Quzhou, Zhejiang has a history of 1800 years, located in the upper reaches of the Qiantang River, adjacent to the four provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, Gansu and Anhui, known as the "four provinces through the Qu" and "five roads of the general head" of the water and land transportation hub, is the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the north of the passage to Gansu, Fujian and the provinces of the west, is a place of contention between soldiers and families, and has become a place of mobile concentration of dignitaries, famous generals, merchants and warriors in Quzhou.
"Shao Yongfeng Ma Cake", the late "flax cake", was introduced to Quzhou by merchants as early as the Tang Dynasty, and flourished in the Qing Dynasty. For more than 100 years, Shao Yongfeng's hemp cake has been passed down and developed through the unremitting efforts of generations of people. Shao Yongfeng hemp cake is famous for its unique traditional production process and double-sided hemp charcoal oven baking process. Bai Juyi, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, once wrote a poem on hemp cake when he lived in Quzhou: "Flax cake is like learning Kyoto, the noodles are crispy and fragrant, and the new baking is sent to ambassador Yang who is hungry, and the taste seems to be complementary." This poem has been passed down from generation to generation in the Quzhou hemp cake shop industry, and the production of hemp cake has been circulated in quzhou for thousands of years.
Shao Yongfeng's hemp cake used to be used as a dowry, birthday, upper beam, funeral and clan ancestral hall to divide incense cakes and gifts. There are also specially customized cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival, wedding and birthday. The maximum diameter is two city feet (about 60 cm), and the weight is more than two pounds. The front of the intangible cultural heritage hemp cake is made of colorful sesame seeds (white sesame seeds are dyed with edible plant pigments), which have contents such as "Chang'e Benyue", "Qilin Sending Son", "Blessing from Heavenly Officials", "Fulu Shou", "Flower Good Moon", and flower calligraphy and painting. The production and consumption of Shao Yongfeng's hemp cake reflects the rich connotation of traditional food culture; its production skills have inheritance significance and research value.
Shao Yongfeng hemp cake baking adopts a unique hanging furnace-shaped system, divided into two layers, when baking, baking with white charcoal fire on both sides, the upper is a high fire, the lower is a low flame, and the baking time is all mastered by the experience of the artist. The baked hemp cake is based on the standard of "white edge red heart", the surface of the sesame is golden, the sesame seeds on the edge of the cake show the true color of white sesame, and its taste is crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. In the process of making hemp cakes, the best and most difficult is the hemp link, which relies on instantaneous skills. When applying hemp, there is no need to place it by hand, and when the 30 hemp cakes in the dustpan are rotated in a circle in the hands of the cake master, they will naturally be arranged according to the rules of four, five, six, five and four, forming an unequal hexagon. This "silver flying" and acrobatic performance-like technique is all based on aura and understanding. The weight of these 30 cakes and dustpans is about 2.5 kilograms, and the hemp cake master has to turn it more than 500 times a day, and it is common for the arm to be sore and painful, and the blood bubbles on the hands are common.
In 2021, Shao Yongfeng's hemp cake making skills were included in the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects.
(The picture is from the network, if there is infringement, please contact to delete)
Editor-in-charge: Wu Min