"Pickled in the winter wind, stored in the winter". The light snow festival is coming, and after entering this festival, the cold tide and strong cold air will become regular customers. In Suzhou, the Xiaoxue festival has traditional customs such as pickling vegetables and eating rice dumplings. Recently, the General Branch of the Nanshan Community Party in Baiyangwan Street, Gusu District, joined hands with the Gusu District Human Resources and Social Security Bureau to carry out the activity of "Knowing the Festivals and Welcoming the Snow", and the old Suzhou brought young people to pickle vegetables and roast rice dumplings together to experience traditional folk customs.
"Small snow pickles, heavy snow cured meat." In the past, there was a shortage of materials and many family members, so the preparation for winter must be sufficient. After being pickled, vegetables have a unique color, aroma and taste, which are easier to preserve and can be eaten for a whole winter. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer farmlands, fewer and fewer fresh snow lilies, and many old Suzhou have fewer and fewer people picking pickles because they have no utensils, no storage places, and no drying places.
During the snow season, vegetables such as snow and radish grow very fat, and some old Suzhou in the Baiyang Bay area will buy some fresh vegetables for pickling. On the same day, the old Suzhou Guan Yuying came to the Jincheng Home Central Square to teach residents to pickle vegetables on the spot, she said: "Snow Lotus must remove yellow leaves and dirty leaves when buying it, cut off the roots of Snow Lotus, wash it and hang it on a rope to dry for one night." To marinate delicious sherry, the key is to knead it well with salt and knead the juice out. ”
Only to see Guan Yuying sprinkle the salt evenly in the basin, rubbing the snow hard, gradually the vegetable juice came out, emitting a faint aroma of vegetables, on the side of the new Suzhou Wang Jinqiu also wanted to experience the happiness of pickles, she rubbed the snow hard, did not knead for a long time to feel a little tired, "The original pickles are not an easy thing." At the scene, Aunt Guan showed the residents how to pickle the authentic Taste of Suzhou, and in her hands, the original emerald green snow leaves gradually turned dark green. Aunt Guan put the kneaded snow into the vegetable jar, sealed it, and after half a month, it can be eaten out of the jar. "Pickled sherry can be fried with edamame and stir-fried shredded meat, which is our favorite flavor in old Suzhou." Aunt Guan said with a smile.
Soft rice dumplings dipped in brown sugar juice, with a bite in the mouth, soft and sweet, this is a must-eat dessert for the snow festival! In the past, the process of making rice was very complicated, requiring the steaming of glutinous rice, and the steamed glutinous rice was placed in a stone trough and mashed with a stone hammer. Nowadays, glutinous rice flour is kneaded directly with cold boiling water, kneaded into a ball, rolled into a circle and fried in a pan until golden brown, drizzled with brown sugar juice, sprinkled with soybean flour and eaten. Cao Xuezhen, a resident, said that when he was cooking rice when he was a child, he would put the kneaded rice balls directly in the firewood and roast them, and while burning on the fire, he would eat a piece of hot and crispy rice dumplings, which was very enjoyable.
With the arrival of cold air, the climate has become dry, this time should pay attention to eat more nutritious, easy to digest food, enhance the body's ability to resist cold. On the same day, the old Suzhou Ge Qianjin, Li Guijin came to the community early, after two hours of stirring and boiling, the thick and sweet health porridge warmed out of the "furnace", the aunts brought a large pot of porridge to the central square, to the residents of the community to taste, to pass on a warmth in winter, every resident who received the porridge was full of bright smiles on their faces.
Correspondent Shen Yuhong Yangzi Evening News/Purple Cow News reporter Zhou Xiaoqing
Proofread by Xu Heng
Source: Purple Cow News