In winter, the earth sleeps and everything withers. However, in the mountains of the southern region, there is a creature that thrives underground in this cold winter. At this time, the people in the mountains will put on their hoes and walk into the vast sea of bamboo, relying on their experience accumulated over the years to find this excellent food hidden deep in the soil: winter shoots. In the southern region, it can be said that winter shoots are an indispensable ingredient for people to make dishes in winter, and they are also one of their favorite dishes.
Photographed in December 2020 in Yuhang District, Hangzhou.
Soon it will be the winter solstice festival, which is also the best time to eat winter shoots. On this trip, I came to the Mountain Gully Scenic Area of Cormorant Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, where I not only saw the process of digging winter shoots. I even came across an eighty-year-old grandmother digging bamboo shoots in the mountains, and I couldn't believe what I saw.
The Shangou Scenic Area is located in Yuhang Cormorant Town, about 45 kilometers northwest of Hangzhou, bordering the famous bamboo township of Anji. The scenic spot is composed of three major scenic spots: Tangkeng, Maotang and Huaguoshan, and the biggest feature is the alpine canyon and the boundless bamboo sea. My trip came to the Tangkeng Scenic Area, which is a canyon-type eco-tourism area, a canyon about 2 kilometers long, passing through the dense sea of bamboo. The valley is rocky and rugged, and the rapids are flying springs, which are rare ecological tourism scenic spots around Hangzhou.
The entrance to the canyon is a mountain gully village, and there are some private houses on both sides of the creek, including some homestays, and my choice for this stay is the bamboo and villa homestay at the entrance of the Tangkeng scenic spot. The homestay is built on the mountain, surrounded by a dense sea of bamboo, the geographical environment is very superior, and out of the homestay can enter the scenic spot, very convenient.
Do a good check-in, do not want to waste a moment, immediately came to the bamboo hill behind the homestay, where the air is fresh, the environment is beautiful, facing this green bamboo sea, I feel that the whole person is comfortable a lot. I saw a figure on the hillside, it felt as if I was digging bamboo shoots, and curiosity drove me toward the figure.
It took a lot of effort to climb up, and I saw a white-haired grandmother, looking at her athletic posture, which was sincerely admirable. After the conversation, I learned that my grandmother is 80 years old this year, that is, she lives in the village under the mountain, and today she came up to dig up some bamboo shoots to prepare for dinner. The 80-year-old man's eyes are not flowery, his legs and feet are sharp, and he can dig bamboo shoots on the mountain, which really surprises me and sighs that the physique of the people in the mountains is good.
You must know that the winter shoot grows under the ground, and people who do not understand it do not know where it grows. I searched in the bamboo forest for half a day and found nothing but some wild fruits. And the grandmother found a bamboo shoot on the edge of three moso bamboo trees, and a few hoes dug up the mud on the edge of the bamboo shoots. It can be seen that this grandmother usually goes up the mountain, not only the action is sharp, but also the digging of bamboo shoots is definitely a good hand.
The winter shoots were dug out intact, and although they were not very large, the grandmother still showed a childlike innocent smile. It can be seen that the joy of this harvest is far greater than the value of the winter shoots themselves, perhaps the grandmother does not lack this bit of bamboo shoot money at all, she wants to go up the mountain every day, maintain her strong body and cheerful attitude.
After digging for almost 2 hours, the grandmother's cloth bag has contained a lot of bamboo shoots, large and small. Today's amount of exercise is enough, the harvest is also good, the grandmother is ready to go down the mountain, before going down the mountain she also gave me a few, said that this fresh bamboo shoots are the best to eat, you can't eat so good in the city.
So I went down the mountain with my grandmother's heart. The homestay has a kitchen, you can cook it yourself, you can also let the chef aunt help you process. Although I am still very confident in my cooking skills, I think the chefs here must be more experienced in roasting winter shoots.
Among the many dishes related to winter shoots in Zhejiang, I personally think that the best taste is the famous dishes in Hangzhou: fried second winter, winter shoots and winter pickles are naturally perfectly matched, and the salty and sour taste of winter pickles can most effectively stimulate the fresh and sweet taste of winter shoots. The vegetables pickled by the mountain people themselves, crisp and tender, with freshly unearthed winter shoots, the whole dish is crisp and refreshing, the umami taste is extreme, this is definitely the best delicacy in the world, I even eat two bowls of rice.