A bowl of grass hairpin in midsummer

"It's midsummer and the scenery is chic." In the hot sea, cicadas play flute outside the window, playing melodious melody. I remember when I was a child, in the steaming summer, I liked to sit on the threshold and look at the bamboo forest near the stream. At that time, Sun Guping outside the door was roasted by hot smoke, and there was no wind at all. There are no birds and dogs barking, but cicadas keep making noise, which is too annoying in such hot weather. However, looking at the bamboo forest like a green barrier, a little fine coolness floats down through the gaps of bamboo leaves, and even if it is not in the bamboo forest, it can feel natural and fresh.

In the heat of southern inflammation, besides carrying bamboo forests, it is probably more wonderful to eat a bowl of sweet and cool grass sticks in the wanton sound of cicadas. Now, there are so many delicious fruits, ice cream and cold drinks, but when I was a child, the happiest thing was to eat a bowl of sweet and smooth grass sticks in summer.

Hakka grass hairpin is called "grass cake" in Chaoshan area, "bean jelly" and "fairy grass" in Guangzhou, and "fairy grass cake" in Malaysia and Singapore. Although their raw materials are the same and their practices are roughly the same, this bowl of delicious memories of summer actually reflects the unique symbols of local customs and cultures.

At that time, what I was most looking forward to was the grass hairpin made by my grandmother. It is the custom of Hakkas to eat "grass hairpin" in the Lunar New Year. It is said that eating a bowl of grass hairpin on this day will not cause prickly heat all summer. Grandma can pick fairy grass, which is jelly grass. As long as Xiancao is decocted in boiling water, it can also clear away heat and relieve summer heat. There are not many processes for making grass hairpin. First, put the dried Xiancao into the pot and boil it until the soup is hung with a spoon. Then, filter the Xiancao soup and pour in the sweet potato powder. Stir until the soup becomes paste, pour it into a large pot and cool it to a dark brown gel. Dig a big piece, mash it in a bowl, pour brown sugar water on it, and you can eat a bowl of fragrant and cool grass hairpin.

In that era of material shortage, this bowl of grass hairpin, which is cool on a sunny day and fragrant with grass, is not only a good product to reduce fire and relieve summer heat, but also the most refreshing dessert! Later, after our family moved to the county seat, grandma stopped making her own straw sticks. On the weekend afternoon, I sat in the shade doing my homework, waiting for the figure of the old uncle selling straw sticks to appear at the other end of the alley, and then shouted "Grandma, come out quickly". The old uncle pushed the car all the way without shouting and selling. From time to time, someone called him "uncle, wait a minute", and then someone hurried over and served a bowl.

A few years later, I bought a refrigerator and put it at home. The straw sticks tasted fresher after being frozen in the refrigerator. In the Chaoshan area of Jiexi, there are also many cut grass on the street. Because I grew up eating sugar straw, when I first tasted straw sprinkled with fried white sugar or brown sugar, it was smooth and tender with a little sandy taste, which still made me feel fresh. Moreover, a bucket of white and tender bean curd is usually placed next to it, which is also a non-greasy summer taste.

Later, supermarkets began to sell concentrated straw powder, which can be eaten immediately. It turns out that this bowl is a seasonal grass hairpin, and now you can eat it at any time. When my children are three or four years old, I often buy them home, mix and stir water and straw powder according to a certain proportion, boil them with low fire, and then cool and condense them, so that I can eat straw sticks with smooth taste and attractive fragrance. The child likes this bowl of jelly very much. She was very happy to watch her chubby little hand waving a small spoon and scooping up the straw in the bowl.

When children grow up, they prefer the upgraded version of grass hairpin-burning grass with milk tea, burning red beans with taro and burning raisins. But for me, the most emotional thing is grandma's bowl of "original ecology" grass hairpin. It's still very hot in summer, but fortunately, there is a cool memory of a bowl of grass sticks, as if the magic of "snow flying and the sea getting cold" is unforgettable!