The ancients first regarded the winter solstice as a solar term and gave it the meaning of the winter solstice. After all, it is the shortest day in a year, which is very memorable. The Book of the Later Han Dynasty records that around the solstice in winter, a gentleman lived a quiet life, refused to listen to politics, chose auspicious days, and then saved trouble. /kloc-More than 0/600 years ago, the ancients had the awareness of legal holidays, which were about the winter solstice.
Nowadays, the importance of the winter solstice has declined slightly. Surrounded by fast food culture, it is often at the top of the topic list, and the discussion about it is always inseparable from "whether to eat jiaozi or glutinous rice balls from the solstice in winter". The old-fashioned topic is fired up every year.
As a "foodie" country, "eating" is inevitable, and the solstice in winter is no exception. Whether it is jiaozi, wonton or glutinous rice balls, they are all part of cultural customs. Besides, there are more seasonal foods from winter to sun than you think.
1 winter brewing
"Don't drink winter wine on the solstice of winter, freeze all night", and the solstice of winter in Suzhou is deeply branded with the imprint of winter wine making.
"Time waits for no one to eat", and elegant Suzhou people always eat timely meals according to the season. After the season, the food will fall out of favor. A week before winter, the winter wine brewed in two months finally went on the market, and the old brand instantly became an online celebrity store, and the old Suzhou people queued up to buy wine in an endless stream. One year's waiting and only ten days' sales are enough to make Suzhou people itch, unable to restrain their excitement and frequently stand on tiptoe to probe. What time does this long queue end?
A Qing people recorded in Lu that rural people use herbs to make wine, which is called winter brewing, and it is known as "white in autumn", "Du Maochai", "leaning against the wall" and "clear bamboo leaves". The creator of October, named "October White". Using white flour to make koji, soaking white rice in spring water, named "Sanjiu wine".
The names of "Autumn Dew White" and "Bamboo Leaf Green" are beautiful, and the ancient people's love for winter brewing is in this name.
Whether Autumn Dew, Du Maochai or Zhu, the ancients always used different imaginations to describe colors. In fact, the winter wine is golden yellow, and there are still little osmanthus grains floating between Huang Che.
Old people are still used to homemade winter wine. In late autumn, the osmanthus trees in front of the door and behind the house are already covered with goose yellow "pearls", and the warm and elegant fragrance is unstoppable. Cut off a few branches covered with osmanthus flowers, gently stroke off goose yellow flowers, spread them flat and dry them, and add them to rice wine fermented by glutinous rice and distiller's yeast. Osmanthus fragrans absorbs fragrance and gardenia color.
The sweet-scented osmanthus overflowing the alley in my memory was made into winter wine. Smell it and you'll never forget it.
Snow gradually covered the roof of the grass and turned into mist in one breath. In the small stove made of red mud, there is a faint charcoal fire red, "Tonight's wine is brewed, and thick black rice is brewed." It is also a rare comfort to warm a pot of winter brew, take a sip, bring in a catty of pot-stewed flavor, and sit around the stove with two or three friends to pour wine and eat meat, and chat at home.
1000 years later, there is no more lotte in Shantang Street. Sitting by the water, Gui Xiang's nose was wet, and the little girl fish walked around across the water, smiling and warming the cold sunset.
This day, like this winter's wine making, is neither strong nor urgent, just like Suzhou little girl fish looking back at the water, flat and light, warm and cool, flowing water gurgling.
Fu Ping persimmon: The sweet glutinous rice has lost its teeth.
Speaking of persimmon, people's earliest memories of persimmon are round and flat, with "white spots" and sweet and astringent snacks placed on grandma's bedside.
The appearance of Fu Ping persimmon completely subverted my imagination of persimmons, which turned out to be so soft and sweet.
Of course, people who like sweets like it to death, and people who don't like it think it is too sweet.
Willow shadows are sparse, leaves are everywhere, and the first frost comes at the right time. The golden persimmon covered with branches began to change from ordinary fruit to beautiful dessert.
From the first frost to the winter solstice, the growth of Fu Ping persimmon has to go through 65,438+02 strict ancient procedures: picking, hooking, peeling, hanging, kneading, taking off the shelf, draining, wet frost ... and strictly control the frost hanging time for 48-60 days.
Fu Ping persimmon is very cute, which is different from the flat persimmons in the market. Because of the traditional natural hanging technique, 200g to 40g concentrated fruit becomes chubby Momo in the process of being fully bathed by sunlight, which truly embodies the beautiful meaning of "how good persimmon is, how good you are".
Gently tear open the persimmon, leaving the white frosting naturally formed on the surface of the persimmon on your fingers, revealing the red heart pulp, crystal clear if frozen.
Take a bite, silky and refreshing, and the full flesh seems to be eager to overflow from the teeth. What is left between lips and teeth is the trace of sunshine and the smell of pulp.
The child next door has been crying.
3 Dongjie Pills
Carrying a heavy bag, I pushed open the mottled wooden door and there was a creak. The old woman followed the voice and shouted "Come back!" "Hurry in and eat winter festival pills."
"After eating the Winter Festival Pill, you will be one year older." In Chaoshan area, the winter solstice solar term is one of the most important festivals in a year. The winter solstice, also known as the "Winter Festival", is the last festival in a year, so it is also a "small year" in Chaoshan area. After eating the unique "Winter Festival Pill" on the solstice of winter, the child will grow to one year old. The so-called "Winter Festival Pill" is actually the "Tangyuan" in the dispute between North and South.
The night before the winter solstice, housewives began to plan. The women put a big bamboo pole, that is, a shallow basket, on the table and sat together in a "so round" (dialect, pronunciation).
Traditional Dongjie Pills have two colors, one is made directly from glutinous rice flour, white; The other is water with red rice flour, which is pink and purple.
Women deliberately knead winter festival pills of different sizes and irregular shapes into balls, which are called "father and son gongsun pills", meaning family reunion at the end of the year.
The next morning, the women boiled the soup with brown sugar, sprinkled ginger slices, and then put the meatballs into the pot to cook. The meatballs that have just come out of the pot should be given to the ancestors first, and then to the landlord, parents-in-law, Si Mingjun and Jing Shen in turn.
When the ancestors and gods are arranged, it is the turn of a family. Eternal rules are the awe of family traditions passed down from generation to generation in Chaoshan. After the ancestor worship ceremony, my nervous nerves relaxed. I ate a bowl of winter festival pills to welcome the New Year in sweet glutinous rice.
4 "mind"
In Yinchuan, Ningxia, which is 2300 kilometers away from the northwest of Guangdong, people must eat brains on the solstice in winter. At first glance, this name sounds a bit scary, and in an instant, the brain is filled with a scene of a rough and unrestrained northwest man eating meat and drinking.
In fact, the "brain" here is just another name for mutton powder soup.
On the solstice of winter, at three or four o'clock in the morning, my family got up early to prepare for the solstice of winter.
To make a bowl of mutton powder soup, Songshan purple mushroom is absolutely the essence. Wash the prepared Songshan purple mushrooms and cook the soup. After the soup is thickened, a delicious soup base is formed.
Dice mutton, fry in a pan until it is dried, then add ginger, onion, garlic and Chili noodles, stir-fry chopped mushrooms and diced meat, pour some vinegar and add some other seasonings. After the meat is rotten, add the fungus and day lily and stir fry, then add the mushroom soup. After the soup is boiled, put it into the cut pieces and soaked vermicelli, cook it well, and finally add leeks, garlic sprouts and coriander to make it fragrant. A pot of hot mutton powder soup was served.
The mutton powder soup in Yinchuan is like a pot of stew, with various colors, including red pepper, yellow day lily, green garlic sprout, coriander, and chewy white powder, vermicelli, mushrooms, fungus ... all kinds of game come together, which enriches the umami value of mutton.
In many places, the solstice in winter is a big day to worship ancestors, and Yinchuan also has such a custom. Jiaozi, the earliest noodle soup maker, must hold a bowl in front of his ancestors' memorial tablets, and he will also enthusiastically hold a bowl for his neighbors. Finally, the family will sit together and drink mutton powder soup, with jiaozi stuffed with yellow radish or a few cakes of fennel in the oven, which is also unique.
5 mutton soup
In addition to Yinchuan in Ningxia, there is also Chengdu, the land of abundance, which is 1300 kilometers away.
If you have to argue with your colleagues in Chengdu about whether it is right or wrong to eat from the winter solstice, he will give you a sincere look: eating a shovel of jiaozi and glutinous rice balls can definitely cut mutton soup!
When winter comes, mutton soup kitchens have sprung up on the streets of Chengdu. On the solstice of winter, the number of people who go to drink mutton soup reaches its peak.
In order to eat mutton and drink mutton soup on the solstice of winter, people can queue up for an hour or two in the cold wind, order a few kilograms of mutton offal and mutton, and enjoy the warmth of mutton soup sliding into their stomachs with family and friends at the night market.
Among them, dipping in water is the key to a bowl of delicious mutton soup. When serving instant white mutton soup, you must put a piece of bean curd on it, sprinkle with two spoonfuls of millet and spicy, and add three pinch of shallots and coriander, so that the freshness, fragrance and spicy of mutton soup can be completely released.
Chengdu people are very particular about eating mutton soup. Kill the mutton offal in the soup first, then burn the soul mate peas and dip them in the bean curd, rice and coriander dish to eat. Then rinse the good mutton in clear water for a few seconds, and the entrance will be full of the delicious taste of mutton.
After eating mutton soup, the solstice of this winter will be complete.