Qianjiang Evening News hourly news reporter Shi Wen
In the lotus pond in late autumn, only the residual lotus remains.
In the early morning, the men went to work in the vegetable fields.
The plants that have been planted in the land are always the "four beauties" of the water town of pointed white lotus root, big red robe water chestnut, white jade ci mushroom and polder zi zi bai, and the first to come out of the pond in autumn is the old lotus.
Unexpectedly, in the hustle and bustle of Hangzhou City, there are such quiet Jiangnan water towns.
Chongxian Sanjia Village in the north of Hangzhou, the hometown of hand-cut lotus flour in the West Lake, ushered in the most important harvest season of the year, and every household made hand-cut lotus flour in the busy season.
To make lotus flour, be sure to use the old lotus root in autumn and winter, and the agricultural work of digging the lotus root in the early morning will continue from late October to March of the next year.
Hand-cut lotus flour, which was once given to foreign guests as a national gift, is now the most popular online version of the low-grade version of the mechanism lotus powder, and its price is only 1/3 of the hand-cut.
The people in the village eat lotus flour, only the contestants cut it, there is no other option.
The reason is the processing of mechanical lotus powder, from wet powder to dry powder to go through 160 ° C high temperature drying, not only nutrient loss, flavor will be greatly reduced; and from the powder to the granule shaping process, and will add sucrose to enrich the taste, eating is not as natural, additive-free hand-cut lotus powder health, so almost no one in the village.
Old bottom hand-cut lotus powder, from wet powder to dry powder is natural precipitation, sun drying, flavor substances better retained, eat is the authentic taste.
Hand-cut or mechanical? Sharp-eyed old customers can be recognized at a glance.
Looks like a cold infusion, granular is the mechanism of lotus powder, thin as a cicada wing like snow white small pieces, is the authentic hand-cut lotus powder.
The production process of traditional lotus flour is complex.
Fresh lotus out of the pond to clean, pounded into mud and filtered repeatedly, natural precipitation into lotus blocks; clever old aunts with one hand to take the lotus block, the other hand kitchen knife "rubbing" into small slices.
One pound of flour can cut more than 1,000 small pieces, and ten pounds of lotus can make a pound of hand-cut lotus powder. Three or four aunts are busy all day, and they can produce up to 50 pounds.
In sanjia village this season, the yarn net bamboo flat in the small courtyard of the farmhouse is covered with lotus powder of white flowers, bathing in the sun piece by piece, slowly evaporating moisture at the same time, precipitating a fresh and elegant charming taste.
Authentic hand-cut lotus flour, there are also sold on the Internet, but the price is 100 yuan / kg, the village farmhouse is now sold, the price is very affordable, as long as 40 yuan / kg.
Just like buying tea, go to the farmhouse to buy lotus flour, you can also taste it first and buy it later.
However, the brewing of lotus powder is a technical job, and the handicapped people soak powder, basically playing the useless sublimation from solid to fixed.
To brew a bowl of lotus flour, the correct posture is: cool hydration powder, boiling water brewing, rapid stirring to dissolve the paste, after brewing the hand to cut the lotus powder color powder toot, smell the fragrance, eat sweet.
That taste, but the mechanism of clear soup and water lotus powder can not be reached in a lifetime.
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Source: Qianjiang Evening News Hourly News