Jingjiang Navel is a famous product in zhenjiang's traditional tea pastry, in the dialect of Zhenjiang, "jiang" should be pronounced as "gang", so the locals also call it "king kong navel".
"The history of jingjiang navel is very long, it is said that in the early Qing Dynasty, it was originally an octagonal shape, because the Manchurian rulers at that time were taboo (the eight banner soldiers were eaten), so they had to be changed to the current hexagon. Nowadays, people often eat it with boiling water or mutton soup, and when the elderly eat noodles, they often eat with noodle soup, which has a unique flavor.
Zhao Kangmei, 68, and her husband, Dou Guibao, have been learning to make Jingjiang navels with their parents since they were young, and have been for nearly 50 years.
Dou Guibao said: "The trick to making Jingjiang navel is all in craftsmanship and fire, and the afternoon before he first mixed flour with oil, salt and edible alkali to let it ferment for an evening. At about 5:00 a.m. the next morning, start kneading the dough, kneading it into small balls, in the shape of a bun, then gently cutting it into hexagons with a knife, and then sticking it into the hearth wall to bake, and about fifteen minutes after smelling the aroma, you can shovel it down." The newly baked Jingjiang navel is like a three-dimensional snowflake, with six angular edges, and it is soft and crispy to eat.
"Now there are many places that use machines to make Jingjiang navel, so the taste of the production is not comparable to pure handmade, many of us local people especially love to eat the Jingjiang navel I made, some guests said that he went to Xi'an to eat the lamb steamed bun is not as delicious as the Jingjiang navel soaked lamb soup I made, and even went abroad to visit relatives and friends to buy dozens of to bring it"! Dou Guibao said with a smile.
The 67-year-old Dou Guibao and his wife make the Jingjiang Navel every day, and Dou Guibao's sister sells it at the entrance of the vegetable market in Xinfeng Town, and as he grows older, Dou Guibao faces that the old craft has no one to pass on. "I plan to do it for two more years and then retire and not do it," Dou Guibao said slightly sadly.
Now advocating the inheritance of traditional culture, some of the old crafts and traditions around us are slowly disappearing, how do you think that such old crafts are facing the situation of no one inheriting?
Zhao Kangmei makes Jingjiang Navel at home.
Dou Guibao and his wife are in their own home and face.
Dou Guibao and his wife are making Jingjiang Navel.
Dou Guibao pasted the Jingjiang navel into the furnace wall, and each time he finished pasting a stove, his hands would be roasted red.
Dou Guibao poured the freshly baked Jingjiang navel into a bamboo basket.
Zhao Kangmei took out the freshly baked Jingjiang Navel and prepared to send it to the door of the vegetable farm for sale.
Dou Guibao's mother, Song Siying, sells Jingjiang Navel at the entrance of the vegetable market.
Jingjiang Navel is eaten in lamb broth with green onions, salt, pepper and so on.
The smell of Jingjiang navel soaked in lamb soup is striking.