"In August 15, Grandpa made mooncakes for me..." In Chengxiang Town, a traditional pastry with a history of more than 20 years is well-known - double hemp crisp. At that time, every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the homes of the people in the city would prepare double hemp crisps.
The craftsman Yuan Yuming is the third generation of ma crisp inheritors, and also the "family" who creates the business card of Qingbaijiang cuisine - Yuan Mo Shuang Ma Crisp.
01
Traditional pastries face extinction
In Yuan Yuming's memory, Chengxiang Town used to be the county seat and the center, and the rush every three forks and five minutes made it a "net red punch point" in the surrounding area. At that time, the tour and food culture were in full bloom, and the shortbread on the stall made Yuan Yuming, who liked pastries since childhood, remember it vividly, which was called a crispy softening slag.
In 1984, the food factory of Chengxiang Supply and Marketing Cooperative gathered the most authentic folk handmade pastry chefs, and Yuan Yuming had the honor to learn pastry technology and experience in the food factory.
Because of his delicate mind and his fast and serious learning, Yuan Yuming was taught by the pastry chef and mastered the local traditional pastry making skills, including hemp cake. Later, due to institutional reform (traditional handmade pastries did not meet the needs of the market at that time), the local food factories in Chengxiang were closed, and traditional pastry crafts such as hemp cakes were also facing the loss of transmission.
02
Made at night and sold during the day
Yuan Yuming knows that the traditional pastry making process is complicated, and it is even more difficult to make a delicious pastry. He couldn't bear to let the traditional craftsmanship disappear, so he began to make pastries at night and sell them during the day.
"Hemp cakes, delicious hemp cakes..." Shouting through the streets of the city, "Come and taste it, crisp and fragrant..." "Don't don't, it doesn't look delicious..." However, the daily hemp cake always picks out how much to go out and how much to bear back.
"No one buys it, what else is there to sell?" The people around him were dismissive; he could only smile bitterly.
Time never fails to live up to a persistent and serious person. Slowly, Yuan Yuming had customers, and there were repeat customers, and then there were new customers. Word of mouth is building day by day, and more and more people like the taste of this hemp cake.
"The double crisp filled with Sichuan peppercorns, sesame seeds, peanuts and winter melon sugar is rich in layering, and it is numb, crispy and fragrant, which makes people feel endlessly evocative." Guests from outside the province ate it for the first time and fell in love with the taste of double crisp.
03
Double hemp crisp has an "ID card"
Yuan Yuming always wanted to let Ma Cake go further. "Changing the thinking of small workshops" became a big step for him to seek innovation and change. With the support of his relatives, he pooled his money to open the Chengxiang Town Yuan Xiangyuan Food Factory, got up early and greedily, and changed while doing it. The small hemp cake was constantly renovated in his hands, because the filling had peppercorns (hemp to eat) and sesame seeds on the skin, and was named "double hemp crisp".
While retaining the old taste, old craftsmanship and constantly developing new varieties, Yuan Yuming issued a production license and built a standardized factory in 2007; in 2016, he registered a trademark for double hemp crisp. Since then, with its "identity", "Yuan Mo Mo Shuang Ma Crisp" has finally stepped out of the streets and entered the supermarket, becoming a household name in Qingbaijiang.
"There were not many snacks I could eat when I was a child, and the double crisp was the happiest memory at that time." For the people who have eaten double hemp crisp for more than 20 years, double hemp crisp is not only a product, but also a feeling.
As a traditional craft, double crisp is also very nerve-wracking in the face of the renewal of the food industry. "This kind of impact has caused us a lot of pressure, all we can do is inherit, double hemp crisp is a traditional food after all." Over the years, many people have persuaded Yuan Yuming to cater to the market to do the taste that everyone likes now, but Yuan Yuming has declined, because "it is not called double hemp crisp." ”
Nowadays, Yuan Yuming has also specially applied for the intangible cultural heritage for double hemp crisp, hoping that more people can inherit the culture of double hemp crisp and promote the taste of the old city box. His son Yuan Yingzhi was the one he specifically called back to "inherit the family business". "Now that he is older, he needs young people to run it, and his son is young, hoping that he can break another path for double hemp crisp on the basis of preserving the tradition."
Reporter: Cheng Jun
Edit: Cong Ru
Editorial Board: Liu Wenfang, Lan Guohua