There is a saying in Nanning, Guangxi: "Heroes are sad to be beautiful, and beauties are sad to be sour!" ”
What is a sour stall?
Sour stalls refer to "stalls that sell sour foods."
Just as Sichuanese people love spicy food, Guangxi people love sour. Among the major sour fruits, Guangxi is popular for a fruit that is "bitter and sweet" to eat.
This fruit is not only found in Guangxi, but also wild or cultivated in Guangdong, Yunnan, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hainan and other places. Its name is also different in various regions.
In Yunnan, some people call it "Yunnan olive"; in other regions, some people call it "oil sweet fruit", "cow sweet fruit", "oil gold" and other names.
Abroad, India, Malaysia and other countries also have this fruit, usually called "Amla", can be transliterated as "Alam", but also often called "Indian gooseberry".
But here, we still take the name in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" as the standard, calling it "emblica fruit".
The "Compendium of Materia Medica" has a saying: "Its taste is bitter at first, and it is sweeter for a long time, so it is called Yu gan!"
Bitter fruit
Emblica, scientific name emblica, is a deciduous shrub or small tree of the genus Euphorbia, subphylla, native to tropical Asia, and there is no more accurate description of the specific region.
At present, there are 2 countries with the largest number of cultivated emblica fruits in the world, one is China and the other is India.
Emblica fruit is very hot in foreign countries, but it is relatively deserted in China for a long time.
The main reason is the unique flavor of emblica fruit.
Some people say that emblica fruit is sour and not sweet, tastes like gooseberry, can not be eaten fresh, can only be used to process into other agricultural and sideline products, in most of the sweet fruit as the mainstream of the region, it is difficult to become popular.
This statement is not very accurate.
At present, wild emblica is certainly relatively sour, but the taste of commercialized emblica varieties can no longer be easily judged by very sour and bitter.
Nowadays, commercial emblica fruit eats, the taste is closer to the "bitter and sweet", just eat the first bite, feel bitter, sour, astringent, but you just have to endure the beginning of the "bitter", when you eat the second bite, you will feel that the taste of this emblica fruit has undergone a qualitative change, become "sour and sweet", become more and more delicious and sweet, and then chew more and more sweet.
"At first, I don't know the bitterness in the fruit, and then I eat the sweetness in the fruit!"
The flavor of emblica is very similar to Su Qi'er in Stephen Chow's movie, enjoying the wealth of the world, and also tasting the sufferings of the world, and finally being bitter and happy.
Guangxi Pingnan emblica fruit
Emblica is not only unique to Guangxi, but it is Pingnan, Guangxi, that really makes emblica famous.
Pingnan Yuganguo refers to Pingnan County, Guigang City, Guangxi, which is one of the earliest areas in China for commercial cultivation of emblica. Langliao Village, Danzhu Town, Pingnan County, is a "Yuganguo Village" in one village and one product, famous for growing Emblica fruit.
Guangxi Pingnan in thirty or forty years ago there have been people in the commercial cultivation of emblica fruit, but the market at that time was as bitter as the emblica fruit at that time, those years consumers are basically the pursuit of "sweet fruit", the sweeter the fruit the more market, like wild emblica fruit, basically belong to the "waste" of the fruit, no one wants to spend money to buy and eat.
Fortunately, Pingnan Yuganguo still relies on its own persistence and ushers in the "bitterness and sweetness" of this industry.
With the explosion of various niche drinks, over the years emblica has gradually embarked on the road of popularization, many emblica have been used to process into various types of drinks, for a time swept out of Guangxi, there are a number of loyal emblica fans in various places. The industry is also "bitter and sweet." ”
In 2016, the output value of Pingnan emblica exceeded 160 million, and the planting area reached 18,000 mu.
In 2019, Pingnan emblica has become a national geographical indication for agricultural products, which is the only production area in China that has been rated as a national geographical indication for agricultural products for the cultivation of emblica fruit.
Pingnan Emblica is also famous for this.
How to eat emblica?
In Guangxi, most of the ways to eat emblica used to like to eat pickled acids.
Someone will sprinkle some chili noodles and marinate them before eating.
Some people also seal the emblica in an airtight container, marinate it in salt water for many days, and then eat it, eating its "sour and salty" taste.
But most of these emblica fruits are old varieties or wild emblica fruits, small in size, sour and bitter in flavor, with little pulp.
Nowadays, the commercially cultivated emblica fruit, large in size, the average single fruit can reach 15g, is 2-3 times that of wild emblica fruit, the flesh edible rate is high, and the degree of sourness has dropped a lot, and it is no longer so "difficult to swallow" to eat directly, while retaining its unique flavor of "bitter and sweet", it also makes its taste more popular.
Perhaps, today's emblica fruit can really gradually try to become a popular fresh fruit, which has become popular in China.
What do you think?