
Fibre load is third. AKC warns that too much fibre leads to GI upset, diarrhea and vomiting, and can cause bloat. A dog who cleaned a plate of greens is gassy and loose for that reason.
Provenance is fourth. Greens foraged on a hillside in spring can come home mixed with a lookalike plant. If it needs identification before a person eats it, it does not go to a dog.
If your dog ate some, watch for drooling, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain over the next few hours; if he cleared a seasoned dish, skip the watching and call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435. Then check gums and urine daily for five days, looking for pallor, yellowing, or cola-colored urine. Do not induce vomiting at home. If you want to give your dog greens, plain steamed cabbage or broccoli chopped small does the job, with all treats kept under 10% of daily calories.
Frequently asked questions
- What about plain blanched chwinamul with no seasoning?
- Blanched and undressed, it has no documented toxicity, but it also offers your dog nothing he needs. If you want to try it, chop it small and give a very small amount, and stop if you see gas or loose stool. Any new vegetable starts as one piece.
- He ate a whole plate of the seasoned side dish.
- That dish contains minced garlic, soy sauce and salt, so call your veterinarian now rather than waiting. Have your dog's weight, roughly how much he ate, and the time ready. Then check gum color and urine color daily for the next five days.
- She got into the dried greens before they were soaked.
- Dried greens are tough fibre that does not digest and can clump, which is an obstruction risk in a small dog. Repeated vomiting, a painful belly, or no stool means go in immediately rather than watching at home.