The ancient city of Jiangnan is scattered with many folk snacks. As you wander the streets and see a wide variety of cuisines of all tastes, you're sure to salivate over them. But what I love most is one of the pure and thick flavors of osmanthus sugar porridge root. At that time, my family lived in Langhou Street, which was connected to Beimen Bridge and Ji'e Lane in the north and Changjiang Road in the south. Here the city is bustling, merchants gathered, traffic is busy, bustling. In the afternoon, there is often a middle-aged man, carrying a burden, walking the streets and alleys, selling osmanthus sugar porridge in this area. The man selling osmanthus sugar porridge lotus, a burst of shouting and cheering in the home, echoing in the depths of the alleys and busy streets one by one. The merchants of the street shops and the small merchants and vendors who do business along the street, when they hear the shouting of the osmanthus sugar porridge root, they can't help but pay two cents to buy a bowl of osmanthus sugar porridge root, and hold the bowl with a white porcelain spoon on the spot, spoon by spoon, which is not only to taste the smooth and sweet glutinous rice porridge and soft glutinous lotus, but also to use the cushion hunger when the stomach is hungry. They finished eating a bowl of sweet osmanthus sugar porridge lotus, and their stomachs were also full, and this bowl of osmanthus sugar porridge lotus had to support them until they returned home after dark. When he sold out of a piece of land, he would turn along several surrounding streets, one alley, one alley after another. He came from the alley with his burden on his shoulders, and his shouting sounded as deep and loud as the sound of a bell, which could be heard from afar. When he was tired, he put down his burden to rest, wiped the sweat on his face with a white cloth towel hanging around his neck, and knocked the bamboo board in his hand with a small bamboo stick, and the bamboo board made a crisp and pleasant "clicking" sound, knocking a few times, taking a break, and shouting a few times: "Selling sugar porridge lotus..." My mother knew that I was a small hungry cat and loved to eat osmanthus sugar porridge, so she walked out of the gate with my hand, stood on the side of the road and shouted softly: "Sell sugar porridge lotus"! The man who sold sugar porridge lotus heard this and replied happily: "Oh, here it comes!" He put the burden on his shoulder for a shoulder, turned around and walked toward us, took a few steps, stopped the burden in front of us, stopped, reached out and lifted the heavy copper pot lid, and in an instant a fragrance of osmanthus sugar porridge came to the nose, this faint, sweet fragrance was refreshing, with a strong lotus fragrance, especially fragrant. The man who sold sugar porridge lotus picked up the bright copper spoon and looked at his mother and asked: "How much does the eldest sister buy"? The mother replied, "Buy two cents." I stood curiously in front of the burden, my eyes blinking into the pot, trying to understand. But the burden was higher than mine, and I was still unable to see on my tiptoes, and at this time, a curiosity prompted me to think more eagerly to see what was going on! There is only one purpose in the mind to see what is in the pot! I moved my feet slowly, my body kept moving forward, and my mother saw it and hurriedly said, "Be careful not to burn!" ”
I took advantage of my mother's lack of attention and squeezed into the stall of the saucepan, and I finally saw the chic and antique copper pot in front of me, the diameter of the pot was about one foot, and the depth of the pot was two feet. The pot is clean and shiny, like a mirror. The pot is steaming, and you can see several sections of glutinous rice in the pot, red lotus, a circle of the pot is stained with thick porridge with lotus red, and there is a wood stove under the pot to heat and keep warm. The firewood in the stove crackled from time to time, and the firewood put into the stove hall was a split section of tree sticks, because it was a little damp, the wind blew out, and a blue smoke would appear in the stove hall repeatedly, and the man could not open his eyes, and his eyes were stared at by the sore and painful tears, which was really sad, so he had to keep rubbing his eyes with his sleeve. When the mother saw this, she sighed and said to the man, "It's really not easy for you to do business!" The man took his mother's words and said: "This is not bad, the most bitter thing is that it is rainy, the sky is not light, wearing a coat, carrying a flat sack to walk for ten miles, to Mochou Lake to queue up to buy lotus, buy the mud lotus in the basin with water soaked, eat breakfast to clean non-stop." The appearance of the lotus is brushed off by a brush in the water, and each hole of the lotus should be inserted with a goose feather tube, and the holes should be cleaned one by one. He said to his mother, "Lotus is usually washed four or five times." Wash the lotus root to put it up and pour water on it, after the water is drizzled, then fill each hole of the lotus root with glutinous rice, fill it and seal it and then put it in the pot and cook it for four or five hours until it is cooked. After saying that, the man scooped a large spoonful of lotus red glutinous rice porridge into the bowl in the pot, and then used a clip to clip a piece of cooked lotus root from the pot and put it on the cutting board, and gently cut a few thick and even lotus slices with a knife, and the glutinous rice in the lotus hole was full, oily, and a little bit came out, and then the man used a knife to pick up the lotus root and put it into the bowl. The man who sold sugar porridge lotus said to his mother: "Eat my family's sugar porridge root, although you can rest assured, many people have eaten and said that my family's sugar porridge root is delicious"! Then he looked at me and said, "Do children like to eat?" I nodded. I don't know if he, in order to please us or out of habit, finally added a little sugar porridge with a spoon and handed it to his mother in a bowl. The mother carefully took the bowl filled with sugar porridge and asked the man curiously: Why did you run so far to Mochou Lake to buy lotus roots? The man said: The lotus of Mochou Lake is different from the lotus in other places, the lotus here is nine holes, the lotus node is short and thick, the flower lotus is the most delicious in Mochou Lake, it is white and tender and fragrant, the lotus root for sugar porridge is used is the old lotus, the old lotus here is thick and soft. He also told his mother that the water of Mochou Lake had never dried up, and the silt in the lake was particularly deep and fertile, which was very suitable for the growth of lotus roots. In the event of drought and no rain, the lake is not much at all, it is always a flood of blue water, that is because there are mournful women in the lake, and the sad tears shed when she misses her relatives day and night.
According to the man who sold sugar porridge lotus, his family has been doing this business since his grandfather's generation, and he is inheriting his grandfather's craft. He didn't want the craft to be lost in their hands! Although it is a small business, the profit is not large, but he has to support the family with his own hands! Now the brothers are selling sugar porridge lotus, the business is not bad, they rely on honesty and trustworthiness, real materials to win the reputation of the people of the ancient city.
Mother also loves to eat his family's osmanthus sugar porridge lotus, one is the raw material is authentic, the porridge is put in the high-grade glutinous rice, cotton sugar, honey made of osmanthus flowers; the second is the lotus in the mouth and pink and sticky and crispy. Take a bite of the lotus, the lotus wire is more than one stretch, and with a gust of wind, countless roots as fine as silk are crystal clear and flutter in the air. The lotus wire is wrapped around the face, nose and ears, and the brakes are fun and arouse my infinite interest. I kept pulling the lotus wire with my hand, the lotus silk seemed to be fascinated with me, a moment wrapped around the mouth, a moment wrapped around the nose, a moment wrapped around the ear, has been circling around my face, as if deliberately teasing me, I can't get it off, my mother couldn't help but smile when she saw me, and finally my mother took out a handkerchief to help me wipe off the lotus wire on my mouth.
Decades have passed, the times are changing, there are fewer and fewer people selling sugar porridge lotus, and the people who walk the streets and alleys to pick up burdens have disappeared without a trace. Nowadays, it is not easy to eat a delicious and refreshing bowl of osmanthus sugar porridge root at the doorstep of your home. Today, osmanthus sugar porridge lotus, like many snacks, is habitually called food by the people, which is the admiration and love of the people of the ancient city for traditional snacks, and is the deep accumulation of folk food culture spread over the past hundred years. Where there is a great food that can be called a delicacy, it must be from the hands of the master, the workmanship is exquisite, the materials are excellent, it is an authentic taste, and it makes you full of mouth and mouth, and you can't forget it for a lifetime. For decades, it is not easy to achieve the same taste, the same quality, and the same traditional craftsmanship! This is the adherence and inheritance of traditional cuisine by the people of the ancient city! I love to eat osmanthus sugar porridge root, not only its quality is authentic, the taste is unique, it is also a memory and symbol of the times! That high-pitched, simple shouting will not disappear in my heart because of the long time of the times, it will remain in my memory forever.