Light brownish yellow alkali water dumplings, before frying, soft on the outside and sticky on the inside; cut it into thin slices, served with eggs or bacon, stir-fry in the pan, sprinkle some seasonal vegetables after five or six minutes, and then flick a few shovels to start the pot.
It is a classic snack in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, the porcelain capital. On January 21, Wu Sheshun, who has been doing alkali water soup for 20 years, told the upstream news (weChat: shangyounews) reporter that this kind of soup began in the late spring and autumn. Wu Zixu, a famous minister of the Spring and Autumn Period, ate lye water dumplings by chance, and told the people of Wu guo of the practice, and then popularized it. During the Jingde period of the Northern Song Dynasty, porcelain workshop owners improved the alkali water process in order to retain the kiln workers. Until the 1980s, alkaline water was also a rarity, and ordinary people could only eat it during the New Year.
On January 21, in Bei'an Village, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, Wu Sheshun made lye water dumplings in a workshop. Photo / Upstream News Reporter Niu Tai
Delicious food has been passed down through the ages, and alkaline water is no longer a rarity. On weekdays, Wu Sheshun makes 600 kilograms of alkali water dumplings to supply to major supermarkets in Jingdezhen; near the Spring Festival, the output is as high as 1500 kilograms.
Wu Sheshun made the lye water dumplings, after cooking, bite a bite, can bounce teeth; take another bite, the alkali flavor of the peculiar aroma spreads in the mouth and nose.
This is a taste common to every family in Jingdezhen.
On January 21, in Bei'an Village, Jingdezhen, Wu Sheshun said that he took mountain spring water from a distant ravine to make alkali water. Photo / Upstream News Reporter Niu Tai
The legend of alkaline water
In Jingdezhen, lye water is as common as cabbage. There is a poignant legend about its origins.
Wu Sheshun introduced that in the late Spring and Autumn period, there were many wars and chaos. At the junction of Wu and Chu, there was an old man named Han Po. Her husband died of illness, and all three sons were in the army. Si'er's heart is eager for her, and she climbs the mountain every day. Poor Han Po, relying on the rice provided by the neighbors of the village. In order to save, she grinds rice into powder, mixes water to make rice, and one pound of rice can become two pounds of rice. However, after a long time, the rice will become sour and smelly. She tried to make rice from grass ash water, and sure enough, it could be stored for many days. Because the grass ash water has an alkaline taste, this kind of rice is called alkali water by Han Po.
According to legend, it was Wu Zixu who carried forward the cang. After Han Po's death, the neighbors offered lye water at her grave. Coincidentally, in order to avoid the pursuit and killing of the King of Chu, Wu Zixu, a famous minister in the Spring and Autumn Period, passed by Han Po's grave, and he picked up the rice dumpling and ate it when he was hungry. This scene was just bumped into by the neighbors who came to pay tribute to Han Po. The neighbor told Wu Zixu about the practice of Cang. After Wu Zixu arrived in the State of Wu, he was worried that the people of the State of Wu would suffer from war and chaos, so he passed on the method of making rice to the people in case of emergency.
During the Jingde period of the Northern Song Dynasty, lye water became a snack for kiln workers. Wu Sheshun said that at that time, the kiln fire in Fuliang County, Jingdezhen City, was at its peak, and the porcelain workshop owners, in order to retain the kiln workers, in addition to three meals a day, would also serve snacks made of lye water. They improved the process of alkaline water. Like porcelain, it has been passed down from generation to generation of Jingdezhen people.
On January 21, wu sheshun workshop in Bei'an Village, Jingdezhen, burned the lye water after the stall was cooled and turned dark yellow. Photo / Upstream News Reporter Niu Tai
Mountain spring boiled rice stalks
Bei'an Village, Xianghu Town, Fuliang County, Jingdezhen City, surrounded by hills. Even in winter, the vegetation on the summit is still lush.
On January 21, a light rain fell from the sky in Bei'an Village. Wu Sheshun thought it was a good sign. He said that nature is magical, and the rain falls into the hills and eventually turns into a sweet mountain spring.
Between the two hills that the villagers in Bei'an can't name, there is a small ditch, a thick water pipe is inserted in the ditch, and the mountain spring passes through the iron pipe, turns around, flows out for four or five kilometers, and drills out of the tap of Wu Sheshun's family.
Wu Sheshun caught the mountain spring with two large barrels, and after a little precipitation, it was poured into the boiler, and the mountain spring became boiling water vapor. "Poof," water vapor erupts from a thin iron pipe. Underneath the thin iron pipe, there is an iron barrel containing yellowed rice stalks and tea seed shell ash. The rice stalks tumbled in boiling water and became thicker than before. The color of the water also changed little by little, first to a light yellow, then to a brownish yellow, and after about two hours, to a dark yellow.
Wu Sheshun scooped out the dark yellow water and put it into another bucket, which was the first process of making alkali water.
Wu Sheshun believes that this process is the most important, and the water quality and the heat of the boiled rice stalks directly determine the taste of the alkaline water.
Wu Sheshun said that in the late 1990s, he began to learn to make alkali water. At the beginning, he boiled rice stalks for a long time, soaked the rice with the boiled lye water, turned it into a slimy paste, and then kneaded the rectangular lye water dumpling, and the rice would crack. If the time to cook the rice stalk is not enough, although the alkali water will not crack, the alkali taste is very light.
"Sweet mountain springs, better than tap water, everyone knows this." Use it to cook rice stalks, the same is boiled for two hours, different people cook, the taste of lye water is different, do not know what the hidden truth, all rely on their own understanding. Wu Sheshun said.
It is the unique mountain spring that Makes Bei'an Village a famous lye water village in Jingdezhen. The vast majority of the villagers in this village will make lye water dumplings, and there are 8 lye water hydrangea workshops.
The upstream reporter observed that Wu Sheshun paid special attention to the water output of the above-mentioned thin iron pipes, and also cared about how many rice stalks were packed in the iron barrels.
On January 21, in Bei'an Village, Jingdezhen, Wu Sheshun only made lye water dumplings from a type of rice called "Baifengyou 48". Photo / Upstream News Reporter Niu Tai
Bake the alkali paste into a paste
Wu Sheshun said that alkaline water contains amino acids, calcium, phosphorus and other nutrients. Only one kind of rice can be used to make alkaline water, called Baifengyou 48. Compared to other rice, it is smaller in size and the adhesion is most suitable for making alkaline water.
Different water meets special rice, and their encounter with human feelings is a meeting that makes people hate each other. The upstream news reporter saw that in the plastic vat, Bai Fengyou 48 was glowing with a little yellowish light.
Wu Sheshun introduced that after soaking Bai Fengyou for 48 three hours, they were poured into a crusher, crushed into powder, poured into a stainless steel pot, mixed into a mountain spring, and the two became rice milk after mixing. Boiling water vapor, impacting and slapping the outer wall of the stainless steel pot, the pulp gradually became a paste.
How much water the paste contains is also exquisite. The simple Wu Sheshun said that like dough, it can be glued together tightly.
After making the paste, the women hired by Wu Sheshun got busy. They sat at the long table, one hand grabbing a small lump from the huge paste, the other hand smearing some oil from the bowl and dipping it on the small paste, and then rubbing it. They kneaded the small paste into a long flat round shape, about 15 cm long, about 7 cm wide and about 3 cm thick.
On January 21, in Bei'an Village, Jingdezhen, Wu Sheshun said that he can now sell 1,500 kilograms of alkali water per day, and the profit is about 5,000 yuan. Photo / Upstream News Reporter Niu Tai
The women were all skillful craftsmen, rubbing paste and joking. This kind of mechanical labor does not appear monotonous and tedious at all.
The last process: put the "oblong flat round" into the drying machine. When it is dried, the steam of alkaline water mixed with the aroma of rice and tea emerges from the drying machine, and the whole workshop is filled with a special aroma.
After more than an hour, the paste became alkaline.
Some older people in Jingdezhen like to use cabbage to boil lye water dumplings, and the boiled lye water dumplings melt in the mouth. More people like to eat it fried, and the lye water that is fried is not greasy, and it is elastic to bite.
Upstream journalist Niu Tai