Fried cakes
Date cake
Pastries sprinkled with sugar
People take food as the sky, diet occupies a very important position in people's lives, it can not only meet people's physiological needs, but also because of its rich cultural connotation, to a certain extent, it also meets people's spiritual needs. In Saibei Lingqiu, whether it is home life, hospitality, festivals, sacrifices, cakes are the most solemn and exquisite food for local people.
Lingqiu is located in the northern Jin dynasty, since ancient times belongs to the alpine climate, the natural conditions are relatively harsh, ten years and nine droughts, unfavorable to crop planting, as Yue Hongyu recorded in the "Lingqiu County Chronicle of Soil Wind": "The soil is barren and the people are poor, tolerant of cold and heat, and the non-special atmosphere is also special. The tendons are also different. Eating grain sorghum millet oil wheat bitter buckwheat is not the same", "soil sand moraine, Hantian Qiqi, first autumn frost, deep spring snow, mountains are cold, fleas have no autumn wheat, agricultural rate after the Qingming Dynasty, Fang Yu began to sow grain in May, buckwheat oil wheat and other years of abundant acres less than two buckets. The two materials point out that Lingqiu is located in an alpine climate, with poor land, more sandy land, short frost-free period, and is only suitable for planting mixed grain crops with short growth periods, and the yield is not high. In the "Lingqiu County Chronicle Volume II: Food And Goods Chronicle", it is recorded that "the product (cereal) millet, millet, sorghum, rice millet, large wheat, oil wheat (quinoa), flax, buckwheat, and various kinds of beans and beans", in summary, it can be seen that at the latest in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the yellow grain occupied an important position in the history of Lingqiu crop cultivation.
The Lingqiu cake discussed in this article refers specifically to a kind of food processed by the shelling of the yellow rice noodles, the local people are also known as yellow rice noodles, glutinous and sticky, in the long history of the development process, the local people formed a unique cake culture, including the cultivation of millet, the production and processing of cakes and their cultural significance. Even today, when the products are abundant, the locals still have a unique feeling about eating cakes. As the American anthropologist Benedict said in The Cultural Model, "The history of an individual's life is first and foremost adapted to the patterns and standards of life passed down from generation to generation by his community... The habits of his culture are his habits, the beliefs of his culture are his beliefs, and the impossibility of his culture is his impossibility. "Lingqiu people's love for cakes contains their feelings and deep thinking about food and culture, food and the value of life.
1. Millet as a cake ingredient
As early as the pre-Qin era, due to its drought and hardiness and short growth cycle, it became one of the main cereals in the people's diet, and it dominated the grain production at that time. There are many ancient records about 黍, such as the "Book of Poetry, Wang Feng, and Huang Li", which records: "Pi Huang Li away, Pi Ji Zhi Sui", "Li Ji Nei Ze": "Drink: Heavy liquor, rice liquor clear, bad, yellow lily qing, bad, liang li clear, bad." For example, meng Haoran of the Tang Dynasty has "Passing the Old Man Zhuang" has "the old man has a chicken and invites me to the Tian family", and Jiang Kui's "Yangzhou Slow Huaizuo Mingdu" has "The old man of Qianyan thinks that there is a sadness of leaving". According to archaeological findings, the cultivation of millet has a history of five thousand years in China. As mentioned above, due to the relatively harsh natural environment, Lingqiuduo chose to plant grains with strong resistance, such as barley, buckwheat, potatoes, beans, etc., followed by sorghum and millet. Therefore, the local people usually use these as the main raw materials for pasta, which is the so-called "one side of the water and soil to raise one side of the people"!
1. The choice of the type of millet
In the past, there were many types of blacks planted in Lingqiu, including green yellow, gray yellow, white black, black black, yellow yellow, red yellow, which is the common name of the villagers according to the color of the child. Locals love to grow red millet because the steamed cakes are yellow and soft. When the red deer is ripe, "do not put the branches", that is, in the autumn, the wind will fall to the ground, so it must be harvested in advance.
2. Sowing of the seeds and hoes.
Millet generally has to be sown before the summer solstice, and it is best planted during the mango planting period, which is suitable for planting in the shade, and the mature period of the sunny slope and the shady slope is not the same. Folk agricultural proverbs say: "Mango seed is anxious to plant millet, the summer solstice is not late", "mango planting millet buds", "mango planting millet urgent seed grain", "summer solstice does not plant alpine millet, and two mounds plant millet" are all planting seasons. In addition, from the perspective of the soil conditions of the millet planting, the millet generally uses the ploughing stick to beat the shallow soil, and the experienced old farmers spread it evenly, and the soil can also be dried, which is convenient for seedlings, that is, the so-called "wheat seeds mud strips, and the millet seeds dry soil". The cake steamed by hoeing more than one time is very strong, suitable for dry hoeing, that is, "ventilated dry hoe, wet hoe bean", so as to kill weeds to the greatest extent and ensure ventilation. In addition, the millet needs sufficient light when it is flowering, and if it rains continuously, it will become a millet.
3. Harvest of the millet
The ripening period of the yellow is about 90 days, the short one is only 40 to 60 days, the climate in the northeast and northwest mountains of Lingqiu is cold, the harvest period is longer, and the climate in the Nanshan countryside is humid and hot, relatively short. The upper part of the ear is generally matured first, the middle and lower parts are matured later, and the graining is strong, so the grain at the base of the panicle generally enters the wax ripening period, and the panicle grain matures to seven or eight to achieve the harvest of the millet, and then raised on the straw, of course, it can also be harvested by cutting the head.
Second, the cake as food
Since ancient times, our country has been known as the "state of etiquette", welcoming guests warmly and politely. Whenever guests visit, even if the economy is not very rich, they must do their best to make the guests eat well. "The bread of the people of southern Jin, the cake of the people of northern Jin", this folk proverb has a long history, which shows the difference between the food customs in the north and south of Shanxi Province. The cake has become a delicacy for the local people of Lingqiu to celebrate the harvest. Cui Yu "Four People's Moon Order: November": "November. On the day of the winter solstice, recommend the cake, first recommend Xuan Meditation in the well, and the ancestors", the article "Imperial Scenery and Materials" engraved during the Ming Chongzhen year records that the Beijingers at that time every "New Year's Day of the First Month, the Cake, the New Year Cake", it can be seen that the cake has always been an important food for the festivals of the Northern people, and as a sacrificial product.
1. Records of people eating cakes in northern Jin
Millet is one of the main food crops that the people of northern Jin rely on, and the most typical production process is to make it into oil cakes and eat them. Guangxu's "Chronicle of Tianzhen County" states that "the people's food is mainly millet, and it is accompanied by oil wheat and taro, powder is used as millet (sacrificial grain) and sugar, fried in oil is called cake, called gourmet, family affairs to pay guests, to feed relatives and friends." However, the steamer is known as yellow cake, and the chaff eater is known as hair cake, and it cannot be used day and night. White-faced rice is only eaten at the beginning of the festival. There is also a similar record in Guangxu's "Chronicle of Fanzhi County": "The people's food is mainly millet, accompanied by buckwheat and wheat, powder is steamed for dumplings to make cakes, and fried in oil is called bread." People have things to pay guests, pay relatives and friends, although the usual feast has not been more than six gui. In addition, there are also records of eating millet cake in the records of Ying County, Guangling and other counties near Lingqiu.
2, Lingqiu people make cakes, eat cakes
In the past, lingqiu people were generally reluctant to remove the shell skin when they ate cakes. Even the cake with the shell skin is called the cake, also called "wool cake". Made gray and numb, eating in the mouth some scratches the throat. Only families in good condition eat cakes to peel, called yellow cakes. In the past, there was a saying called "hair cake dipped in bean noodles", which actually meant that life was poor, and there was no dish for dipping cakes, and it could only be accompanied by soy beans or black beans "fried noodles".
In the 1990s, when steaming cakes, people often mixed them with jade noodles, which shows that the noodles were still very expensive at that time. Now the Lingqiu people make cakes and eat cakes, make fine, and eat exquisite. When steaming cakes, the main ingredient is yellow rice noodles, using cold water and noodles, the noodles can not be soft, rub into a dry "loose son". The kneaded cake noodles are steamed layer by layer, and they must be cooked one layer and then sprinkled on top, otherwise they will not be able to cook raw. In the event of a big feast scene, the big cage of steamed cakes is steamed without a cage, and the chef keeps adding rubbing the cake noodles, which is steaming and spectacular. After the cake is steamed, the cake is a masterpiece.
When making cakes, you must "hit the iron while it is hot", and it is not good to be cold, and it is not good to be cold and stiff. Pour the steamed cake into a large tile basin, scoop another scoop of cold water aside, and start working. Playing with large pieces of hot cake requires two-handed movements, in one go, while rubbing, while dipping in cold water to cool down the slide, rhythmically mixing and turning with both hands, after a few times of flipping, after the round cake is formed. The yellow cake is then wrapped in bean paste stuffing and fried in oil, which is a well-known fried oil cake, and the filling of its own beans means that Fugen will survive for generations. Every spring prayer and autumn report, greeting the shrine saisha, wedding and funeral, temple completion, upper beam soil, school relocation, 100-year-old full moon, meals for guests are fried cakes.
Of course, there are bad, baked cakes, cakes, baked cakes are generally eaten at the turn of spring and summer, poplar spikes mixed with yam puree as filling, compared to fried cakes, baked cakes save effort, save oil, and the outside is crisp and soft. At Lingqiu, where cakes are eaten locally, they are cut into sharp points and fried directly in oil. In addition, the local Dragon Boat Dumplings also use yellow rice, and their taste is no less than that of jiangmi rice dumplings in the south.
Third, the cultural meaning of eating cakes in Lingqiu
It is said that the earliest rice cakes were used by ancestors for the worship of Chinese New Year's Eve gods and ancestors, and later became the food of the Spring Festival. Rice cake is not only a festive delicacy, but also brings new hope to people with the years. Cake harmonic sound and "high", people live in the world, have a desire to be good and high. "Man goes to a high place, and the water flows to a low place", this simple sentence expresses the universal consciousness in the depths of people's hearts. In addition, from the golden yellow of the cake, it is in line with the deep psychological structure of the national aesthetic, yellow has always been regarded as the central positive color, the people have always regarded themselves as the descendants of the dragon, in the legend, the dragon body is golden, and then from the religious considerations also have such significance, therefore, the yellow color has a sacred symbolic significance. This is also the reason why people love to eat cakes, and villagers often use "huanglenlen" to express a kind of praise for cakes.
To this day, whether it is in the festival of the new year or in terms of life etiquette, the Lingqiu people still use cakes as the highest standard food. For example, at noon on the first day of the first lunar month of the New Year, people have to eat cakes. Celebrate the birthday to eat cakes, I hope the child can go all the way up. On the morning of the wedding day, you still have to eat fried cakes. People believe that the ancestors of various gods also lived like mortals in another world, and they also needed to enjoy various delicacies in the world, and they could be offered to them with these foods during sacrifices, so that they could feel happy and bless future generations. In the folk funeral ceremony, that is, the local people commonly known as "sending the way" at noon, the cook who makes the stove first fried a certain number of cakes for the deceased's family, enshrined in front of the coffin of the deceased, and then eaten by the family, one per person, commonly known as "pressed wood cake", and others are not allowed to share food. When offering sacrifices to the gods, they also eat cakes, that is, people use the sacrifices as an intermediary for the communication between the gods and people, believing that eating sacrifices can get the blessings of the ancestors of the gods, of course, the food offered to the gods is ultimately enjoyed by mortals, and the gods and entertainers are integrated.
Lingqiu and even the people of northern Jin love to eat cakes, and another reason is that in the past, people suffered a lot and ate cakes to resist hunger, so there is such a saying in northern Jinbei and other places: "Thirty miles of noodles, forty miles of cakes, twenty miles of soba noodles hungry waist", and now when the townspeople gossip, they are still proud to eat a few pounds of cakes. In addition, there is a saying: "Send cakes across the wall, deliver one by one", which shows that cakes are no longer a simple food, but have evolved into synonymous with folk etiquette.
According to the author's search of Wen Yuange's "Four Libraries of Quanshu", there are ten entries about the word "eating cake", the earliest of which is the "Sui Shu Wu xing zhi": "Nursery rhymes: July shaved early, September cake is just right, October washing rice urn, November out but Zhao Lao", now the word "eat cake" appeared very early in China, one of the sayings is the Southern and Northern Dynasties period. Now, with the rapid development of social economy, the modern society interpersonal communication increases, mutual banquets have become a normal way of life, but in Lingqiu, it still uses the saying of "eating cakes", and less says "eat please", "seat", "eat table", "eat wine", perhaps this is a kind of "language welfare" brought by cake culture to the locals!