The fame of Shanxi noodles lies not only in its rich and exquisite flavor, but also in the ability of Shanxi people to make coarse grains. In Shanxi, the eldest daughters and daughters-in-law in different places can make a variety of coarse grain noodles according to the local crop production and living characteristics. For example, the famous home-cooked noodles in jincheng area - sauerkraut black noodles.
In many parts of Shanxi, due to terrain, soil, climate and other reasons, wheat production is very low, or even no wheat production. As a result, all kinds of coarse grains have become the staple food of the local people. Even in the Jinzhong ~ Taiyuan Basin, Shangdang Basin and Xinding (Xinzhou ~ Dingxiang) Basin, ordinary people may not eat white noodles and fine grains. Sorghum is a relatively common type of coarse grains planted and eaten in Shanxi. Sauerkraut black strips are mainly made of sorghum noodles.
Sorghum is an important crop in northern China, and Shanxi is one of the important production areas. However, due to the rough sorghum fiber and loose texture, sorghum noodles are difficult to make delicious pasta as a single ingredient. A friend from Northeast China asked: That can be made into rice to eat, why do you have to make noodles?
The answer is very simple, unlike the varieties in the northeast, the growing environment is also different, Shanxi sorghum is not suitable for making rice, the taste is very bad. In the 1970s, there were introduction experiments, but the yield did not increase, the taste was worse, so they gave up, and scientists and farmers turned to improving local varieties and increasing unit yields. The people take food as the sky, and the sorghum must be eaten if it is difficult to eat. Therefore, the wise Shanxi people gave full play to the wisdom and skill of coarse grains and made a large number of home-cooked noodles with coarse grains such as sorghum.
Unlike white noodles, whether with warm or cold water, pure sorghum flour is difficult to do so alone and in clumps, and a certain percentage of other sticky flours must be added. Therefore, in the earliest days, people generally boiled sorghum noodles into batter to drink. This method of cooking is special: it must be stirred constantly in the pot with a wooden stick to make the flour not lag in the pot and evenly cooked. Therefore, this practice is called by people in many places in Shanxi: poke paste.
Legend has it that in the ancient Jincheng, a new daughter-in-law married into her in-laws' family, and when she first cooked with sorghum noodles to poke the paste, she accidentally grabbed a handful of bean noodles and put it in, and the paste soup became sticky, thick and hard. In a hurry, he simply scooped it out of the pot and added a few handfuls of white noodles, made a dough and rolled it into noodles, and poured it with the local sauerkraut brine. As soon as the meal was served, the in-laws were shocked: What is this? When you eat it, the taste is much better than the paste. Under questioning, the daughter-in-law told the truth. The father-in-law could not help but smile: the clever stupid daughter-in-law made a delicious black strip (sorghum noodles are mostly brownish red, so they are often called red noodles and black noodles; circular strips, Jincheng and Changzhi people are mostly used to refer to slender strips).
Some people say that the practice of black strips is to wrap red noodles with white noodles, similar to the practice of foreskin noodles. This is not the case. In places such as Jincheng and Changzhi, the black tunic strips are also known as Sanhemian in Gaopingdi. Families with good families generally use sorghum noodles, bean noodles and white noodles. Poor families rarely use white noodles, but use elm bark grinding into elm bark, and even only use sorghum noodles and elm bark noodles, hence the name of the black tunic, which is appropriate.
Authentic Jincheng black stalks, toppings are sauerkraut. Unlike other places, this sauerkraut is picked from tender and burred thistles (a wild vegetable known locally as thorny nails), washed and chopped, added to the tank with noodle soup, and carefully pickled in a minimum of five to seven days. After marinating, eat and fish, even soup with water, with oil, salt and add shallots, ginger, garlic, etc., stir-fry over high heat into sauerkraut brine, pour on the black strips, regardless of the season, not limited by the season, eat at four o'clock.
Society is changing, science and technology are progressing, and living standards are improving. Today, we have gradually shaken off poverty and are entering an era of moderate prosperity. However, the coarse grain is still preserved on the Chinese table, in the blood of the Chinese thrifty family. Even from the simplest nutritional point of view, thick and thin, reasonable diet, why not easy to meet the needs of human health? I believe that the future of the black noodles can be expected, and the future of Shanxi noodles can be expected.
Author: Guo Song