#我来唠家常#
The past and present life of a coconut
In Hainan, the news that "the Bureau of Parks and Forestry cut down coconut trees, triggering protests from citizens" must be staged once a year. After all, in the hearts of Hainan people, the coconut tree is a loyal "friend of mankind", and the intimacy is equivalent to the old yellow dog that has been with the family for many years.
▲ Almost every Hainan person will have a few towering coconut trees in front of and behind their houses. Photo/soogif
In fact, Hainan is not the origin of coconuts. Indonesia and the Pacific Islands, which are further south than Hainan Island, are the ancestral home of coconuts. Around 4,000 years ago, people living in the Malay Archipelago began to cultivate coconut trees. The Malay Archipelago is separated from Hainan Island by only one South China Sea.
▲ Unripe coconut. Photo/Visual China
As a very vigorous plant, even after 110 days of immersion in the ocean, the coconut can still grow and sprout after encountering the soil, and during these 110 days, the coconut can even drift 4,828 kilometers with the waves. I don't know which brave coconut took the lead in starting the "fantasy rafting", drifting across the ocean from the Malay Archipelago or beyond, landing on Hainan Island, and since then it has been camped and "settled" here.
▲ Green coconut piles are the most common scenery in Hainan. Photo/Visual China
"Leave the Luo Xu Yu (a "Xu Evil"), benevolent and lu. "Xu Yu, that is, the coconut tree. In Sima Xiangru's Shanglin Fu, the coconut appears for the first time in Chinese literature. Coconut, known as the "first juice for health", has a sweet taste that has also captured the taste buds of gourmets Su Dongpo. When he lived in Dan'er, Hainan (now Danzhou City, Hainan), Su Dongpo poured ink and praised its taste after drinking coconut water: "Tianjiao Day drinks all the silk, and the wine is not waiting for the ceremony." ”
As a fairy fruit with "one thing and ten uses", coconut with great nutritional value is known as "a pharmacy in a bottle" by Filipinos. The title of Hainan "World Longevity Island" is not unrelated to the coconut that occupies half of the diet of Hainan people. "Invite drunk guests by scarfing, and pay the empty shell to the crown master. "In addition to the sweet coconut water and crispy coconut meat, the hard coconut shells can also be used to the fullest, and they are carved into a variety of exquisite shapes.
▲ At the top of the coconut shell, there are three small round dots the size of a coin, from which it is easier to cut. Photo/soogif
"Coconut's "Pattern" Edible Guide
As a coconut island, the tall coconut trees and the green coconut shells stacked in the street shops are the most common sights in Hainan. In the "Compendium of Materia Medica", Li Shizhen described coconut as follows: "It is not hungry to eat, and it makes people happy." How can such an appetizing fruit escape the skillful hands of the people of my "big eating country" who are good at making delicious food?
▲ Hard coconut shell, with its own coconut fragrance, is an excellent container for cooking coconut-flavored food. Photo/soogif
Coconut water, coconut water丨Water growing on the tree
Sweet coconut water is a unique summer drink for Hainan people. On the beach full of coconut trees, lying on a chair leisurely, holding a coconut with a peeled coconut in his hand, and taking a sip on the inserted straw, the sweet coconut water sinks rapidly down the esophagus, and the heat in the body is gradually "lost", and finally the cool coconut water is all expelled.
▲ Sweet coconut water, cool and relieves the heat, is praised by Hainan people as "water that grows on trees". Photo/Visual China
Compared with the juicy and translucent coconut water, the milky white coconut water is more "out of the circle". Driven by an earthy pop style coconut water brand, milky white coconut water is many people's first impression of coconut, and therefore, coconut water is also called coconut milk.
▲ Coconut water is mostly milky white, which is made by mashing and filtering coconut meat, and the taste is richer. Photo/soogif
After the coconut water is drunk, the coconut flesh left in the inner shell of the coconut is the most charming thing about the coconut. Take out the coconut meat and crush it, squeeze out the milky white coconut pulp, add water and filter it, it is sweet and smooth coconut milk. Unlike the sweetness of coconut water, coconut meat adds a strong flavor to coconut water. If coconut water is reminiscent of the scorching sun in Hainan afternoon, then a glass of coconut water is like a breeze on a summer evening in Hainan, gentle and pleasant.
▲ Coconut meat can not only be made into coconut water, but also into desiccated coconut, coconut cream and other foods. Photo/Visual China
Coconut jelly丨"Coconut-flavored" pudding
Once you accept the psychological suggestion of "coconut = seaside", no matter how hot the summer day, holding a coconut, it is as if you can feel the cool sea breeze. The cooled coconut jelly is twice as cool, no matter how hot and dry the heart is, it can be soothed by this coolness.
▲ The flesh of the coconut emperor is more porcelain-dense and has a natural coconut fragrance. Photo/soogif
Coconut jelly is mostly made of ripe coconut. Compared with the semi-ripe coconut green that is cut into a house shape, the flesh of the coconut king is more porcelain. Most of the time, time is the best ingredient for a delicious taste. After time precipitation, the juice is richer and sweeter, and the flesh exudes a natural taro aroma.
Beat the coconut meat into coconut milk, mix it with coconut water and fish film flakes and simmer for a few minutes, then pour the boiled soup back into the coconut shell and put it in the refrigerator for nearly 10 hours. Next, it's time for the icy coconut jelly to save the heroic moment of summer.
▲ Coconut jelly, which has been refrigerated for nearly 10 hours, has a Q-elastic taste, like a pudding with a coconut milk flavor. Photo/Visual China
When the coconut lid is lifted, a coconut-flavored white chill wafts out, tempting diners to wave a spoon and take a big bite. The milky white coconut milk has long been turned into a smooth and delicate jelly, and when you bite into it, the coconut jelly turns into a bag of water in your mouth. A mouthful of custard, a mouthful of frost, the milky fragrance mixed with the coconut fragrance, crossed the throat, danced around the mouth, and set off a coconut-flavored "typhoon".
▲ Coconut jelly, with its beauty and deliciousness, once became an "Internet celebrity" food that diners queued up to buy. Photo/soogif
Refreshing and cooling丨The healing taste of summer
How popular barbecue is in the night markets in Northeast China, how popular Qingbuliang is in the night markets in Hainan.
▲ Sufficient inner material to replenish and cool. Figure/Network
"Daddy's tea in the morning, refreshing and refreshing in the evening". In the evening, the sunset slowly disappears with its tail in tow, and the residual heat is still steaming on the earth. At this moment, a bowl of refreshing and refreshing is the best way to drive away the heat. As one of the favorite desserts of Hainan people, Qingbuliang is spread in every corner of Hainan Night Market. The Qingbuliang with excellent taste and appearance is not an "Internet celebrity" food that was born in recent years, but a medicinal diet invented by a military doctor more than 2,000 years ago.
▲ Haikou 15-minute convenient life circle, such a stall sells breakfast in the morning and Qingbu cool in the evening. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
According to rumors, after Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms, he set his sights on the Baiyue region of Lingnan. In 219 BC, Qin Shi Huang appointed Tu Sui as the main general and Zhao Tuo as the deputy general, leading an army of 500,000 to the south to pacify Lingnan. The invincible soldiers of the Central Plains were defeated one after another in the hot and humid Lingnan, and the army's combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. In order to replenish the physical strength of the soldiers, the military doctors used lotus seeds, lilies, sand cucumbers, cishi, barley, etc. as raw materials to make a pulp, and added coconut water to make a medicinal porridge that was both cool and warm. After eating, Zhao Tuo sighed with emotion: "The food clears the heat and replenishes the vitality, and this thing can be called refreshing and refreshing." ”
▲ The most primitive Qingbu Cool, the inner material is mainly lotus seeds, lilies, gourd seeds and other important nourishing ingredients. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
After improvement, ingredients such as fruit pieces, taro balls, and ice cream have also become frequent customers in Qingbu Liangli. But no matter how the ingredients change, coconut, as the soul, will always adhere to the "bottom line of dignity" of refreshing and refreshing the taste of cold coconut. The plump fruit, when it meets the teeth, bursts into juice and opens a "fireworks display" in the mouth. The coconut water with ice ballast is cool and smooth, giving people a feeling of touching the soul, and it is not bad for the healing taste of summer.
▲ After the improvement of Qingbuliang, fruit pieces, ice cream and other flavors are added, and it has increasingly become a new favorite between people's teeth and cheeks. Figure/Network
Coconut rice丨Authentic Hainan flavor
Rice is the versatile king of food, and coconut is also the finishing touch to many delicacies. When these two foods meet, it is not a taste dispute of "the east wind overpowers the west wind", but complements and cooperates with each other, bringing a unique taste to the table of Hainan people - coconut rice.
▲ Coconut rice is one of the most traditional foods in Hainan. Photo/Visual China
Among the folk foods of Hainan, coconut rice has a very high demand. The birth of a coconut rice is inseparable from the cooperation of various parts of the coconut. The sweet coconut water poured out of the fresh coconut green coconut is the best water source for cleaning glutinous rice. The coconut shell from the coconut meat is a natural cooking container for coconut rice. After filling the coconut cup with glutinous rice, the milky white coconut water is infused to inject soul into the coconut rice.
▲ Because the coconut rice after cutting is mostly boat-shaped, coconut rice is also known as coconut boat. Diagram / Diagram Worm Creative
Under the steam of water, the coconut water is fully immersed in the glutinous rice, and the crystalline glutinous rice is dyed with a translucent color. In the mist wafting out, the coconut flavor slipped out first, and the mellow aroma of glutinous rice followed, intertwining with the sweet taste of the body. The finely minced coconut meat is wrapped in the rice grains, and a chopstick is picked up and sent to the mouth, where the fragrant glutinous rice and the crispy and sweet coconut meat are hugged together at zero distance, glutinous and creamy.
▲ The coconut meat wrapped in rice is the highlight of coconut rice. Figure/Network
Coconut chicken hot pot丨"heartthrob" on the table
On the table of Chinese, hot pot is definitely a "heartthrob". A small pot has the most inclusive bearing, which can shake all things. Different ingredients, arranged and combined in the hot pot, the amazing taste often comes from the collision of different ingredients.
▲ Coconut chicken hot pot provides another way to open hot pot for hot pot lovers with light taste. Photo/soogif
The coconut chicken hot pot that occupies the table of Hainan people is born from the famous coconut chicken in Hainan. "Three coconuts and one chicken" is the most authentic chicken eating practice of the Li people in Hainan. After the coconut water boils, put the chicken into the pot and cook for a few minutes, the high temperature urges the excess fat of the chicken, and the rich fragrance of the coconut soaks into every pore of the chicken.
▲ The essence of coconut chicken hot pot lies in the coconut-flavored soup. Before eating, start with a bowl of coconut chicken soup, which is appetizing and warm. Figure/Network
The dipping sauce can be called a must-have for hot pot. Kumquat sand tea sauce is a perfect match for coconut chicken hot pot. In the mouth, the salty and fresh sauce neutralizes the oiliness of the chicken. The tender and crispy chicken bursts out with a rich coconut aroma in the mouth, adding a fragrant aftertaste to the light chicken. In one pot, all kinds of flavors cancel out and coexist, just like a life with all kinds of flavors.