Two pointed heads, round belly, taste a mouthful of sweet as honey, hoard a cellar for four seasons without worry.
Sweet potatoes, once an important staple food of the Rongcheng people, are still widely loved by people.
In Rongcheng, it is said that people over the age of 50 who grew up in the countryside eat sweet potatoes, not exaggerated, in the past sweet potatoes were the traditional staple food, autumn harvest sweet potatoes are the main rations in winter, and once was the life-saving food for Rong adults. In the three years of natural disasters in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the people who starved to death could not be recorded, but it was the harvest of sweet potatoes that saved a generation, and it was sweet potatoes that saved their lives, so children born in the early 60s were called "sweet potato children" in Rongcheng. At that time, people dried slices of raw sweet potatoes, beat them into silk, ground them into noodles, and dried them for storage for a year's ration
Sweet potatoes originate in Peru, Ecuador and Mexico in South America, and were introduced to Fujian by Li Zhenlong, a Fujianese, and later to Shandong. In addition to the reserve rations, the most important thing for sweet potatoes is to "keep sweet potato seeds and raw sweet potato teeth" for continuous production in the coming year. Sweet potatoes are tropical crops, and it is difficult to survive the winter in the north, so the clever croppers invented the method of storing sweet potato seeds in winter such as sweet potato cellars and sweet potato cabinets. Now, some villages can still faintly see the sweet potato cellar still standing at the head of the village, and the passage of time has made the melon cellar much older. And the memories hidden in the mind are still alive.
Although sweet potatoes are the life-saving food for adults, they have eaten sweet potatoes every day in those years and months, and no matter how delicious they are, they have eaten enough. When there is a big white-faced gluttony, it will say harshly, "I will never eat sweet potatoes again in my life!" ”。 But now, the long-lost sweet potato has become the new favorite of people, and the advanced sweet potato seedling cultivation technology has replaced the past sweet potato cellar. The nostalgia recorded by sweet potatoes is worth pondering - now sweet potatoes have become a new favorite.
In winter, people often think of the sweet potatoes that have been roasted or steamed, with thin skin and sweet sand, and the dried sweet potatoes with hungry white frost
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > dried sweet potato </h1>
In the past, in the late autumn, people would pick out large sweet potatoes and store them on the sweet potato cabinet of the Kang house, leaving them for the winter to eat fresh melons and keep sweet potato seeds. Sweet potatoes with dark spots are beaten into silk and dried in the sun to keep the next spring famine. Choose a small sweet potato with a moderate size and dry it to make dried sweet potatoes.
Drying dried sweet potatoes is a strenuous business.
Dried dried sweet potatoes are mainly spring sweet potatoes, and the spring sweet potatoes grow long, rich in starch, and eat sweet. When cooking sweet potatoes, you must master the heat, sweet potatoes are not light, the sweet potatoes are dry and hairy, it is not easy to dry, hold and dip your hands, it is not easy to store; the sweet potatoes are light, eating Geng, there is a bite but no sweetness. Whenever the sweet potato is cooked, the firewood and grass that are usually reluctant to burn are taken out, the pot lid is covered, and the four are covered tightly and burned fiercely. Touch the lid of the pot and burn your hands, the fire gradually slows down, burn for seven minutes in three minutes, simmer for about 40 minutes, you can lift the pot
When the sweet potato comes out of the pot, you must peel the skin while it is hot, pinch the spiral shape of the sweet potato skin with your fingers and gently pull it down, and the transparent sweet potato skin will be completely removed. The slippery sweet potato is placed on top of the iron grate in the basin. At this time, it is not possible to slice immediately, and the ripe sweet potato still needs to be controlled to remove the water. Overnight, the next day you'll be amazed to see a lot of turbid water oozing from under the grate. The water was poured out, and the slice began, and with a knife, the sweet potato was cut open, revealing a series of alternating yellow and white lines from the inside, like a beautiful landscape pattern. Place the cut sweet potatoes directly on the fishing net or wooden cover and dry them on the edge of the bungalow. The more completely sliced the dried sweet potatoes are, the more beautiful the dried sweet potatoes are dried. When drying sweet potatoes, gently remove, cut and place gently.
Dried sweet potatoes are also the most afraid of rain, after the rain is easy to become sour and moldy, in the face of cloudy days, but also have to pour the dried sweet potatoes into the pot to bake. At the same time, dried sweet potatoes also to prevent sparrow pecking, the most primitive way is to build a straw dummy to scare the sparrow, for a long time, the sparrow feels that the dummy is always a face, the courage is bigger, and the naughty sparrow can penetrate the dried surface of the sweet potato with every peck. There was no other way but to take methods such as blowing whistles and shouting slogans, but it still did not work, so it had to set up two layers of fishing nets to dry the sweet potatoes, so that the sparrows could only "look at the net and sigh"
Sweet potato dried to half dry and half wet can be put away, after some days and then poured out "let the wind", hand pinch up to feel quite soft, taste a bite of sweetness, and then put the dried sweet potato into a snakeskin bag, open flat in a ventilated place. In order to prevent them from sticking to each other and mildew, at first a few hours to shake the bag, after a period of time is to turn it over a few days. A month later, the dried sweet potato miraculously changed its original form and was covered with white frost. At this time, the dried sweet potato is still not intact, and it needs to be turned over, and when the white frost is more and more, it can be stored. Or store it in a dough bucket or in a snakeskin bag. In the spring of the next year, the fresh melon is finished, and the honey-like dried sweet potato is eaten, not to mention how sweet it is.
At that time, it was convenient to go out and grab a few handfuls of dried sweet potatoes as dry food. But most dried sweet potatoes have become a snack for children to go to school. During the class, the teacher does not allow the students to eat, and the students who steal the dried sweet potato do not recognize the account, so they open their mouths to show the teacher, and the teacher will smile and say: "Don't admit it, you have a white beard on your mouth." ”
Why does dried sweet potato grow white frost?
Many people see the dried sweet potatoes covered with white frost for the first time in Rongcheng, and they think it is moldy, but in fact, it is not. The white frost on the surface of the dried sweet potato is called "potato frosting", which is the potato sugar that spills out of the dried sweet potato. Dried sweet sweet potatoes are particularly sweet after frosting, which is also the characteristic of Rongcheng dried sweet potatoes.
Sweet potato contains a lot of water, glucose and fructose, and as the water gradually evaporates, the sugar in the pulp slowly penetrates into the epidermis and coagulates. Becomes a thin, even layer of white frost.
Covering the sugar frosting is the most critical step in making dried sweet potatoes, and it must be checked and turned frequently. If the temperature is too high, or the humidity is too large, the dried sweet potato will not grow frosting, but will become moldy and black, becoming a poison that cannot be eaten by humans and animals.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > a variety of ways to eat sweet potatoes</h1>
Sweet potato is rich in nutrients, rich in protein, starch, pectin, cellulose, amino acids, a variety of vitamins and minerals, sugar content of 15%-20%, has the reputation of "longevity food". Sweet potato has anti-cancer, heart protection, prevention of emphysema, diabetes, weight loss, intestinal benefit, constipation and other effects. In the Ming Dynasty Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica", there are records of "sweet potatoes to supplement deficiency, healthy spleen and appetizer, and strong kidney yin".
In addition to dried sweet potatoes, sweet potato rice is also a common way to eat. Fresh sweet potatoes, dried boiled sweet potatoes, boiled all kinds of sweet potato porridge and sweet potato soup, steamed sweet potato noodle steamed buns, stewed sweet potato noodles, baked sweet potato cakes, sweet potato noodles, wrapped sweet potato bread; as well as made sweet potato powder, sweet potato jelly, dried dried sweet potatoes and sweet potato shreds; and then use the stove and stove to grill sweet potatoes, baked sweet potato slices, etc.
Sweet potato leaves are also reluctant to throw away, pick fresh leaves and knead them and rub them together, which is used to drink under the miscellaneous noodles, which is very slippery. Sweet potato leaf stalks, used to make soup or porridge. In autumn, before shaving sweet potatoes, they sit on the sweet potato ridge with a dough, move forward little by little, take the sweet potato leaves down, take them home and put them in the jar jar to make salt, which can be used for many years to make strips, boil porridge, steamed beans and noodle balls. Now people have studied modern foods such as sweet potato pulling, fried sweet potato balls and fries, steamed sweet potatoes in the microwave oven, and made sweet potato juice, which has enriched the food culture of sweet potatoes
Nowadays, life is rich and materially abundant, and sweet potatoes have only become an auxiliary food on people's tables. However, in the difficult years, the feelings of a family sitting around the table to eat sweet potato rice are lingering in people's hearts, and the nostalgia left by sweet potatoes is also unforgettable