Eat radish in winter and eat ginger in summer, and do not ask the doctor to prescribe medicine.
As we all know, the three giants of ginger, onion and garlic are indispensable condiments for Chinese people to cook. For ginger, it has the function of removing fishy and increasing fragrance. However, a kind of ginger produced in western Hubei can not only be used as a condiment, but also eaten as a dish. This ginger is shaped like the head of the phoenix, beautiful and delicate, called "crested ginger", and it happens that its place of origin is called "Lai Feng".
The picture shows the crested ginger "beautiful shadow"
Laifeng got its name from a beautiful legend: the phoenix descended to inhabit this place, so it was named "Laifeng County". Laifeng is adjacent to Xiangxi in the south and Yudong in the west, and is an important material distribution center in the Exiang-Yuqian Border Region, known as the "West Gate" of Hubei Province. The territory of Wuling Mountain stretches, the Youshui River runs through, the mountains and rivers are majestic, and the wilderness is flat. With a pleasant climate, abundant rainfall and abundant sunshine, it is not surprising that such a rare thing as crested ginger is produced.
"Laifeng County Chronicle" records that Laifeng has been cultivating crested ginger for more than 300 years. Crested ginger "got its name because of its resemblance to a crest. Its ginger stalk is finger-like, the tip is bright red, slightly purple, and the tubers are white. "Modern scientific analysis has learned that crested ginger is rich in vitamins, amino acids, proteins, fats, carotene, sugars, ginger oil ketones, phenols, alcohols and essential trace elements such as iron, zinc, calcium, and selenium. It has the effect of strengthening the spleen and appetizing, dispelling cold and moisture, accelerating blood circulation, delaying aging and preventing cancer. In recent years, scientific research has found that it can also be extracted from ginger oil ketone, ginger oil, flavor and other medicinal and chemical products.
Good products of course bring out good industries. Crested ginger is sown in March every year, can be harvested from mid-June to November, one mu of land produces more than 2,000 kg of ginger, and the output value of mu is about 10,000 yuan. The planting time is relatively short, the average output value per mu is considerable, and now, crested ginger has become a "treasure" to help rural revitalization and farmers get rich.
The local party committee and government attach great importance to the development of the characteristic industry of crested ginger. In 1998, crested ginger was included in the county's development plan and strongly supported as a pillar industry of agriculture. According to locals, the planting area of crested ginger in the county once reached 50,000 mu. When Chairman Hu Sibin went to Laifeng County to visit the fields, he found that there was a popular saying in the local area: one mu of ginger land can create a "ten thousand yuan household". There are five or six crested ginger growers with an annual income of more than 200,000 yuan in a village, and more than 30 crested ginger growers with an annual income of 50,000 to 100,000 yuan.
The picture shows the growing crested ginger
In an interview with media reporters, the relevant person in charge of the local agricultural and rural bureau said: 40% of the young ginger is sold to Qianjiang, Enshi, Lichuan and other places, and about 20% of the old ginger is sold to Hunan, Chongqing, as well as Yichang and Sichuan Dazhou and other places.
Although Laifeng County is located in the southwestern border of Hubei, it is a traditional material distribution center in the border areas of Hubei, Hunan Province, Chongqing and Qian, and as early as the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Laifeng County had a ginger monopoly market. In recent years, the name of crested ginger has spread to Wuhan, Changsha and even the Yangtze River Delta region. Local growers are not without joy: in the past few years, crested ginger has 2 pieces of 5 (mao) per kilogram, and no one wants it, and now it is still growing in the soil and it has been ordered... Prices have also gone up.
At present, there are nearly 10 townships in Laifeng that grow crested ginger, and half of the cultivated land in some villages is used to grow crested ginger. Ginger is sold well, and local senior growers have also begun to carry out "technical output" to the outside world, when their "ginger master", invited to Hunan, Guizhou, Chongqing and other places to teach ginger technology, as technical guidance.
A brand, a process of industrial development will inevitably encounter problems. Previously, crested ginger relied on a large proportion of the market outside the province, resulting in large price fluctuations. To solve this problem, on the one hand, the local government should establish stable, standardized and smooth export channels, and on the other hand, it is necessary to vigorously develop local deep processing.
Founded in 1998, Laifeng County Fengtou Food Company is the largest crested ginger production and processing enterprise in the county. At the end of 2002, The Crested Food Company was privatized. In order to let the crested ginger go to the public's table, the relevant person in charge of the company visited the mobile channel company six times and invited the hotel to try it many times. Finally, the "crested" brand bad ginger walked onto the table of Wuhan Lefuyuan Hotel. Many customers named and bought crested ginger... The company took advantage of the victory to pursue, and successively developed 56 series of products in 5 categories, of which "crested ginger" and "crested ginger soup" have been rated as "Hubei famous brand products" and "China famous selenium products".
At present, the local has formed a "farmer + large planter + cooperative + processing enterprise" model. The local government continues to "grasp with both hands": on the one hand, to promote local deep processing enterprises to warm up in groups and lengthen the industrial chain; on the other hand, to grasp the regional public brand building and make the crested ginger industry bigger and stronger.
In 2007, "Laifeng Crested Ginger" was identified as a geographical indication protection product. Subsequently, various recognitions and praises followed: "Hubei Famous And Excellent Dishes", "Hubei Time-honored Brands", "Hubei Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Products"... The resulting effect is that ginger processing enterprises have sprung up, the added value of crested ginger is getting higher and higher, and the enthusiasm of growers is getting higher and higher... More and more consumers love crested ginger. This is a positive cycle, a closed loop of virtuous incentives.
The exciting news is that Laifengcheng Investment Company is expected to invest 2 billion yuan in 10 years to build a national-level characteristic agricultural high-tech industry demonstration park, of which the crested ginger industry is the focus. This move is the city investment company and the Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, starting from the selection of ginger seeds, starting from the construction of brand advantages, standardized planting, increasing infrastructure construction, increasing investment, the use of new technologies, for the future development of crested ginger to explore the way, "proofing". The two sides will also try crested ginger as a high-end ingredient brand, and strive to increase the mu production income from the current 10,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan.
The local government is carrying out scientific research cooperation with Hubei University for Nationalities, Southwest Agricultural University, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other institutions, and has produced a series of processed foods such as ginger soup and ginger powder, as well as daily chemical products such as ginger soap and ginger, which sell well throughout the country. There are also companies aiming at the high-end market and are developing ginger health products.
Another good news for the industry is that in the past, a major obstacle restricting the export of crested ginger was the shelf life, which could only be kept fresh for 1 week at room temperature. Through scientific research, its shelf life has been extended to 1 month.
A local information disclosed that in the future, the planting area of crested ginger in Laifeng County will be expanded to 100,000 mu, achieving standardized, intelligent and scientific planting, and the utilization rate will be increased from 30% to 100%, and the crested ginger industrial belt will be constructed and formed.
For the local area, crested ginger is not only an industry, an economic pillar, but also a part of daily life. "Rice is not fragrant, eat ginger". In Laifeng County and even Enshi Prefecture, whether it is a family table or a restaurant, pickled ginger is a must-have side dish. Local people engaged in manual labor, after a busy day, drink half a cup of baogu wine with a plate of sour ginger, refreshing and relieving fatigue, and the soreness of the body is swept away.
Laifeng, the first place in China to implement regional autonomy for the Tujia ethnic group, has the reputation of "the hometown of song and dance". It is an important sedimentary belt of Bachu culture and an important birthplace of Tujia culture. There are stone carvings of the Xianfo Temple, which has gone through more than 1,700 years of historical vicissitudes, and is the earliest Buddhist statue in Jiangnan and a national key cultural relics protection unit. There is also a swing dance known as the "Oriental Disco". There are also folk cultures such as dragon lanterns, three-stick drums, weeping wedding songs, and southern operas... Wuhua Tianbao and humanities are gathered, which is filled with a humanistic heritage and human fireworks.
Crested ginger grows here and infiltrates here. The more national, the more international. Crested ginger belongs to Laifeng County, but it will be like a phoenix dance for nine days, going to the whole country and even the world!