Author: Jiang Zhiwei; Editor: Xu Wujie
Shendu Town on the banks of the Xin'an River is an important transit station in Anhui Province of Huangshan-Qiandao Lake Golden Tourism Online, known as the "South Gate of Anhui Province", and is named for its water depth, good port and good ferry. Throughout the ages, Shendu Town has always been the throat of the water from ancient Huizhou to Zhejiang, an important material distribution center, and it was from here that the Hui merchants got on the ship and got off the jiangnan to start their business journey. In 979, when Yao Zhizhong and his son Zhiyi were serving in SheXian County, they loved their landscape and settled here. In 1159, the Huzhou capital Yao clan moved, and gradually developed into a major town of the Ming and Qing dynasties in Huizhou, with the harmonic phrase "deep ferry boat deep ferry, Yao coming to Yao to both sides of Yao" passed down from ancient to modern times.
Shendu Town on the banks of the Xin'an River
Shendu Town is most famous, but it is the "Shendu Dumpling Dumplings" with unique Huizhou cultural characteristics, interesting stories of Huizhou merchants, and has been included in the list of "Intangible Cultural Heritage". Dumplings are one of the most common foods on our table. Legend has it that in the past, Huizhou people, especially people in the Shendu area of Nanxiang, Shexian County, went to Beijing to take the exam, went out to do business or went out to learn art, before leaving, the family had to get together to eat a meal of dumplings and then go out, which means a wish for those who are about to leave their hometown and stay away from their relatives, tell him this long trip, don't forget the baggage and clothes he carries, don't forget his ambitions for this trip (the harmonic sound of the baggage), don't forget his hometown, and the expectations and waiting of his family. The so-called "relatives have a lot of parting words, all in the dumplings." Now, "Shendu Dumplings" has become a famous local snack in Hui cuisine.
The name of "Shendu Dumpling Dumpling" is named because it was mainly created in the area of Shendu Wharf in Shexian County, Huizhou, and because it is made of a bagged square dumpling skin, and the shape of the dumplings resembles the baggage carried by Huizhou merchants. The "baggage" here refers specifically to one of the three major rucksacks of "baggage, umbrellas, and dry food" that ancient Huizhou people must carry when they leave home, with a large square soil cloth woven from Huizhou soil as a bagcloth, wrapping all the clothes and dry food, and then forming a knot diagonally, you can go obliquely on the shoulder on one side to go to the wind and rain. Generally speaking, the dumpling skins in all parts of Shenzhou are rolled into a circle, but this "Deep Ferry Dumpling" is wrapped in square skin dumplings, which is indeed rare in other places.
The main story about the "Shendu Dumplings" is that Shendu is an ancient ferry port on the banks of the Xin'an River in SheXian County, Huizhou, and most of the Hui merchants have passed through it. Therefore, the deep crossing of this place is not only a sad place for Hui merchants to bid farewell to their hometown, but also a place to bid farewell to their hometown and embark on a commercial journey. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, merchants carried a lot of baggage, and the necessary items in the caravan and the coils on the road were wrapped up in it, inseparable from the master. The food stall owners of Shendu imitated its shape and created a snack that was stuffed on the skin of wontons and rolled into the shape of a burden carried by a merchant.
The production technique of "Shendu Dumplings" is quite exquisite: when making dumpling skins, salt and powder (a flour bag made of dried mustard powder are filled with gauze) are added to make the dumpling skin smooth but tough; when preparing soup, it is required to have complete condiments and the soup is delicious. The ingredients of the dumpling filling can be selected by the eaters themselves, and they are ever-changing, and can be combined with all meat, vegetarian, meat and vegetarian, and can be combined at will; they can be pork, lamb, or green vegetable lean meat... Since the water-soluble vitamins B and C on the surface of the dough are dissolved in the soup during the process of cooking the dumplings, it is best to mix the water of the dumplings with the soup, so that consumption helps to help digestion.