Qianjiang Evening News hourly news reporter Shi Wen
"Dried fruit queen" chestnuts are eaten raw as fruits by Changsha people?
Do you know? Recently, the chestnuts that circle Changsha come from the mountains of Zhejiang. It is not a chestnut, called a cone chestnut, and belongs to the nobility of chestnuts.
In general, chestnut trees are wrapped in 2 to 3 chestnuts in each green mature bulb, but only one chestnut grows in a mature bulb.
In terms of production, the cone chestnut is naturally not as high as the chestnut, but the taste and quality are better than the "only child" cone chestnut who lives in the villa.
Raw and sweet taste, steamed, fried, grilled to eat the cone chestnut powder sticky sweet, plus the beautiful shape of the water droplet, so that foodies have a double enjoyment in the taste buds and appearance.
1] The smallest wild cone chestnut, only the size of peanut kernels
Cone chestnut is a wild resource in the southern zhejiang region, a small wild species, chestnuts are only as large as peanut kernels, peeling up is troublesome, but the taste is sweet and fragrant!
Some of the cone chestnut trees in Qingyuan Mountain are hundreds of years old, and the chestnuts of the old trees taste particularly good.
A century-old cone chestnut tree
However, most of the cones we eat now are medium and large fruits that have been improved by breeding experts, and the general specifications are more than 30 fruits per kilogram.
Qingyuan, the main production area of Zhejiang cone chestnut, is now in normal production of 30,000 mu, half of which is on the high mountain at an altitude of 800 meters, due to the large temperature difference between day and night in the high mountains, which is conducive to the accumulation of cone chestnut sugar, so the variety is particularly outstanding.
However, Dr. Jiang Xibing of the Institute of Subtropical Forestry of the Chinese Academy of Forestry told the hourly news reporter that the production of cones in Fujian next door is relatively large, with a total area of about 1.2 million mu, and they also have alpine cones like Wuyishan there. Unexpectedly, wuyishan not only produces tea, but also produces delicious chestnuts!
Among the northern chestnuts, the best tasting is the Qianxi chestnut in Tangshan, Hebei.
The absence of cone chestnut in the north does not mean that it is not possible to grow it. Dr. Jiang Xibing said: "Although the cone chestnut is native to the mountainous areas of Zhejiang and Fujian, we have found that the northernmost part can be transplanted to the area south of the Qinling Mountains. ”
Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhejiang cone chestnuts have been mined, more precisely "open picking". Ripe cone chestnut is the fruit of the night, the mountain labor shortage, in order to save labor, the mountain people early in the morning to go into the mountain to pick up the cone chestnut, if not picked up in time, eat a night of dew, like this weather for another day, chestnuts will soon break.
There are many varieties of Qingyuan's cone chestnut.
Hu Cunjin, a local farmer, told the hourly news reporter: "The earliest mature variety is called 'Summer Red', which has been put on the market, and now a large number of marketed ones are called 'oil cones', the taste is the best, in addition to horseshoes, yellow cone heads and other varieties." "Lao Hu can go into the mountains every day to pick up 500 catties of cone chestnuts, and the wholesale price is more than 9 yuan a catty."
2】 Daily sales of 30,000 catties, Changsha people love to eat raw cone chestnut
Li Chengwu is Qingyuan's largest cone chestnut buyer, and now he buys about 30,000 catties a day.
Next, there will be more mature cone chestnuts in the mountains, with 50,000-60,000 jin of daily acquisition peak, mainly sold to Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Changsha, of which Changsha sales account for 40%, and these cities in the Pearl River Delta and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are not artificially cultivated.
"We Qingyuan cone chestnuts are mainly sold in supermarkets in other provinces, like consumers in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, who like to steam and eat and boil chestnut chicken soup to drink; Changsha people like to eat cone chestnuts raw, and generally street fruit shops and vegetable markets will have our cone chestnuts this season." Li Chengwu said.
Although the hourly news reporter is also from Zhejiang, the small friends in northern Zhejiang are probably like me, only eat chestnuts, never seen cone chestnuts.
Dr. Jiang Xibing introduced: "Cone chestnut is rich in nutrients, rich in a lot of starch (50%-70%), rich in protein, fat, B vitamins, etc., the content of vitamin B2 is at least 4 times that of rice. ”
In addition, chestnuts also contain potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese and other mineral elements, although not as high as hazelnuts, melon seeds, but much higher than apples, pears and other ordinary fruits, especially potassium content is prominent, than potassium-rich apples are 4 times higher.
In order to promote this seasonal cuisine in the mountains, recently, Li Chengwu's daughter-in-law opened a live broadcast number on Douyin to sell cone chestnuts, and the best one-night record was 200 singles. Unfortunately, there are not many people who know about cone chestnuts, and the business of live streaming goods recently is still bleak.
3] One look, two sweeps, three peels, the doctor teaches you to buy chestnuts
Medicine believes that chestnuts are sweet and warm, non-toxic, and can be eaten by most people.
Chestnuts are high in energy and contain not low sugar, so eating chestnuts should avoid eating too much, especially diabetics.
Now, chestnuts have been served annually through cold storage, and the street food of sugar-fried chestnuts can also be perfumed throughout the seasons.
Chestnuts are not tolerant to storage, and the storage properties of cones are slightly better than those of chestnuts, but they are also not resistant to storage, and it is appropriate to eat them immediately after maturity.
If you buy a lot of fresh chestnuts at home, to refrigerate, it is generally more appropriate to choose 2-4 ° C on zero.
There is a doorway to buy chestnuts, Dr. Jiang Xibing told the hourly news reporter: "We pay attention to one look, two sweeps, three peels." ”
Before you buy, it is best to press the chestnut shell by hand to see if it is strong, not strong may be a bad seed; the shell is bright and oily, the size is full, and it is better to feel sinking; fresh chestnut peeling, the flesh color should be more watery yellow and white, and the color is dark to indicate that it is not fresh.
In addition, the case is dull and dull chestnuts, which are usually not very fresh. Sometimes in order to look good, some people will spray some water, sprayed chestnuts, it is recommended that you do not buy.
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