△ Liuyang Xiaohe Township, villagers harvest the new valley through the net red scenic spot stacked dam, Liuyang River source water clear rice. Photos/Reporter Qian Ye
△ "Jade needle incense" is a typical rice in the "rich and handsome".
△ The villagers of Xiaohe cleared out the ears of rice in the threshing machine.
△ Small river township such as landscape painting.
△ The new rice produced this year is particularly delicious.
People's feelings about rice are divided, on the one hand, they require good taste, and on the other hand, they pay attention to the famous regions. In fact, there is no need to struggle, it can produce high-quality rice with good taste, even if the region is not famous, its environment will not be too bad.
Geography Jun in the source of the Liuyang River - Liuyang Xiaohe Township encountered an indica called "jade needle incense", regardless of the appearance, taste is unexpected surprises. In the autumn of October, the harvest season of "jade needle incense", just in time to catch up with the first batch of new rice, the natural rice fragrance came to the nose and ironed into people's hearts.
Good rice watered from the source of the Liuyang River
As a double-cropping rice late rice variety, the excellence of indica rice "jade needle incense" has spread, and many places in Hunan have sown "jade needle incense". However, the taste of rice varies according to local conditions and varies from rice grower to person.
Although the planting area of "Jade Needle Fragrant" rice in the Xiaoxi River Basin is not large, it has received many praises on the market, how good is it? First of all, putting aside the aura of "jade needle incense" itself, just looking at the growth environment can explore one of the two, it is grown up drinking water from the source of the Liuyang River.
The "jade needle incense" rice planted in the Xiaoxi river basin of Liuyang Xiaohe Township is grown in landscape paintings. This area belongs to the hinterland of the Luoxiao Mountains, where overlapping mountains enclose a small basin through which streams and their tributaries flow slowly. Overlooked by drone, the fields are crisscrossed and colorful. On the side of the small river beach near the Die Dam in Xiaohe Township, the egrets fly over, and the nature is quiet, a secret place.
"Jade needle incense" is suitable for growing in light rice blast areas below 650 meters above sea level. In the territory of the Xiaoxi River Basin, there are many hills and few plains, especially in Xiaohe Township, the average altitude of the flat land is only 180 meters, and the average altitude of the mountains on the east, west and south sides is 500 meters to 700 meters, which is the ideal home for the growth of "jade needle incense".
The Xiaoxi River is the main irrigation source of the "Jade Needle Fragrance". This is a small river originating from the Qixingling Wetland in the southern foothills of Daweishan National Forest Park, and it is one of the sources of the Liuyang River. This water is crystal clear and the water quality is excellent, it is also the protected area of the drinking water source of Changsha Zhushuqiao, and it will not be interrupted. It can ensure the irrigation water of "Jade Needle Fragrance" in different periods. The stream passes through Zhangfang, Xiaohe Township, Yonghe Township, Gaoping Township, etc., because it is a water source, and there is no pollution by any industrial and mining enterprises in the basin. In addition, the groundwater here is slate shale and granite weathered fissure water, and the mountain spring water has a high selenium content, which is an ideal water source for irrigation of green rice production. "Jade Needle Fragrance" lives in such an ecological environment, and the natural image and temperament are excellent.
But in addition to the high value of good rice, the taste is more important. The Xiaoxi River Basin is located in the low hilly area of xiangdong, and the mountain microclimate here is suitable for the formation of the "jade needle fragrance" taste. In this basin, clouds and light often alternate, and growing in such an environment, "jade needle incense" can fully absorb sunlight and rain dew. In the mature period of "Jade Needle Fragrance", the temperature difference between day and night in the Xiaoxi River Basin is large, which is more conducive to the precipitation of rice sugar and the transformation of flavor substances.
The "jade needle incense" cultivated along the Creek River
In October, the creek is golden, and when the breeze blows, waves of rice roll up in the ridges. In the "jade needle incense" planting base of Bu Guilin, a grower in Xiaohe Township, the ducks come in and out, drill into the field to play, and the beans planted on the field have also matured, I thought that these were all in order to maximize the use of land, but I did not expect that he deliberately did it, "'Jade needle incense' will be planted like this." ”
Bu Guilin is a large local grower of "jade needle incense", and his Xiaohexiang rice factory is also famous for processing "jade needle incense". He personally planted more than 400 acres of fields along the Xiaoxi River in Xiaohe Township to plant "jade needle incense", and his cooperative also planted more than 1,200 acres of "jade needle incense" in the Xiaoxi River Basin. Around this contiguous rice field, white and yellow lanterns are hung every one or two hundred meters, which he laughs at, which he calls the "mosquito coil" of the rice, and the lamps of both colors are insecticidal lamps and traps. In order to grow more ecological "jade needle" rice, he reduced pesticide spraying and used biotechnology to control diseases and insect pests, which he called "green prevention and control". At his planting base, "Jade Needle Fragrance" belongs to the "rich" type, and after the seedlings are transplanted into the field, almost every once in a while unexpected ideas appear around these rice fields.
Crops such as soybeans and corn are planted in paddy fields and along roads before and after the transplanting of seedlings, which not only grow with the rice, but also share the risk of pests and diseases. After 15 days of transplanting of "jade needle incense" seedlings, this is the initial stage of insect pests such as curly leaf insects, in order to eliminate the frequent occurrence of insect pests, Bu Guilin placed the natural enemy of the curly leaf borer around the rice field - the red-eyed bee. These fledgling insect pests no longer dare to be unscrupulous, but for the sake of safety, the red-eyed bees will be released at the same time as some traps to block the reproduction of these insect pests. In the period of frequent insect pests, yellow and white insecticidal lamps appear, they guard the edge of the field, but not once and for all, these lamps should replace the wick every month, continue to exert force, as far as possible to ensure that insect pests do not destroy the growth of "jade needle incense".
When the rice is divided in large quantities, it is necessary to protect the growth environment of "jade needle incense" in another way. At this time, it is the performance moment of the ducklings, the general rice tillers, the paddy field is slowly filled with seedlings, the hiding space for insect pests is more, and the ducklings travel back and forth in the rice field, not only can eat some pests, but also remove the weeds that grow. The "rice-duck symbiosis" is to alleviate rice planthoppers, blight, weeds, etc., and the ducks are driven out when the seedlings are eared. Bu Guilin said that by the time the seedlings were pumped to catch the ducks out, the little ducks had become big ducks. But at this time, there is still a long way to go before the rice ripens, and the insect infestation will not stop here, and he has come up with a method of releasing frogs, using the jungle law of natural enemies to ensure that the "jade needle incense" grows without worry.
From sowing to dehulling, it's all exquisite
"Jade needle incense", the "rich and handsome" of the rice industry, has a growth period of at least 114 days in the field, from sowing to shelling.
It is a variety that is particularly afraid of rice blast, so it is necessary to carry out a series of "prevention" before sowing seeds. "Jade needle incense" is a late rice species, usually planted in Hunan as a late rice for one-season rice and double-cropping rice, and the same is true in the Xiaoxi River Basin. Every year, around the Dragon Boat Festival, the "jade needle incense" is planted and bred, but in the first two months, it must be prepared with suitable seedlings. If you want to plant "jade needle incense", the seedling process must be very meticulous, which is the key to the health of the seedlings. In order to prevent the seedlings from carrying their own viruses, the seedlings should be disinfected first when ploughing, and then ploughed with green manure, and then soaked in water for at least 10 days after ploughing before the second ploughing can be carried out. This is done repeatedly to ensure that the rice fields are clean and fertile. When the ploughing process is completed, it is necessary to manually harrow the field twice to ensure that the rice field is leveled.
There is a lot of attention to the cultivation of "jade needle incense", and the planting link alone can make people face difficulties and retreat. When seeds are sprinkled into the field, they need to be dried, exchanged for hot and cold water, and even disinfected with quicklime water. These complicated steps take at least three days to complete. Before drying, choose the sun weather, spread the seeds thinly and dry for 6 to 8 hours, and then soak in cold water for 18 to 20 hours. Soaked seeds in cold water with bamboo baskets, soaked in warm water above the skin temperature for a few minutes, then drained and soaked in slightly warm water at a slightly higher temperature for about 10 minutes, and then soaked in mixed quicklime water for 72 hours. In this way, in order to better kill the rice blast, to ensure the smooth growth of "jade needle incense". To harvest better, the "Jade Needle" seedlings stay in the field for up to a month, and must be transplanted to the rice field in mid-to-late July, so as to ensure that it can safely avoid high temperatures or sudden cooling weather during the panicle and panicle periods after two months.
In the Xiaoxi River Basin of Xiaohe Township, it takes at least 118 days for "jade needle incense" to go from seedling to maturity, and after transplanting rice fields, it is also necessary to play a twelve-point spirit. It belongs to the high rod thin rod type in the rice industry, the rice rod can grow to 119 cm, and when the rice ear is filled and mature, the heavy rice grain is pressed down, coupled with the wind and rain, it is most likely to fall the pole, if this link is not well controlled, sometimes the grain is difficult to harvest. "The pole of 'Jade Needle Fragrance' is very soft and thin, easy to lodging, with my experience of planting it for more than ten years, fertilization is very important, try to avoid chemical fertilizers, use organic fertilizer, so that its pole is stronger." Bu Guilin said that the weather this year is good, the "jade needle incense" has less lodging, and the output is much better than in previous years.
The harvested "jade needle incense" drying is also different from other rice, its rice grain is slender, the rice husk is extremely thin, and it must be dried with bamboo mats. In this way, fine drying can ensure that it does not break. "'Jade needle incense' shelling is also very challenging, the previous old-fashioned rice mill, other rice can be dehulled at normal speed, "jade needle incense" is not OK, it needs to be slowed down, slowly polished to produce a complete grain of rice. In order to ensure the rice yield of "Jade Needle Incense", bu Guilin Rice Factory has upgraded the most advanced equipment suitable for it, and he said that the rice grains will not break when the "Jade Needle Incense" is milled.
Steamed "jade needle incense", wooden koshiki is a perfect match
To polish out the spleen of "jade needle fragrance" and get the best taste, it is necessary to make wood. The people of Xiaohe Township have penetrated its nature, and when steaming rice, in addition to cooking in a pot, they also use wooden koshiki to fully release the nature of "jade needle incense".
After the jade needle incense is shelled, the Xiaohe villagers who will eat it will soak the wooden koshiki in water early. This kind of cedar wood needs to be soaked in water for a day, soaking those cracked cracks until they are tightly sewn, and then boiling it again with boiling water to remove the smell of the fir itself before it can be used to steam rice. The freshly milled rice is slender, shiny white, and the shiny surface is revealed with a gentle blow, and this rice does not need to be washed many times. The xiaohe villagers know it well, and they use a special bamboo drainage basket to pack rice and rinse it under the water of the mountain spring, so that they only need to wash away the dust on the surface of the rice and firmly lock the rice fragrance.
The preparation work is completed, and the most critical link is reached - steaming. To cook a pot of "jade needle fragrant" rice that can be eaten without the need for a meal, it takes enough patience. Boil the pot of wood stove with mountain spring water, add the washed rice and stir until the water turns the color of rice soup, and when the shovel is pushed with viscous resistance, continue to use the shovel to put the half-cooked rice together with the rice soup into the drain. This way, the grains of rice can show the chewiness of the Q bomb more. The final step is to add half-raw and half-cooked rice to the wooden dumplings, which is a very test of one's cooking experience, and the rice in the drain must be gently flicked to the wooden dumplings with chopsticks to let it scatter freely, so that the steamed rice that enters the wooden dumplings is softer. The semi-cooked rice is piled into the wooden koshiki, and the exposed parts need to be loosened with chopsticks, and then a cylindrical hole is poked in the middle, so that the koshiki is easier to steam, and the rice is more easily cooked evenly. Remember not to immediately cover the lid, be sure that there is steam on the rice grain to cover the lid, so that it can be steamed.
The temperament of the "Jade Needle Fragrance" is slowly polished between the transformation of the pot and the koshiki, and finally becomes soft and sticky. After steaming in the wooden dumplings for 15 minutes, the moment the lid is lifted, the whole kitchen can be surrounded by the aroma of rice. Of course, the self-cultivation of a pot of "jade needle fragrant" rice is not only rice, it is steamed out of the grains, each grain of rice has a bright luster of oil, gently scooped with a wooden spoon, sticky but not broken. Eating rice directly tastes better, it is slightly sweet and soft, soft and elastic, making people addicted. In addition to eating all the rice, the locals will also put a bowl of green beans and rice steamed together with rice when steaming rice, so that the rice aroma is soaked in the green bean, and the emerald green of the green bean sets off the whiteness of the rice, and the two complement each other.
Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Wu Tingting correspondent Guo Yang
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