Mouth full of sweet taste - Shou'an crisp candy
How long has it been since childhood? How often will the streets stop buzzing with the cries of contact with the outside world? It seems like a long time. I still remember when I was a child, every winter, my mother-in-law would bring out a plate of "sweet nourishment" from the cabinet in the house, and our sisters were like birds that had taken off their cages, fluttering and running over, "sweet and nourishing" could not wait to eat as soon as they arrived, and the mother-in-law looked at our picture of hunger, and her eyes smiled into a slit, this warm memory has been maintained until now, and the taste has been sweet to the bottom of the heart, and there is a long aftertaste. When I grew up, I learned that the "sweet taste" turned out to be Shou'an crisp candy.
Speaking of Shou'an crisp candy, this is one of the three best in Wenjiang. It is one of the famous traditional snacks in Sichuan, and its production process has belonged to the national intangible cultural heritage, fragrant and not greasy, sweet without sugar, crispy without top of the mouth, crisp and not hard, famous in western Sichuan.
The Wenjiang Shou'an area has been making shortbread for more than 300 years. According to historical records, the founder of Wenjiang crisp candy was Ma Jingshan, a famous pastry worker in Shou'an Township, Wenjiang County, in the late Ming Dynasty. In the 24th year of Qing Guangxu, Ma Jingshan, operating the "Auspicious Zhai" Jingguo Shop in Wujiachang, was famous for producing Chinese-style pastries and pioneered a new variety with a unique flavor - crisp sugar. Because it had the same surname as the Later Han general Fubo general Ma Yuan, he took the name "Fubo Brand" crispy candy. Subsequently, Wujiachang Li Tuqi opened the "Kuicheng" Jingguo Shop for imitation, named "Laojun Brand" crisp candy. These two products won the "First Shortbread Founding" pennant and the gold medal for local famous products at the Sichuan Provincial Persuasion Conference in the 23rd and 32nd years of the Republic of China, respectively, and since then the shortbread has become famous and its sales have expanded. Subsequently, the "Fengchixuan" Jingguo Shop in Yujiao Town hired Ma Jingshan's son as a technician to produce crisp candy. After that, there are "Shoukang Village" and other Jingguo shops that have been imitated.
Wenjiang crisp candy, has a warm taste. It adopts the traditional formula, the material is exquisite, the process is unique, with white sesame seeds, refined sugar, cake powder, cooked noodles, caramel, refined vegetable oil as the ingredients, through the process of milling, sugar blanks, etc., and then take two bites of the pot, use the dark fire to warm the powder, and repeatedly stack it into thin slices. More than 300 years after its inception, it is the taste of the old Wenjiang when he was a child - fragrant and not greasy, sweet and non-sticky, crisp and not top-mouthed, crisp and slagged.
Now every time I go home, the family sits around and shares the crisp candy purchased on Taobao, talking and laughing, and the sweet taste of childhood also jumps into the heart. This is the transmission of family affection, the embodiment of mutual respect and mutual love, talking about a better life, and the heart is as sweet as crisp candy.
The "mother's flavor" of bibimbap - Wenjiang soy sauce
When it comes to the soul of Sichuan cuisine, the first thing that comes to mind should be Pixian watercress, but today I have to talk about Wenjiang soy sauce, which is on the same level as Pixian watercress and Boryeong vinegar, but has gradually been forgotten.
When I was a child, I could often see my mother making watercress sauce by hand, but the soy sauce and vinegar at home were all "imported", and I had to run to the supply and marketing agency with two cans at a time to find a salesman to buy them, or I had to wait until the small traders on three wheels came to fill the two cans. That's when the whole village is happiest, because no matter which way we fill the jar, we can always get a reward from our mothers — or a lollipop or two or "cat ears" or all kinds of stir-fried snacks.
I still remember when I was a child, I didn't like to eat rice, and whenever I ate, I cried and cried, and my mother was particularly annoyed, at which time my mother would magically bring out a bowl of soy sauce bibimbap, which was undoubtedly the most tempting delicacy for me. As an adult, I often recall that this mixture of the warmest and longest taste in the world, mixed with my own hands, is no longer that taste.
Until the last time I came home, my mother brought out a bowl of soy sauce bibimbap and said, "Now, come and taste the soy sauce rice you have in mind, is it the same as before?" "In one mouth, the sauce ester aroma is rich, the taste is delicious and mellow, and the taste of soy sauce that has been missing for a long time is ah! I learned from my mother's soft grinding hard bubble that what we are eating now is more Cantonese-style soy sauce, and what we used to eat was Wenjiang soy sauce, so my mother specially entrusted someone to buy it back to try (in addition to buying it in Wenjiang, you can now buy it on Taobao, if you need to buy it yourself).
Wenjiang soy sauce, also known as "dripping nest oil", was founded in 1738 during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and was moved to Wenjiang by Zheng Yuzhao and Peng Yongnian from Jinxi County, Jiangsu Province, to open the "Yisheng" and Haitianchun Sauce Garden. Later, Local People from Wenjiang successively opened Yongquan ChenJia Sauce Garden (Qingfeng Street, Liucheng Town, Wenjiang), Xujia Sauce Garden (Wenjiang District and Shengzhen New Street), and Kunsheng Wangjia Sauce Garden (Wanshou Street, Shou'an Town). Especially during the Republic of China, the sauce garden industry gradually developed, and there were many products, among which the taste of diwo soy sauce was excellent.
After the founding of The People's Republic of China in 1956, most of the private owners were jointly operated by the public and private enterprises to establish Wenjiang County Supply and Marketing Cooperatives and Sheng Food Factory, Shou'an Food Factory, and Wenjiang County Brewing Food Factory. This is the ancestor of Wenjiang soy sauce, but also the most brilliant era of Wenjiang soy sauce, A in Bashu, famous in China. In 2009, Wenjiang's special grade dripping oil process was listed as a "Chengdu Intangible Cultural Heritage" protection product; in 2013, it was praised by Sichuan Television as a "Rolls-Royce" in soy sauce; and in 2014, it was awarded the Geographical Protection Indication product of the People's Republic of China.
The unique Wenjiang soy sauce needs to be selected according to the traditional process of selecting soybeans and wheat through fine, soaking, steaming, mixing wheat noodles, koji making, dew and sun fermentation, turning, oil filtering and other more than ten processes, high labor intensity, less production batch, especially koji making. Dew-based fermentation and turning at room temperature must be carried out in accordance with traditional processes. In the spring, the koji is loaded into the tile tank, salt water is added for room temperature sunburn fermentation, and the natural room temperature fermentation of the summer environment can only grow the microbials of the raw alcohol fat, so that there can be a rich sauce and delicious and mellow characteristics. In order to ensure adequate fermentation, the sauce must be artificially turned during the fermentation process of sunnail, and it takes about a year to mature. In the later stage, the sauce fermentation is dark reddish brown, and some of the sauce is oozing out, that is, it is stored in a large wooden barrel, dripping juice, or squeezing out the juice, or putting a bamboo cage (insert) in the tank, separating the sauce residue outside the cage, scooping the juice from the cage, that is, the finished drip nest oil. The process integrates the process characteristics of spring song, summer sauce and autumn oil, and it is precisely because the production of Wenjiang dripwo oil has been used for more than 200 years of traditional craftsmanship to ensure the unchanged quality characteristics of Wenjiang soy sauce for a hundred years. Wenjiang soy sauce is therefore known as the "Hermes" in soy sauce.
This traditional production process can not be replaced by modern machine production, in addition to relying on the experience of the brewer Pei Qu, it takes a long time to dry the sun and night dew, and after the production is completed, the special rich and sweet, is not the general bean wheat soy sauce can be compared. More than 100 years earlier than Zhongba soy sauce, Deyang soy sauce and Pixian douban, Wenjiang soy sauce is actually the king of soy sauce in the entire Chuanxi Damzi Yongcheng.
I believe that many friends like me miss this childhood taste, although now you can buy these "old memories" in less and less places, but in the almighty Taobao, fingers can sit and wait for the delicious door. May this childhood memory bring more warmth to everyone in this cold winter.