Yucheng Jingjia Gong Twist Flower has been passed down for 300 years and has always maintained the traditional cooking and frying process. Photo by Liu Jianchen, a reporter of this newspaper
On the afternoon of December 5th, stepping on the winter sunset, the reporter went to Li Lao's hometown of Chendian Ji Village to visit Jing Qinghui, the eleventh generation inheritor of Jingjia Gong Twist Flower, just turned into Chendian Ji Cross Street, a twist flower accompanied by a little fresh and oily fragrance, it followed the slight north wind into the heart, and suddenly made people salivate. We can't wait to walk into the workshop where the fragrance wafts out and feel the difference of the "Henan Time-honored Brand" that has been passed down for 300 years...
According to the "Chronicle of Yucheng County", Yucheng Jingjia Gong Twist Flower originated in Jingkuangzhuang, Jining Province, Shandong Province, and was included in the imperial court by the Kangxi Emperor because of its "delicious and delicious, outstanding, and unique flavor", and paid tribute every year.
When it was transmitted to the Seventh Sun Jingchun River, due to the flooding of the Yellow River, the Jingchun River took his family with him and made a living by picking up burdens along the village and selling twist flowers. Later, he went to Chendian to set up a small stall to sell twist flowers, because of its unique twist flavor and was once a tribute to the imperial court, and soon became favored by the locals. After making money, Jing Chunhe settled in Chendian Jiji, and since then, Yucheng Jingjia Twist Flower has been famous in eastern Henan for more than 300 years for its excellent selection of materials, fine production, crystal clear, sweet and crisp, no residue after chewing, and the refreshing taste of food.
"Eating incense, I can light the lamp at night." Fall to the ground and shatter, put in the house fragrant raw. He Jianjun, a neighbor who came to visit the door, picked up a twist flower, "clicked" and took a bite, smacked his mouth, and said happily, before, the Jingjia twist flower was cooked with pure sesame oil, and now it is changed to a good blended oil, and the twisted flower is golden in color, round and translucent, and it is placed for two months without returning to moisture and does not change the taste; when the farm is busy, it is a food that fills the hunger.
"Mixing, beating flowers, adding water, and noodles, cutting agent, kneading strips and cooking, there are seven processes to make Jingjiagong twist flowers." While loading the car, Jing Qinghui's son-in-law introduced that the Jingjia sweet twist flower was made of refined powder, pure sesame oil, pure white sugar and alkali noodles; the salted twist flower changed the pure white sugar to the corresponding salty material.
"The inheritance of Jingjia twist flowers is mainly a production process, although it has been passed down for 300 years, but there is no other evidence except for this cutting board that weighs 100 kilograms and is used for noodles, cutting agents and kneading strips." Jing Qinghui freed his hand and patted the dark red, oily pear wood cutting board and said.
After the reform and opening up, "Jingjia Gong Twist Flower" has won many awards and sold well in the surrounding areas. In 1984, it was rated as a high-quality product by the light industry system of Henan Province and selected into the "Directory of Chinese Industrial and Commercial Enterprises". Since 1985, after Hu Jintao, Wanli, Li Changchun and other party and state leaders have tasted it, Chinese and foreign celebrities have made a special trip to Yucheng to taste and buy, and as a high-quality product to give to relatives and friends.
In 2000, Jing Qinghui asked the design company to design and produce the Jingjia twist plastic packaging bag and the "Jingjia Tribute Twist" packaging box, registered the trademark, and also developed the twist flowers of cream, spices, chicken juice, spicy and other flavors, forming a series of products. In 2007, Jingjiagong twist flower was rated as "Henan Time-honored Brand"; in 2013, Jingjiagong twist flower was included in the list of intangible cultural heritage protection in Shangqiu City.
"Now, Jingjia Twist flower not only retains stalls that have been passed down for many generations in Chendianji, but also has sales offices in the surrounding areas of the county, Shangqiu, Caoxian and Xuzhou, and is sold by supermarkets." Jing Qinghui said that he is adhering to the foundation of ancestral craftsmanship, combining market demand, expanding scale, exploring new processes, and developing online sales platforms to let Jingjia twist flowers continue to be fanghua.