Speaking of Cigu, I first thought of Cigu's bitterness, a kind of bitterness that burrows into the core of the tongue, but is not bitter to the form of evil causes, a slightly sweet taste at first, and then when the sweet feeling has not yet spread, the bitterness hidden in the sweetness spreads along the cheeks of the teeth and along the tip of the tongue, and it is impossible to say whether it is disgust or like. The literary scholar Wang Zengqi once fought over Cigu's bitterness in his "Pickle Ci Mushroom Soup", only because his teacher Shen Congwen said that Cigu has a style than potatoes, and he also felt that Cigu, who is everywhere in his hometown, does have a style than potatoes, so he ignored the bitterness of Cigu, so that later he often wanted to eat Cigu, I think he was not only because of Cigu's style, but also because of Cigu's unique bitterness, after all, it was the taste of hometown and childhood.
When I was a child, my bitterness for My Aunt Ci, from disgust to patience to liking, was completely brought out by my grandmother. At that time, Jiangyin's Cigu was not very many, but it was close to the New Year, the Wenheng bridge vegetable market in the city would have such a large bamboo basket cigu to sell, as to whether it was necessary to supply coupons for the Spring Festival, I don't remember, but I remember that this cigu seems to grow in the mud and lotus root-like tone, wash up the mud water with black paint and ink, wash out a white tuk tuk, especially the towering spiked buds that grow on the head of the oval Cigu, especially the style, so the literati rioters like to paint for it. Thus, Shen Congwen's so-called Cigu character was achieved.
I know Cigu also from this Cigu buds, Chinese New Year's Eve three walls, washed cigu, grandma will enlarge the steel cup pot to cook for half a day, and then on the four xiantai began to peel the skin of cigu, so, then dismantling the heavens and dismantling the heavens, I will not go away, obediently follow my grandmother, climb on the round stool, get close to cigu, grandma sighed boiling hot cigu plucked the bud tip, the bud tip was thrown to me, I used the square chopsticks to scrape the skin and fluff of cigu, the scraped out of the cigu is the soup that is the bottom of the Chinese New Year's Eve rice, is the boiled meat roast cigu, The main accessory of the three yellow chicken roast cigu. The tip of the bud was given to me, and the dexterous little hand effortlessly picked the skin of the Cigu bud, that small, sticky, fragrant, sweet, and of course bitter Cigu bud is my booty, almost every year before the New Year, this Cigu bud is wrapped up by me, and it is this Cigu bud that makes me like Cigu.
Cigu's delicious is from that bowl of buckle chicken to start, the New Year, Dongxiang people always like to do a lot of big dishes, these big dishes can eat for many days, cold in the big pot steaming is a bowl of good dishes, of which the buckle chicken is the most flavorful, Jiangyin people buckle chicken will put Cigu, grass chicken cooked and boneless, cut into the bottom of the bowl, the top is to lay a layer of sticky Cigu, steaming into the steamer, the fresh aroma in the chicken is infiltrated in Cigu, after the buckle, it is even more so that Cigu is completely immersed in chicken juice, glutinous crisp, fresh and fragrant.
Of course, the Cigu in the Chinese New Year's Eve rice is also delicious, because with the infiltration of various broths, the accompaniment of ten kinds of meat dishes, the Cigu as a vegetable is very popular, just because there are so many delicious things that night, at that time we had already had enough soup and vegetables shortly after the hot dishes came up, climbed off the round stool in the courtyard, and asked Grandma to shout several times over and over again before going back, and the Cigu in the small bowl ate two, bitter, sticky, and a little sweet and red ling It's just far less delicious than Cigu buds, I still think so.
That year and month Cigu was still quite a lot, probably not far from the origin of Cigu, so for a period of time Cigu did the world, what dishes are put Cigu, eat a little resentment, no wonder Mr. Wang Zengqi did not like Cigu, even more dislike Cigu bud, I also do not like Cigu, but like the heart of the Cigu bud. Of course, I also like Cigu slices, one year Cigu is big and thick and more, my father suddenly wanted to make Cigu slices, my father's knife skills are excellent, a kitchen knife is also very sharp, so he cut out the Cigu slices are thin and large, washed in the well water, washed off some of the starch on Cigu, slightly dried, thrown into the oil pan one by one and fried, until the Cigu slices are slightly yellowed and fished up, drained oil, sprinkled with pretzel powder, the taste is more fragrant and tastier than the oil silkworm watercress, the wind is crisp, and the loose and crispy, is the best snack for that young child.
Now that I think about it, cigu's goodness does not seem to be because of how delicious Cigu is, but is affected by the adults' left and detoxification nagging, feeling that this thing is much more delicious than medicine anyway, besides, it can clear heat for a while, it can diuretic for a while, moisturize the lungs for a while, and can also protect the heart for a while, as if it is a panacea, although I did not have any disease when I was a child, at most there are one or two sores on the arms on the legs, but after hearing about it, I also feel that Cigu this thing is a good thing. So, when I became a father, I also learned a serious education for my son to eat well, and now the children can ignore this set, WeChat Baidu knows more than me, and also advises me backwards, " This substance has a high content of heavy metals, easy to pollute, and it is better to eat less. From then on, I bought Cigu to choose the place of origin, and Cigu in industrially developed areas bought less.
But in any case, Cigu as one of the famous "Eight Immortals of Water" in Jiangnan, naturally has its existence, otherwise, this Cigu has recorded its edible and medicinal uses since the beginning of Tao Zhongjing in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and for thousands of years people have almost taken Cigu as an important ingredient and food in Jiangnan, publicized in dishes, rendered in Chinese medicine, wantonly in the hands of painters, and walked under the poet's pen. Otherwise, Master Shen Congwen would say that Cigu had passed the potato? When Wang Zengqi is old, he will not forget the bitter aunt when he was a child? There must be a reason for them. Anyway, I like Cigu, of course, I prefer a little more Cigu bud.