The day before yesterday, I had the privilege of eating a few grains of sand dates, and I actually dreamed of the sand date forest at night. First, a lush spring jujube forest, under the fragrance of the trees, a few friends played a game of stone, scissors, and cloth, and then the scene changed to a fruitful golden autumn. Another group of friends jumped happily on their feet, picking up the golden ones that had been beaten down, and the agate-like particles were quickly loaded into the small basket as they were put into their mouths...
Sand dates may be more common in the Western Three Banners of Ordos. It bears some resemblance to the wild sour dates that grow in the Eastern Jungar Banner. Interestingly, the skin of the sour date is thick and sweet, the skin of the sand date is thin and the flesh is sweet and astringent; the sour date is golden in color, and the sand date is light yellow, orange yellow and golden yellow.
In my hometown of Otok Banner, there are many jujube trees with thin skin and sweet flesh. It is a strong inspirational tree, and the environment in which it grows in barren, arid or wind-torn saline land. Walking in the wilderness, walking, seeing it, you will see a touch of scenery, which will always fill people's hearts with the warmth of human fireworks.
In our childhood, because of the lack of material life, the jujube tree has become our lucky tree, which makes our lives rich in color. Moreover, it is a beautiful thing or snack that we can have without any "threshold", as long as we are self-reliant and pick up by climbing trees and breaking branches.
Every year in May and June, the jujube tree blossoms, the dense branches cover the sky, and the small flowers are densely packed, the flowers are shaped like cute little bells hanging upside down, showing tender yellow flower buds on the inside and silver flower holders on the outside. When the sand jujube blossoms, there are wisps of refreshing aroma everywhere.
On the way to and from school, a few of us girls would always grab a few small branches of jujube that were blooming and clip them into the books, so the whole bag was also filled with a faint fragrance. Several thick books treasured by the family were sandwiched into the branches of jujubes that were blooming, and a few deep sucks were taken, and a sense of peaceful satisfaction suddenly emerged. And when the sun and moon have passed, and the books have been reopened, those once reading times, those days that have wandered in the country paths, and the days of taking pleasure in sand dates have jumped into the mind again and again.
Every autumn, we always look forward to it very much, because it symbolizes that our "snacks" will be much richer. The most interesting "snack" in memory is the sand date, because this cheap snack also contains a lot of our painstaking efforts and creativity.
Another Sunday in autumn is here, and it is the ripening season of the dates. The Yangshui Station, which we call the "Secondary Dam", is a forest of sand jujubes, and the jujubes on the trees are orange, brownish red, yellow and white; there are long-grained, rounded, and some jujubes have a layer of small spots like white frost on them, which makes us dazzled. A few people simply went from the south end of the jujube forest to the north end, plucked a few from each tree and tasted it, and then, determined the target, went up the tree, picked up the tree. Picking up sand dates is a slow effort, we picked them from half morning to half afternoon, and at noon we couldn't go back, so we pulled out a few turnips and vines in the nearby farmland to fill our hunger.
The dates we returned were poured into a cardboard box by us. From time to time, we pinched a few and spat out the jujube kernels. Because, the curtains strung with stained sand date kernels are the most popular and look the most high-grade in both villages and towns. When we were idle, we washed the jujube kernels, soaked them in water, and then cooked them softly, so we used a pin to put on a long thin fish net line and began to string the jujube kernel curtains, and we children felt happy to use the fruits of our labor to make such a "contribution" to the family.
Sand dates eat more, will feel astringent, and some dates, not too sweet, so we put the sand dates into the teapot, put into the brick tea block, and then put a spoonful of white sugar, boiled out of the sand dates sucked up the sugar tea, the taste is much better, sweet, soft and soft, but also added a tea flavor. After such a "craft" treatment of the jujube, the value of the body has risen, the school friends, have to take their fried soybeans, popcorn in exchange for our sugar tea dates, often caused the class bell to ring, I was also pulled to give them sand dates.
At that time, every household had a duì jiù of chōng rice in front of their doors, and once we looked at the adults scooping cake noodles, we thought of the dried sand dates that we couldn't finish eating. We used the mortar to scoop up the sand dates, and even scooped out a basin of sand date noodles, first of all, we used hot rice soup to eat, and when we ate enough, we "handed it over" to the adults, because we heard that there are many people in the village who mix the sand date noodles into the grain, steamed steamed steamed bread to eat, and the flapjacks are eaten, and there is also a different flavor!
When I woke up from the dream, the saliva still seemed to overflow at the corners of my mouth, nostalgically, tasting the simplicity and sweetness of the past.
The jujube trees in my hometown are still there, but I can no longer see the situation in the shade of the past and the stories under the trees.
And the sand dates have long made it difficult for us to swallow.
The sorrow grew.
The happiness of childhood is really overflowing with words, that situation, that kind of heartlessness, that kind of ease, that kind of casualness, those parents who love you warmly nagging... Can't go back...
▼
Follow the Ordos News Network
© Ordos News Network
Source: Xinwei Magazine, Author: Zhang Yixin
Editors: Yang Yang, Li Rong
Proofreaders: Bai Qian, Wang Shuqi