Text | Lu Songjun
Tell the | Yu Xin
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Today's Story
Every year during the Lantern Festival, I will buy some Dingfeng Real Lantern Festival, which has become a habit for many years.
I still remember when I was a child, as soon as I arrived on the fifteenth day of the first month, my father would lead me to the Dingfengzhen store. As I watched the hilarity, I clutched the corner of my father's clothes tightly, afraid that I would be squeezed out.
Dad's favorite Lantern is filled with sugar, roses, sesame seeds, and nuts, which can be boiled, fried, and steamed, which means reunion and happiness.
I've always felt that the Lantern was packed. It wasn't until I grew up and became an employee of Dingfengzhen's century-old store that I knew that the Lantern was not packaged. So how is the Lantern made?
When I came to the Lantern Tangyuan stall bed located in the Main Store of Four Roads in Changchun City, the lively scene and familiar counter in front of me instantly brought me back to those unforgettable Lantern Festivals sixteen years ago...
In those years, after New Year's Day, we entered the preparations for the 40-day Lantern Production Conference.
Making Lantern stuffing is not something anyone can do. Because the production steps of Dingfeng Zhen's Lantern and Tang Yuan'er are exclusive recipes, unique production processes, and high technical content of fillings, those years are generally taken care of by Master Yang Xiuhua, the fifth generation of Dingfeng Zhen and one of the heirs of the national intangible cultural heritage.
Master Lu Songjun and Yang Xiuhua
Since I was a child, I have always been full of curiosity about making Lanterns. I always wonder, why is this handmade Lantern so uniform and so round?
If you don't see it with your own eyes, you really can't imagine it. The Lantern is actually "shaken", and this mystery is in the Lantern Filling.
The preparation method of the filling, first of all, the master will be in proportion to the specifications of the ingredients, after the preparation, to make the filling blank type. Master Yang Xiuhua, at this time, will pick up the ruler stick and beat the knife according to the specifications.
The meaning of the knife is to cut it into pieces, one knife and one knife. The knife should be stable, evenly forced, beaten into a small cube of the same size, placed neatly and frozen for later.
The next process is to use a tool called a basket. First pour the dried glutinous rice flour into the basket, pour the water evenly with a watering can, and then throw the frozen Lantern Filling into the basket filled with glutinous rice flour in proportion and begin to shake.
When shaking, it is also necessary to pay attention to the technique, and to shake evenly in a clockwise direction. After shaking a few times, water again, continue rolling on the glutinous rice flour, and shake a few more times. Repeatedly, the Lantern Group in the basket gradually became rounder and larger. It's exactly "the Lantern that comes out of the rock, the reunion that rolls out."
The master said that the glutinous rice flour used in shaking the Lantern is made of stone grinding process, which can maximize the preservation of the nutrients and natural aroma of glutinous rice, and in the process of shaking, the Lantern should be fully collided, and the glutinous rice flour can stick more firmly.
The lanterns that come out of the shake are viscous and soft and strong to eat until the size of the lanterns fully meets the standards. It takes about 15 minutes to make lanterns by hand, and each lantern is about 50 shakes, and each lantern weighs about 25 grams. This is how the Lanterns are shaken out.
Master Yang Xiuhua and five apprentices
China is known as "North Lantern, South Tangyuan", but the preparation method of Lantern and Tangyuan is completely different. The Lantern is "shaken", but the tangyuan is "wrapped".
Lantern and Tangyuan are representative delicacies of the fifteenth day of the first month, and they symbolize the reunion of the family and the fulfillment of all things in the Chinese New Year' taste, and have been passed down, inherited and passed down to this day.
After retirement, no matter at any time or on any occasion, as long as someone mentions the Lantern festival and Tang Yuan'er, I will be overjoyed, and then I will tell the story of the "Lantern That Shook Out, Rolled Out reunion" that remained in my memory...
Edit: Luo Chuan
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Audio Producer: Liu Xingda
Image: Photo.com
Data verification and correction: Zhenyu
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