Bayberry is sweet and juicy, does not need to be peeled, spits out the core simply, and does not take much effort to nibble... So many excellent qualities that people have to love!
When eating bayberry, how much do you know about this little knowledge about bayberry?
Bayberry turned out... Surname Yang
In ancient times, there was also a northerner who loved the arbutus tree in his yard. This was a Shaanxi man named Yang Guang, who was generally called the Sui Emperor in later generations.
The Song Dynasty's notebook novel "Haishan Ji" records such a story: One day, the Jade Emperor Li in the palace of the Sui Dynasty Emperor suddenly gave birth to many new branches overnight, like a car cover, covering several acres of land. Everyone said that this was a sign of great luck, but the Sui Emperor was not so naïve, and when he heard about the plum, he groaned and asked, "Why did the plum tree suddenly prosper?" The person who came to announce the good news said stupidly: "Yesterday evening, I heard someone in the heavens say, 'This li mu dang mao', and spent the night, and it was indeed lush. ”
The Face of the Sui Dynasty Emperor was as heavy as water. Outrageous! Lee Mu Dang Mao? I don't have the surname Li, so why can't the poplar tree take its turn to flourish once? So he ordered that all the evil plum trees be cut down. Many people around him advised him, don't ah, this is a good sign, keep it. Although the tree was not cut down in the end, the Sui Emperor was still breathing heavily. It wasn't until a few days later that it was really auspicious, because there was a bayberry tree that also flourished overnight. "Yangmei and I have the same surname, good!" The Sui Emperor was happy to blossom.
Later, in the summer, Yangmei and Li Shu bore fruit at the same time, and the Sui Emperor opened a fruit tasting conference. Who knows, some people commented: "Although the bayberry is good, the taste is quite sour, but in the end it is not as sweet as the Jade Emperor Li." The crowd chimed in. The Sui Emperor lamented bitterly: "Is it true that 'Yang is not as good as Li'?" Later, before going to Yangzhou, the bayberry tree suddenly withered and died, leaving only Li Shu alone. The rest of the matter... Everyone also knew that the Sui Emperor was wailing and mourning, and the Li surnamed Tang was thriving.
This story looks like it was made up by the Sui Emperor by later generations, but the matter of "Yangmei surnamed Yang" was generally recognized at least in ancient times.
Good Mei, how did you get into Yangmen?
Regarding the origin of the name of Yangmei, in the "Evidence Class Materia Medica" compiled by Tang Shenwei of the Song Dynasty, it is written that Yangmei once said: "Its tree is like a lychee tree, and its leaves are fine and green." It is shaped like a poplar, and raw green and ripe red. Li Shizhen further explained: "The shape is like a poplar, and the taste is like a plum." "So the bayberry is called bayberry."
What is "poplar"? It was the fruit of Alnus cremastogyne, and the shape of the bayberry was somewhat similar. However, because the alder fruit is small, the bayberry fruit is large, and it is similar, but not particularly similar, so Li Shizhen's explanation is sometimes criticized by posterity. For example, mr. Xia Weiying, a contemporary historian of botany and science, said in the "Notes on the Interpretation of Botanical Names" that the Song Dynasty people's few sentences were not quite right, and it should be said: "Its tree is like a lychee tree, and the leaves are fine and green, and its shape is like a poplar; the child is green and ripe red." That is to say, each has its own reason, anyway, the surname of bayberry is actually inherited from other plants.
But this does not affect the delicious taste of bayberry, it even almost grabbed the name of the world's first fruit. There is such a story in the Northern Song Dynasty: Fujian Shizi thinks that Lychee is the first in the world, while Jiangxi Shizi is no longer dry, and it must be said that Yangmei is the first. The two men quarreled without a word, and in the end, they ended with the conclusion that "Jiangxi Shizi has not eaten fresh lychees, only lychee dried fruits". These two people are actually still not convinced of each other. Wang Guan, a famous scholar of the Northern Song Dynasty, was actually more inclined to Yangmei, so he wrote Yangmei in the words of "LangTaosha": "Mo will look at Lizi generally." The color of the light fragrance eliminated the damage, and only then did it arrive in Chang'an. "This is to say that lychees are difficult to keep fresh during transportation, so they are not as good as bayberry."
Bayberry will grow worms for a long time
The ancients ridiculed lychees for not being able to keep fresh, but when it comes to bayberry, preservation is also a difficult problem. Until now, the folk also have the saying of "one day harvest, two days change color, three days change taste", which shows that the ancient bayberry preservation can not be counted on. Su Dongpo has a poem that says that "only bayberry is not straight money", because the bayberry will be eaten immediately when it goes down the tree, and if it is not eaten, it will be broken, and the more trees are lowered, the less valuable it is, but he is not demeaning the bayberry, he is actually a loyal fan of the bayberry. In order to retain the deliciousness of bayberry, the ancients also tried their best. Fresh bayberry can be salted or brewed in wine, and as early as the Jin Dynasty, there was "plum shochu", which was specially used to entertain distinguished guests. Gao Lian, a Ming Dynasty scholar, also wrote about the preparation of bayberry in the "Eight Notes of Zunsheng": "Use wax water with mint to hold, a little alum, into the urn, dip loquat, lin dan, bayberry in the middle, the color is unchanged, the taste is cold and edible." "This method is not only useful for bayberry, but also for other fruits."
Nowadays, it is convenient, fresh arbutus is directly put into the freezer after the tree is frozen, and then used to make bayberry wine or bayberry juice. Vacuum preservation and refrigeration technology has also been used for the storage of bayberry, and the freshness can be guaranteed in the month after the fruit is planted, so that the bayberry can be transported to various places for sale. But before these technologies were widely used, such as in the 1980s, where did the bayberry go? In fact, many bayberry at that time were made into plums. Until now, among the various raw materials of "talk plum", bayberry still occupies a place. In the traditional plum production process, the bayberry is first salted, dehydrated and crumpled, cleaned and dried, and then soaked in the tank together with the licorice juice with flavoring, soaked until it tastes, and fished out of the sun, before it is completed. Therefore, in the past, if the plum was made with arbutus, it had a faint licorice flavor, salty and sweet mix, but there was no bayberry taste.
Want to know if the plum you eat is made of bayberry? Easy to do! Look at the core to know whether the plum is made of apricots or plums. The bayberry core is actually its inner peel, which is hard wood with thick fibrous short hairs on it. These hairs can be seen on the fresh bayberry core, like a water ghost with messy hair, and it can't be cleaned.
The core of the bayberry can be clearly seen when enlarged, and the thick short hairs can be clearly seen.
Come on, eat the worms
Nowadays, there are many varieties and different tastes of bayberry, but they all face the same problem: buying bayberry home, soaking it in light salt water, and drilling out a small white "meat bug" in the fruit, is it to eat it, or to throw it? All varieties of bayberry, without exception, as long as they are not careful when planting, picking, preserving or selling, will be targeted by this "meat bug". But don't be too upset. We can not see the heart is not bothered, close our eyes to eat, and swallow some animal protein, there is no damage to the body. Or you can also delve into the life of these "meat bugs" and share the delicious taste of bayberry with them with a feeling of respect. These "flesh bugs" are the larvae of fruit flies, well, the same fruit flies that have done a great job in helping humans reveal many of the principles of genetics in classical genetic experiments.
The most common fruit flies in bayberry, including drosophila black-bellied fruit fly, fruit fly pseudo-fruit fly, Takahashi fruit fly, Imi fruit fly, spot-winged fruit fly, etc., on the first day of picking, the adults of fruit flies will lay eggs on the fruit, and by the fourth day, the larvae will feather into adults. So if you count from the beginning of picking, the next day or the third day to buy and eat, it is when the larvae of the fruit fly are growing happily.
Although physical protection, refrigeration and preservation methods can properly control fruit flies, if you want to eat bayberry anyway, you will face the dilemma of sharing with fruit flies... Then, just get out of the tree (or just out of the freezer) buy it, buy it and eat it quickly, before the fruit fly arrives, before the fruit fly eggs become larvae.
There is a serious imbalance between men and women
While we happily eat bayberry (and fruit flies), we can also care about the "spiritual world" of bayberry by the way. After all, bayberry is a hermaphrodite plant. The male inflorescence of the male, alone or in several clumps, grows in the leaf axils, with cylindrical spikes and dark red. The inflorescences of female flowers are usually solitary on the leaf axils, are short and slender, and protrude from the elongated stigma of bright red.
Hermaphroditic plants are often gender-discriminated against without paying attention, such as willows, and females are refused to plant because they can fly, or hang hanging bottles to beat infertility potions.
Bayberry is the opposite, the female plant is very popular, and the male plant is snubbed.
In the orchard, only 1% to 2% of the male plants are needed, which is enough for pollination, so the nursery base, the female plants of bayberry are in short supply, and the male plants are always left.
What to do, in areas suitable for planting bayberry, male plants can sometimes be used for landscaping, after all, the branches and leaves are dense, the tree type is reunited, and it is still good-looking.
But this is also a problem, the planting of bayberry in the garden, pay attention to the scene of the fruit hanging on the branches, so the male plant is still not very popular.
Think about the ratio, 2:98. Older young men, please do not be discouraged, and thank God for not reincarnating you into a bayberry tree.
Author: Tiandong
Editor: Jin Wanxia
Editor-in-charge: Xu Qimin
Source: Species Calendar