In winter, one delicacy that appears to be more popular is sugar-fried chestnuts. In fact, the variety of chestnuts is also exquisite, the current mainstream on the market is mainly divided into two kinds, chestnut and conical chestnut, of which the price of cone chestnut is higher and the taste is better. Cone chestnuts are rarely bought in the market, and even if they are, the price is not cheap, so farmers are more inclined to go to the mountains to pick themselves.
In fact, there is a kind of nut in the mountain, the appearance is very similar to the cone chestnut, the taste is also very good, and the nutritional value is still high, it is bitter oak, known as the "fireproof tree", the fruit is very precious, and now it has entered the winter, many people who know the goods have rushed to pick.
Bitter oak is a common tree in the central region, distributed in the north of the Yangtze River Five Ridges, this tree is more warm and humid, so it grows in dense woods, but this is not absolute, in many rural roads next to the road. Many farmers call the bitter oak "fireproof tree", praised it as a good helper in the forest, this is because the leaves of the bitter oak are resistant to high temperatures and are not easy to burn, mainly because its leaves are thick leather, can withstand more than 400 temperatures, if you encounter a forest fire, the bitter oak can block the source of fire very well, prevent the spread of fire, and has become a lot of trees that must be planted in the protective forest.
It is an evergreen tree with a beautiful tree shape and high ornamental value, while the leaves can also absorb toxic gases, and are now often cultivated as a green tree. Nowadays, the wild bitter oak is very precious, because it has become a national second-level protected plant, and the number of completely wild is very limited. The fruit of the bitter oak is a very good nut, the shape is very similar to the cone chestnut, the size of the head is much worse, the bitter oak is only the size of the longan nucleus, and the gloss is very high. Because the number of bitter oak is limited, the fruit is even more precious.
This tree blooms in April and May of each year, and by November and December the fruit is ripe and can be picked, and at this time of year, that is, in winter, many people will go into the mountains to pick it. After the bitter oak is fully ripe, the fruit will fall naturally, which also saves farmers some things and can pick them on the ground, but if you want to get more, you still need to climb the tree to pick it.
Farmers regard the bitter oak they pick back as a treasure because it can be made into a very special local delicacy, bitter oak tofu and bitter oak vermicelli, which is very delicious and is a good product for heat protection and cooling down in summer. However, it still takes a lot of labor to eat delicious food, and the process of making bitter oak tofu is very complicated, so it is still only a local snack, and outsiders rarely eat it.
Before processing, bitter oak needs to be soaked in water, the first step is to soak the bitter oak overnight, then the sun exposure to the shell, and then soak in water for a period of time, the middle of the water to often change water, this is mainly to remove the bitterness of the bitter oak, and then put into the stone mill, grind the liquid into the pot slow frying, semi-solidified after putting into the bowl, standing overnight will solidify itself, bitter oak tofu will be made.
This tofu can be stir-fried, stewed, and can also be used for shabu-shabu, very tender, but also very delicious. The method of bitter oak vermicelli and bitter oak tofu is much the same, but the taste is the same, which is very good. The tofu and vermicelli made of bitter oak are complex, too cumbersome, many people are not willing to do it, coupled with the precious and rare fruit of bitter oak, bitter oak tofu is even more difficult to walk, have you ever eaten this characteristic farmhouse cuisine?