Braised sweet potato with firewood ash is the warmest memory of childhood.

My hometown, Jiangjia Courtyard, is located in a mountainous area in southern Hunan. It is said to be a mountainous are

Braised sweet potato with firewood ash is the warmest memory of childhood.

My hometown, Jiangjia Courtyard, is located in a mountainous area in southern Hunan. It is said to be a mountainous area, but it is indeed a veritable mountainous area. The Qingshan Hutong behind the courtyard stretches for five or six miles from east to west, with hills one after another and overlapping peaks, which is like a natural barrier to separate the courtyard from the outside world. Only a cobblestone mountain road winds its way to the outside of the village. In the west of the village, there are Niangshan, which is full of oil bamboo, and the lush Anziling. In the east of the village, there are towering maple forests, natural camellia forests and mountains. The ancestors of the clan gave them beautiful names, and they gave birth to a piece of green and raised generation after generation.

The slope at the foot of the mountain is wide and gentle, suitable for land reclamation. As far as I can remember, my parents never stop working in the fields after spring every year. In those years, the yield per mu of farming was very low, and it was not enough for a family to fill their stomachs only by the grain laid in the rice fields. Some days of the year you have to dig in dry land. Plant some sweet potatoes, beans, peanuts, etc. In the dry land behind the village, I mixed with whole grains to pass the time. Generations have carefully arranged their livelihood for one year. Thanks to the hard work of our parents, we can enjoy meals every day in that era when the level of productivity is not high. With the care of mom and dad, we grew up healthily.

Among miscellaneous grains, my favorite is sweet potato, especially sweet potato stewed with red firewood ash. At that time, firewood was used for cooking, boiling water and cooking. Every household in the village has several stoves for burning wood, and the stoves are deep. Cooking and boiling water, there is still red fire excrement left in the stove after the wood fire is finished, and my mother puts some small sweet potatoes in the ash. After school at noon, we are hungry after being naughty at school all morning. We thought of the baked sweet potato baked by my mother in the oven, and ran home without fighting with friends on the road.

Pushing open the kitchen door, a faint smell of baked sweet potato made my mouth water. I gently parted the slightly hot firewood ashes with the poker, picked up the sweet potato with my hand, fanned it up and down with my small hand a few times, and then couldn't wait to tear off a piece and put it in my mouth. A sweet potato stewed with firewood ash is brown and crisp, and the meat is tender and soft. It tastes fragrant and sweet, and it is the most unforgettable and warmest time when I was a child.

At that time, a lot of sweet potatoes were planted in the field, and they would not be eaten at home for a while. My parents picked up the dug sweet potatoes and laid them in nave's house at home. Some sweet potatoes simply tie vines together and hang them under the eaves to dry until they frost. At this time, due to the large temperature difference between day and night after frosting, the sweet potato was saccharified quickly, and a sweet potato was spread out in the room and hung under the eaves, which was softened by the frost wind. At this time, the sweet potato stewed with firewood ash is more delicious. At this time, the stewed sweet potato is soft and tender in your hand. When you tear off the brown skin with your hands, it will reveal the sweet potato meat full of sugar water. Take a bite with your teeth, and the sweet juice will be all over the tip of your tongue and sweet to your heart. That kind of sweetness will make you feel sweet but not greasy and refreshing.

? Today is the sweet potato harvest season. Although his parents are nearly eighty years old, the old man planted some sweet potatoes in his responsible field. Today, when he came home, he saw a basket full of sweet potatoes, which his mother dug up in the kitchen. Now, although he is no longer full of whatever he eats every day as he was a child.

However, the smell of sweet potato simmered in firewood ash still tempts me. When the old lady finished cooking, I picked a few moderate sweet potatoes and put them in the red stove.

There is no shortage of good enjoyment at any time in life. Yesterday, a cold air went from north to south, and the temperature dropped by ten degrees. Cold air attacked people. Today, I ate a braised sweet potato on this cold autumn day and suddenly felt warm.

Sweet potato stewed with firewood ash is delicious, and I still like it today.

? In that hard time, in that era of material shortage, sweet potato coaxed our greedy mouths, filled our hungry stomachs and let us enjoy the happiness on the tip of our tongue.