Hometown on the tip of the tongue-Lintao sour and hemp vegetables

After autumn, the weather gets colder and the color of the Loess Plateau fades. Although there are still many dishes on the market, most of them are rare in the north, and the value of fresh vegetables increases after long-distance transportation.

In areas with abundant products, it may not be difficult for housewives to manage the meals of a family. In the barren north, before winter, in addition to storing potatoes, every household's cellar will also store several dishes such as cabbage, lotus root, carrot, garlic sprout and green onion for winter. Now the conditions are much better, but the elders who have been diligent for most of their lives still scrimp and save a certain amount of "traditional winter dishes".

People in different regions have their own unique frugal lifestyles, and pickled vegetables are the most common way to save lives for Lintao people. Kimchi in Lintao is different from sauerkraut, spicy cabbage, kimchi in Sichuan and kimchi in Northeast China. Only common vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, lotus root, radish, carrot and ginger can be used as raw materials for pickling pickles. Pickled pickles are as simple and simple as ordinary people in the production process. Chinese cabbage (lotus white) has four petals. Bring the pot to a boil, remove the water, smear pepper and salt, and when the jar is almost full, put it into the jar to press the stone. Press stones from the first petal to the jar, if there are carrots, ginger, etc. , directly into the jar. In this process, the greedy children will tear off the tender leaves from the vegetable petals just waiting for water control, stick salt and pepper on them, and taste the pickles in advance. A family with a small population, a small jar of hemp, enough for a family to spend a long winter; A large family with a large family will choose one big tank or even two big tanks.

Pickled pickles are also very delicate. Although there are not too many requirements for the main ingredients, we should also choose porcelain Chinese cabbage (lotus white). In terms of ingredients, the salt must be crude salt, and the salt pickled with iodized salt will have bitter taste; The pepper powder should be as thick as possible, too fine to taste easily.

It only takes a day or two for the dish jar pressed out of stone to look very dry until the water quickly overflows the edge of the jar. In a few days, the stones on the vegetables will be completely submerged, and there will be another dish on the farmers' table.

Like the braised pork in Shanghai, the cooked meat is old and tender, and the taste is strong and light. Different families can make their own unique flavor. Pickled pickles, too, taste different from grandma's and mom's, although they all use aunt's Chinese cabbage, although they all use pepper from the same tree and coarse salt from the same salt dealer.

After Laba, every household killed pigs to prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner, and the originally light days became greasy. I've always thought Ma Cai tastes better on this greasy day. The crispness of pickles, with the aroma of minced meat, is the most delicious taste. It is best to use shredded dried Chili and scallion for pickles. I don't like it the most, but it is common to eat rice with vegetable paste, such as rice with water, pimples and glutinous rice.

In junior high school, the school was far from home and cooked by itself. Every winter, there are few vegetables except leeks. Bring a baked lunch box home every weekend. Green and pale white vegetables and ginger slices with diamond-shaped carrots, red in white and green in red, seem to give me more motivation on my way to school. During the winter vacation, on the morning of winter, we sat on the kang and ate breakfast with white cakes and vegetables. It seems simple, but in retrospect, it is more delicious than any beef noodles now.

Although the economy is still tight now, in terms of diet, every day is like the New Year, and I always feel a little greasy. Some time ago, when I went to the countryside, the dinner on the big stove of the township government, a bowl of minced meat noodles, a plate of pickles and a plate of fried noodles made me eat the taste of the year.

"This is a great change in China. People and food are moving faster than ever before. No matter how hurried their footsteps are, no matter how they gather their sorrows and joys, how they can't help coming, there is always a smell on the tip of the tongue that reminds us three times a day in its unique way, to recognize tomorrow's whereabouts and not forget yesterday's whereabouts. "