Chicken head rice, each grain is a natural gift from august water town. "The most is the Jiangnan autumn in August, the chicken head rice race mussel beads round." Regarding the poetry of chicken head rice, the literati never skimped on pen and ink. To this day, it is still the favorite of old Suzhou and the top card in the "Eight Immortals of Water".
In the early autumn of the cruel summer, it is the season when chicken head rice is on the market, and Suzhou people naturally do not miss the "fresh" taste on the tip of their tongues. Who would have thought that the chicken head rice that everyone is sought after today was once a waste in the water. Today, we will start with this bowl of chicken head rice with a story...
The scientific name "Qi Shi" is not unique to Suzhou
Northerners may not understand why this chicken head rice, which looks like a fish eye, is so loved by the people of Suzhou and is expensive every year.
Chicken head rice, scientific name "Mustard", aquatic plant of the water lily family. If you don't look closely at the chicken head rice plants, it is easy to mistake them for mini versions of water lilies - round leaves floating on the surface of the water, blue-purple flowers slightly above the water surface, how to see are water lilies.
Source: Circle of friends
Other rice belongs to the grain class, but chicken head rice is not, it is not rice at all, but the "lotus seed" peeled out of the mustard. The reason why it is called chicken head rice is related to its fruit. The ripe chicken head rice fruit is not as open as the lotus, round and slippery like a large pomegranate, topped with a cluster of green petals shaped like a chicken crown, which looks like the head of a large rooster from a distance.
Shen Chaochu's "Remembrance of Jiangnan" Yun: "Suzhou is good, fengshui breeding chicken head." In fact, chicken head rice is not unique to Suzhou. Native to East Asia, it is distributed in China, north to Heilongjiang, south to Hainan Island, and is more common in The Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas and the two Guangzhou areas.
During the famine, the "life-saving food" of Suzhou people
The history of cultivating chicken head rice in Suzhou can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Speaking of which, the earliest was still used for hunger relief, so it is called "hunger beans", because it can be stored for a long time when dried, and it is the "life-saving food" of Suzhou people during famine after natural disasters.
It is divided into southern and northern mustards. Northern mustard, also known as thorny mustard, is covered with hard spines; southern mustard, also known as Suqi, has no spines in all other parts except for sparse spines on the veins of the leaf dorsal leaves. At present, Suzhou is planted with southern mustard. From the original thorny varieties to today's thornless varieties, there is a process of artificial breeding and domestication. Suzhou artificial cultivation and cultivation of qi shi is clearly recorded in the Ming Dynasty.
There is also spring in the water to save the wilderness.
The Shennong Caojing lists chicken head rice as a top product. The Compendium of Materia Medica describes: "Shaped like a fish order, cooked like taro". In "Dream of the Red Chamber", Jia Baoyu gave Shi Xiangyun two kinds of fresh goods, including chicken head rice, which shows that high-gate households like Jia Fu also love to eat. Among the many literary descriptions, the homesickness of the literati is pinned. Today, it has become the best of the "Eight Immortals of Water".
Planting processing technology, once "confidential"
In addition to the excellent breed, the reason why Suzhou's chicken head rice can be loudly is because of its superb planting and processing technology.
Suzhou people call it chicken head rice, also known as Nandang chicken head. Nandang is roughly near Huang Tiandang, which is now in the park. That is, in history, the villagers of Lou Feng Qunli in Gusu Wu County lived together, and they have been planting qi shi for generations. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's "Wu Yizhi" says: "Out of the Huangshan Mountains and South Dang".
Metro Line 5 has a "Huang Tiandang" station
Chicken head rice is difficult to plant and difficult to peel, and the technical requirements are very high.
In terms of harvesting, many places are harvested at one time, and the old tender net is exhausted. Suzhou people are collected in batches, from the initial listing of "seven days to fight two heads", to the last batch of "four days to fight two heads", forming a set of experience. When picking chicken heads, use a special bamboo knife to cut a few knives at the base of the fruit, which will not hurt the fruit handle at all, because the water from the fruit handle will enter the plant and cause death.
When peeling chicken head rice, it was initially sniffed with teeth, and people with good skills can take two flaps of the shell without hurting the rice kernel at all. This is definitely a technical work, at that time there was an old saying in Qunli Village called "passing on the daughter-in-law does not pass on the daughter", passing it to the daughter is equivalent to passing it on to the people of the village.
Now they are all stripped with special copper nails. At present, there are many people who guard the stalls and peel chicken head rice in the Fengmen Hengjie street and the downstairs of the community, one side sieving, a small bench, a special "gold ring" on the finger, and skillfully peeling out the round and smooth seed kernels.
A bowl of chicken head rice, starting the autumn in Suzhou
Why suzhou people love chicken head rice so much, you will know it after eating it.
Wash the chicken head rice, boil the rock sugar into sugar water, mix with water and chicken head rice in a casserole dish and slowly cook, and finally sprinkle a pinch of dried osmanthus flowers. The soup carries a refreshing fragrance, chewing the chicken head rice "tough entanglement", this bowl can know the autumn meaning of Suzhou.
Autumn is the time of supplementation, and chicken head rice has the reputation of "ginseng in the water". Nutritional value can be said to be "tonic but not steep, moist but not dry", can be fried with shrimp, but also used in cooking porridge or soup. These dishes are added to some chicken head rice with a clear texture and teeth, which is undoubtedly the icing on the cake, and it will be noisy if it is not good - after all, this "pearl in the water" is really not easy to come by.
Suzhou people's "autumn supplement" starts with a bowl of watery soft glutinous chicken head rice. This year's chicken head rice price is basically the same as in previous years, or about 120 yuan a catty. Are you ready to go for a taste?
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