Qianjiang Evening News • Hourly News Reporter Xie Chunhui Correspondent Zhang Haina Yu Pingping
On the winter solstice, the sunshine in Hangzhou is just right, everyone has sunbathed quilts, sauce goods, and some citizens rushed to the vegetable market early in the morning to fill sausages and make rice cakes in the rice cake and workshop... The fireworks in winter are pyrotechnic.
In the villages around Xiaoshan on the south bank of the Qiantang River and the Jiangdong Block of Qiantang New District, every household has been busy doing one thing recently as long as the weather is good.
Almost everyone has heard of the name "Xiaoshan dried radish", and "Xiaoshan dried radish" is served on flights departing from Hangzhou.
Today (December 21st) morning, Qianjiang Evening News • Hourly News reporter came to the village of Hezhuang Street in Qiantang New District to see how every household made dried radish.
In 2009, Hezhuang Street's "Wind Dehydrated Dried Radish Making Technique" was included in the Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
"In the past, every household dried radish was to sell and make money, but now drying dried radish is a custom, and not drying always feels that there are shortcomings in winter." The people of Hezhuang Street said so.
1] The radish is home-grown, and it is pulled with dew when it is plucked
Early in the morning, Lei Faying, a villager in the same village in Hezhuang Street, began to prepare dried turnips. The first few steps are simple, nothing more than plucking, washing and cutting turnips.
The turnips used for drying turnips are all grown at home. "We also need some self-reserved land, and every year we set aside a small area to grow turnips." Lei Faying said that the radish was planted in late summer and early autumn, and this time can just be harvested.
In the radish field of Sister Lei's house, half of the white and fat turnips had already emerged from the dirt, and the leaves were full of dew.
Sister Lei pulled hard, while pulling and recalling the scene when the old bottom dried radish. "More than thirty years ago, in the winter, every household had to make thousands of pounds of dried radish. At that time, the winter fields were full of turnips. ”
Old people in the same village said that the area around Hezhuang belongs to the beach area along the Qiantang River, and even if it was reclaimed in the 1960s and 1970s, the land in this area is still barren. "At that time, a lot of it was saline and alkali land, and there was no crop to grow, and turnips were the best grown." The old man said that at that time, selling turnips and dried radishes was almost the main source of income for the family a year.
There are two main varieties of radish used to make dried radish, one is called "one knife seed" and the other is called "flower and leaf species", both of which are white radish.
"'One knife type' is slender and long, about the same length as a kitchen knife at home." The meaning of a knife is that cutting a knife can split a knife in two. Sister Lei said, "a knife seed" radish has less moisture and strong flesh, and the dried radish made with it is the best quality.
Generally, the dried radish eaten at home is "flower and leaf species", which is characterized by a large, the disadvantage is that there is more moisture, it needs to be dried for a longer time, and the taste is slightly inferior to that of "one knife species".
Sister Lei's family uses "flower and leaf seeds" to make dried radish. She said that in addition to making dried radishes, these radishes are also regular customers at the family dinner table in winter, using radishes to stew a rib and make a soup, but it is fresh. "Eat turnips in winter, ginger in summer."
2] Delicious dried radish must blow through the northwest wind on the Qiantang River
The fresh radish that was plucked was immediately washed, decapitated and cut into small pieces.
Today, Aunt Lei pulled out twenty or thirty pounds of turnips. This is the second wave of dried turnips she has done this year. "I made some time ago, I'm already pickling, pickled and dried for a week before I can eat." She said that this year, many relatives and friends in the city have come to ask for dried radish, so she simply made some more and sent more to others.
Aunt Ray washed and cut the radish sharply, and when the knife fell in her hand, several large turnips had turned into a bunch of turnip pieces the size of potato chips. Take out the bamboo basket that dried mustard at home, spread a layer of green mesh nylon cloth, and pour the radish pieces evenly on the bamboo basket.
Bamboo baskets covered with dried radish were placed in the sunniest place in Aunt Ray's yard. "Probably four or five days of sunbathing for the first time." Aunt Ray said that in good weather like today, the sun dried quickly.
To make dried radish, the northwest wind is also quite critical. Why people in the village can't dry dried radish in the summer, the reason is here.
On the south bank of the Qiantang River, in winter, the northwest wind is fierce. "Now there are more high-rise buildings, and the 'destructive power' of the northwest wind is much smaller, and it used to be blown by the northwest wind, and the face and lips quickly dried up and cracked."
After the double baptism of the warm winter sun and the northwest wind blowing from the Qiantang River, the moisture of the radish is taken away, and the essence is completely locked in the flesh.
The basically dried radish is salted and marinated in a clay pot. After a week, under the action of table salt, the radish will precipitate water again, which needs to be dried again, and then salt is added to the pottery altar to pickle. Such a process is repeated about three times, which is called "three suns and three picklings".
After these processes are completed, the dried radish is compacted and sealed in a pottery altar, where it can be eaten at any time in the future. "100 pounds of radish can only make more than 10 pounds of dried radish."
3】 It is very fragrant when fried in the oil pot, and it is also very refreshing to eat directly
After the altar is sealed, the dried radish is further pickled and fermented.
The color of dried radish will also change from the initial white to golden yellow, and then to brown. "The longer it is sealed, the darker the color, and the dried radish that has been sealed for two or three years is the best."
Sister Lei took out some dried radish that had been made two years ago and gave it to the reporter to taste, and the dried radish looked like beef jerky. Eating directly is a little salty, a bite down a little crisp and a little tough, chewy, chewy and chewable can also taste a few sweet.
Sister Lei said that in the winter, when the family drinks porridge in the morning, she will slightly stir-fry the dried radish in the oil pot and put a little pepper, which is a good side dish.
There are many ways to eat dried radish, and you can fry a edamame or peanut. At the New Year dinner, many people will also have a bowl of dried radish soup at home, which is very refreshing.
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