Sweet potato trivia Zhong Nanlin
Under the warm winter sun in the countryside, Da Xiu's sister-in-law hugged the big fat boy next door, raised her hands, weighed his weight, and said: "Ouch - mustard sweet potatoes - oh." It is a Hakka compliment that the child is as strong, healthy and likable as a sweet potato.
Sweet potatoes, as the name suggests, are certainly a species of fanbang. Native to the Americas, it spread to Luzon (Philippines) and Annam (Vietnam). During the Wanli years, it was brought back by the Fujian and Guangdong ancestors in Nanyang. Fujian, Guangdong and Gan are connected by mountains and rivers, and it is estimated that it soon spread to our side and became an important food for the Hakka people.
My father moved to Henan from the volunteer army, and by that time, my parents had already given birth to several older sisters and brothers in front of me. The eldest sister often said that she grew up drinking fresh milk when she was a child. However, in the three difficult years of the sixties, food suddenly became scarce, and adults were only allocated one bun, and children were only allocated half a bun. Adults are hungry and their feet are swollen, and children are hungry and their muscles are thin. Grandma wrote to the people: Hurry home, and plant a few sweet potatoes on the ridge gang, so as not to starve the children.
So, the mother dragged several children back to her hometown. Just as many families in that period could not survive hunger in the cities and had to return to the countryside to find a bite to eat. Later, relying on the sweet potato offerings on Linggang, my sister and brother were no longer starving, and there was an extra sister and me at home.
My mother said that when I was young, my grandmother used to call me "sweet potato", not because I was fat and strong, but on the contrary. My thinness and sickness made the elders very worried, afraid that it would be difficult to bring it, so I called it "sweet potato" to pin on good wishes. It's like some people nicknamed "mean dogs". "Cheap" is actually vigorous. Dogs and sweet potatoes are vigorous.
I lived in the countryside with my peers and ended up not starving, but slowly "grown" by sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes and shredded potatoes
However, in my memory, being "stretched" by sweet potatoes is not necessarily a good experience.
Sweet potatoes, as a second grain, have two ways to fill the stomach: one is to eat directly, and the other is to eat shredded potato rice.
Fresh sweet potatoes are steamed under rice. Although the production team divided some grain, it was not enough to eat. I remember that back then, each person could only eat one bowl of rice per meal. The remaining space in the stomach had to be stuffed with some sweet potatoes.
Now people eat sweet potatoes, exquisite and delicate, in front of the baby to enjoy. And when we were young, even if we hated eating, we had to eat, and there was always something in our stomachs to grind! Therefore, often eat "eye dragging (eyes oblique and white)", especially high-starch "northeast potatoes", a bite, a mouth full of powder, saliva is simply not enough. "Neck infarction (choking in the esophagus)" is common. If you've ever seen ducks eating chaff and can't swallow it, they keep stretching their neck plates (necks) and keep "twisting (twisting the esophagus)", perhaps, that's a low-dimensional projection of us eating sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes are not easy to preserve, but as an important supplementary food, this problem must be solved. Therefore, the Hakka people made sweet potatoes into shredded potatoes.
In winter, Daxiu's sister-in-law will use a special shredded potato brush the large and uniform sweet potatoes into silk, and then dry them in the sun. In this way, it can be stored for a long time. When it comes to "passing the spring (spring is green and yellow)", shredded potatoes replace sweet potatoes and become the main supplement to rice.
The Hakka used to cook rice.
Sister-in-law Da Xiu boiled half a pot of water. After the water boiled, she scooped a tube and a half meters (the measuring instrument for scooping rice, the barrel of eight taels, and the horn [guo] of three taels) and put it in the water. When the rice was half-cooked, she grabbed three more handfuls of shredded potatoes and put them in the pot. She had to calculate what proportion would make the barn's grain eat until the summer harvest. If you don't work on rainy days, you have to put half a tube of rice less to leave a margin.
When the shredded potatoes are soft, she uses the "stove" to scoop up the rice and shredded potatoes, put them in the kiln and continue steaming. When I first ate shredded potato rice, I felt the aroma of northeastern potatoes. After a long time, when I opened the rice bowl, my stomach was "stuffy". But it's better than not having enough to eat.
Although sweet potatoes worked hard, there were also "bad reviews" in my childhood memories.
Longnan has a slippery mouth: "Jiangdong horse camelina lotus pond cane, turnip green cabbage water west dam", our brigade added a sentence at the back: "sweet potato taro eggs are under the ridge", there are many sweet potatoes and taro under the ridge.
Our production team is three or four miles away by the Yewuba River, and there is a sand dam soil, which is especially suitable for growing sweet potatoes. I remember that the year before the rural area went it alone, the team divided sweet potatoes, and my family estimated that there were thousands of pounds in their name, and they were piled up in the soil into a small mountain bag. The production team distributed the food rations directly in the sweet potato soil, and each household picked it up by itself. At that time, the eldest sisters were married, and my brother was in Zhengzhou with my father, only my sister and me, who was in junior high school, were at home. My mother worked at the medical station, had asthma for many years, and couldn't do heavy work. Therefore, the work of picking sweet potatoes is only done by our sisters and brothers. By the time it was "dark", every household had finished picking, and we had not yet picked half of it, and we were anxious to die. On the way home, we had to pass through a graveyard, and I remember that my shoulders hurt so much that I was afraid to die, and we went home crying as we walked.
Later, it was discovered that the people who "ate state grain (public officials)" on the crossing were all serving bowls and eating "clean rice", and they could even wear silk stockings without shredded potatoes, and they were indeed well-dressed. My mother said to me, "'Hase (Hard)' study, if you get into the study hall, you can eat the national food." ”
It is estimated that the people crossing the river are also afraid of sweet potatoes. In the early 00s, the mobile company was a very bullish unit, and Manager Cai of a county company grew up in Shuijiangba. Once I went to Shenzhen and stayed in a five-star hotel. When ordering food, a tall waiter beauty came over and very enthusiastically helped Manager Cai order, but she said: "Do you want to serve sweet potatoes for the staple food?" ”
Manager Cai waved his hand and said, "Don't, don't." ”
"Sir, the sweet potatoes are fine." The beauty is smiling.
Manager Cai looked a little nervous, and his hands waved one after another, saying, "Don't don't, really don't!" ”
"Sir, sweet potatoes are really good for the stomach." Beauty is gentle and patient.
Manager Cai was anxious, stood up, half a head shorter than the beauty, and said angrily: "If you say no, don't don't, don't don't don't!" ”
"Sir, sweet potatoes are space-grade food, there is a scientific basis." The beauty was a little aggrieved and explained.
Manager Cai picked up the handbag on the table, clamped it under his armpit, and said in Longnan dialect with annoyance: "Food, food, food, eat mustard eggs (eat my birds). To the hotel of Mustard, Lao Tzu still eats sweet potatoes, love should be some (damn it)! ”
Manager Cai pulled up his friend and flicked his sleeves away.
It can be imagined that sweet potatoes are also unforgettable bitterness in Manager Cai's memory.
Hakka winters are busy, and the crop of sweet potatoes alone must be dealt with before the Spring Festival. The northeast potatoes with "origin (high hunger efficiency)" are made into shredded potatoes, and the small and complete ones can be used to make potato mirrors; The red heart sweet potato and white heart sweet potato, because of less starch, more water and high sugar, can be used to make dried potatoes; The remaining damaged sweet potatoes, and the sweet potatoes left over from shredded and dried potatoes "guo dao" (leftovers), can be used to wash sweet potato flour.
Dried potatoes
Sister-in-law Da Xiu selected some sweet potatoes with red hearts, and picked a load of grain baskets to Zhentou early, she wanted to take advantage of the eldest lady and grandma (the eldest lady and concubine) who had not yet come to wash their clothes, and washed the sweet potatoes in advance, so as to save the water to make "Wen Gonggong (very turbid)".
Zhentou is a place where the house is washed intensively, and the clear water flows quietly, and white steam is bubbling on the surface of the water. Sister-in-law Da Xiu bent down and directly put the grain basket into the water. She specially wore "high-barreled galoshes (knee-high rain boots)" today, stepped on the washing stone slab with one foot, stepped on the grain basket with the other, stepped on the water up and down hard, stirred the sweet potatoes under the buoyancy force, and rolled and rubbed each other in the grain basket. The flowing water will carry away the mud that has been rubbed. The washing machine we use now is actually this principle, but the big sister-in-law wears galoshes' feet, which is equivalent to the wave wheel in the washing machine barrel.
In about a quarter of an hour, the water flowing out of the grain basket turned back clear, indicating that the sweet potatoes were washed.
Sister-in-law Da Xiu lifted the grain basket and picked up this load of sweet potatoes to the head of the well. At this time, there were already several "post-born cubs (young men)" and "sister (girls)" in the well.
Chun Zhu saw that Sister-in-law Da Xiu picked up a load of sweet potatoes, quickly moved the bucket away, and greeted: "Sister-in-law Da Xiu, the mustard has already dried some potatoes." ”
"Hey——, dry mustard "sangan (time)" When the frost comes, the dried sweet potatoes are sweeter! Sister-in-law Da Xiu put down her burden and exhaled white steam from her mouth.
While chatting with the young man, Daxiu's sister-in-law carried a bucket of water from the well, washed it in the grain basket, and did the final cleaning of the sweet potatoes.
After breakfast, the sun had already come out, and Sister-in-law Da Xiu took a bamboo chair and a washing board, and came to the "back of the wall (outside the walls of the house)". It sets the washboard between the rims of the empty basket, then picks up sweet potatoes from the grain basket and cuts the potato chips while driving them down the empty basket.
As the sun rises, the back of the wall is already "warm and warm". At this time, a few "old grandmothers" who "Dongjin Dongjin Dong Tou Tong (wearing Hakka headbands)" and "gi Jin Blocking Skirt (wearing Hakka apron)" came. While "Zagne Head (basking in the sun)", while "letter fire barrel (baking a fire cage that can be lifted)", and "Chaotian (chaotian)" with Daxiu's sister-in-law. Before I knew it, Daxiu's potato chips had been cut.
She picked the potato chips to the Linggang field behind the hall (ancestral hall), unfolded the "Shude (bamboo weaving mat for drying things)", and straightened the potato chips one by one. As the old saying goes: "The wind is strong and dewy, and the cloudy day is frosty", these days the weather is good, and the temperature difference between day and night is large, it is a day of heavy frost.
In two or three days, after sun and frost, the potato chips were semi-dry.
In the morning, Sister-in-law got up early again. As soon as the sky was dark, the pot was already steaming, and the aroma of sweet potato sugar was permeated with the stove (in the kitchen). This potato chips have been steamed for more than an hour, and the original full potato chips have collapsed by a third, and the hard potato chips have become ripe and soft.
The steamed dried potatoes should be quickly picked up on the ridge and spread out one by one to dry. At this time, the dried potatoes are soft, hot and sweet. Sister-in-law Da Xiu also specially picked a small red heart sweet potato with half a small basket (bamboo weaving utensils), which was not cut with a knife. After steaming, she placed them in the corner of the "bamboo mat" to dry.
Steamed dried potatoes cannot be exposed overnight, so every day before the sun goes down, you have to go to Linggang to collect dried potatoes. I have to go back in the morning. Every day when the dried potatoes are harvested, the taste of the dried potatoes is different. However, in order to preserve it for a longer time, dried potatoes should still be dried as much as possible.
Dried potatoes are a must-have for Chinese New Year hospitality. In the past, there was no candy in the countryside, and dried potatoes with high sugar content were children's favorite sweets and New Year snacks.
Ten thousand trees grow in spring, and it is time to close the mountain. During this period, it is not allowed to cut down trees for firewood. Villagers can only go farther to collect "dry firewood", and when they travel far away, they come back with a load of firewood, often hungry, have low blood sugar, and will "faint (dizziness)", then the sweet, soft dried potatoes brought when "collecting firewood (family members come halfway to help pick firewood)" is the best reward.
A few years ago, I ate some commercial dried potatoes, which looked very good, and the taste was "too much (not too much)". Although the dried potatoes are also soft, they are easy to stick together, "killing the family (inseparable)"; The appearance is orange-red, translucent, but "twitter (no toughness)", not chewy. And the dried potatoes of Daxiu's sister-in-law are soft on the outside and soft on the inside, with skin and meat, not hard and not sticky, black and red, "twisting Zhuang" (good flexibility) and "Jingqiao" (good chewiness). The taste also has the flavor of sun, frost and hay.
Just now, I said that Daxiu's sister-in-law dried half a small sweet heart potato. Because this dried potato is not cut, the thin sweet potato skin wraps the high-sweet sweet potato heart inside, which is more soft.
Making "dried sweet potatoes" is a unique skill for Daxiu's sister-in-law. She mixes dried sweet potatoes with "sake lees" and puts them in a special clay pot. Because the "" is still fermenting. The aroma of glutinous rice wine penetrates into the flesh of dried potatoes through the thin skin of dried potatoes. Surrounded by the fragrance of clay pot soil, the plant sugars of dried potatoes continue to react with the rich microorganisms in the wine, and under the catalysis of time, a Hakka masterpiece - "sweet dried potatoes" is deduced.
"Sweet dried potatoes" can be opened, mellow and fragrant, chopsticks clamped, soft but not broken, the mouth melts when the skin is broken, a pool of gel, softly spread on every micron of the taste buds of the tongue, let the taste buds awaken one by one, and then slowly intoxicated in sweetness.
Potato mirror
Potato mirror, a New Year snack, I haven't seen it for a long time.
Large sweet potatoes are used for large purposes, and small sweet potatoes are used for small purposes. Inches of sweet potatoes can also be sliced, dried into white potato chips for use.
In the past, in rural areas, oil was in short supply, and food such as frying was rare. However, every family will have a sandbox pot. The coarse sand contained in the sand pot is used for stir-frying "rako (scalding skin)", stir-frying "sweet beans (peanuts)", and stir-frying potato mirrors.
When the coarse sand was boiled in an iron pot until it was half hot, Daxiu's sister-in-law "rushed (pulled)" a few white potato chips from the basket. Immediately turn the sand up with a "spatula" and bury the white potato chips in the sand. After a while, the sand made a sound of "Oh, Oh, Oh", which is the only remaining moisture in the white potato chips, baked by the high temperature of the sand, breaking through the skin of the sound. At this time, the sister-in-law kept using "vegetable picking" to pick up the sand from the bottom of the pot, and the white potato chips also turned around, so as not to be burned by the high temperature of the sand. Sister-in-law Da Xiu watched the white potato chips in the sand slowly turn yellow, and then turn red; Then, turning caramel-colored, the potato chips are covered with a "small bag supported by air", and the potato mirror is fried.
After cooling, the fried potato mirror tastes crispy and delicious, sweet and delicious. If you eat the soft dried sweet potatoes wrapped in a hard potato mirror, it will be soft and crispy, mellow and fragrant, and it will have a wonderful taste.
Sweet potato flour
In the mid-to-late 00s, a new black tea product, Jin Junmei, was launched at a high price.
One day, drinking tea at a friend's house, he took out the precious golden junmei for everyone to taste. When Jin Junmei is brewed, the soup is golden yellow, ripe and delicate, the mouth is soft and smooth, and the taste is rare and elegant.
I took a sip, and as I closed my eyes and immersed, a smell of the winter countryside of the seventies and eighties floated leisurely in my brain, filling between my noses. Suddenly, I said to myself, "Yes, this is the smell of muddy water after washing sweet potato flour." ”
When I opened my eyes, I saw my tea friend glaring and saying, "Tearing eggs——, expensive lala mustard (expensive) things, warm mustard qiong (like this) is like a sprinkle." ”
We knew that we were momentarily gaffe, and hurriedly laughed: "It's no wonder, it's not strange, the forehead belittles Jin Jun's eyebrows." It evokes the familiar and warm taste of my childhood. ”
Another friend answered: "Uh——, just hey the taste of mustard sweet potato flour and water mustard." He turned his head and laughed at his tea-making friend: "Fall a few (lying groove)!" It doesn't matter what kind of mustard eggs, and hey (we) are all country mustard (grown up). ”
The friend who made tea also seemed to hee: "Hey just hey sprinkles, don't directly (speak) out to sprinkle ——。 ”
I remember that in that era, when the whole house was filled with the smell of Jin Junmei, Daxiu's sister-in-law was also washing sweet potato flour. The brigade has a rice milling room. In winter, the other end of the diesel engine pulley in the rice milling room will also use a belt to cover a machine for beating sweet potato flour. At this time, every family wants sweet potatoes, and Daxiu's sister-in-law also queued up for half a day to get a load of sweet potatoes.
Now, she has set up a "bucket house" (a large wooden barrel for washing sweet potato flour and pickling vegetables) next to the gutter, filled most of the "barrel house" well water, and set up a "rice rack (wooden bracket to support when filtering things)" along the "barrel house". She took out the washing powder bag (a special bag for fine sweet potato flour made of coarse cloth), scooped three "Shuyan" machine sweet potato paste with a "big wooden scoop", tied the mouth of the split bag, put it in water to soak, then scooped it up and squeezed dry on the "rice rack", and the water brought out the starch liquid and flowed back to the "barrel room"; She soaked it in the water and squeezed it again. Until the extruded water is clear, indicating that the starch has been squeezed, pour the potato residue in the washing powder bag into the grain basket. In this way, after all the sweet potato paste is washed, the "barrel room" is covered with a "touch basket (a bamboo weaving utensil larger than the barrel room that can hold things to dry)", and the process of washing powder is completed.
The next time is to wait for the starch to settle. The filtered sweet potato dregs are directly taken to the harvest field to dry. Sweet potato dregs are generally dried and fed to pigs in pig food; However, when food is in short supply, some people also use it to grind into flour and make "potato dregs dumplings" to eat.
The next morning, Daxiu's sister-in-law judged that it was another dry and sunny day. She took a powder bag and a kitchen knife and came to the "barrel room". Crouching down, she gently tapped the wooden stopper under the "barrel room" with a knife, and when it was loose and shaky, she pulled out the stopper. The clean water in the "barrel room" rushed out vigorously until all the water was drained. At this time, the bottom of the "barrel room" presents a white layer of starch. Sister-in-law Da Xiu leaned over to the bottom of the "barrel room", used a kitchen knife, knife by knife, shoveled up the wet starch one by one, put it in a powder washing bag, and then picked it to the grass field to dry with "Shude". Under the clear sun, sweet potato flour can dry in a day. Sun-dried sweet potato flour, packed in an "ang" (altar jar) and ready to use.
In addition to a small amount of "vegetable (additives when cooking)", most of the sweet potato flour is used to make snacks, such as touching pearls, scalding spring skin, bundling spring tubes, dusting mallet fish, brushing powder, nou flour dumplings, cannon win fish, win meat, cannon foot arm oil fruit, make plate cover balls, fish balls, meatballs and so on.
A simple sweet potato, in the hands of the Hakka people, can be ever-changing. Yes, the life of the Hakka people, like their interpretation of sweet potatoes, is varied and colorful.
The Hakka family also has the personality of sweet potatoes, no matter where they are, they can take root and have strong vitality.
The ingenuity and tenacity displayed by the Hakka people on sweet potatoes must have been unexpected by those people.
Source: See Mountain Academy
Editor: Guo Yanhua
Reviewed: Liao Xiaorui