April 20th is the Pear Blossom Festival in my hometown. At this time, pear trees of all sizes are full of pears. Xianhe Park, known as "Pear Fragrant Garden", has become a good place for people to enjoy pear blossoms. As the poem says, "There are thousands of pears and thousands of snows".
It won't be long before Laiyang pear will be on the market. At this time, pear vendors can be seen everywhere in markets, pear orchards and streets. Most of them don't shout anything, not because they are too lazy to say hello, but because Laiyang pears are famous far and wide, sitting there leisurely and having their own buyers come to the door.
Laiyang pear has thin skin, crisp meat and sweet juice. It tastes delicious when bitten. Unlike pears in other places, the skin is thick and astringent, so people like it.
Whenever Laiyang pears are ripe, I always ask my mother to buy a few boxes. If you put it in your room and don't open it, the smell will be fresh. Rinse it clean, put it on your nose and smell the quiet fragrance, and the saliva will flow out. "Click" bite down, the juice overflows the mouth, and suddenly my insides feel refreshed. Taste slowly, the more you chew, the more fragrant you eat.
Laiyang pear is not only the best pear, but also effective in treating cough. Remove the pear core, dig a small hole in the middle of the pear, put a few pieces of crystal sugar and some small herbs such as Fritillaria, and then cook in a pot until the pear is completely cooked and soft. Sweet pears are sent into the mouth with pure and honest juice, and the dry and painful throat is immediately wet. Coupled with the role of medicinal materials, it can relieve symptoms very well. I used to be afraid of suffering and refused to take medicine. It helped me several times. The sweetness of the pear outweighed the bitterness of the medicine, so I naturally ate it obediently.
Nowadays, Laiyang pears in my hometown have been exported to all parts of the country. As a descendant of Pear Town, I feel very proud. It is a great pleasure to taste fresh Laiyang pears every year.
People who grew up in our Shandong area have probably heard the saying-"apples in Qixia, pears in Laiyang and radish skins in Weifang." This sentence refers to three famous local specialties in Shandong. As for me, I grew up in Laiyang, a pear town, and Laiyang pear is the proudest in our pear town.
The elders said that Laiyang pear was a tribute of the Qing Dynasty and became famous very early. Now, this Laiyang pear is more famous. Especially some time ago, a girl who looks like Zhao Wei the Swallow made an advertisement-"A Laiyang pear juice 100% fresh and pure"-which was broadcast in the prime time of CCTV. Since then, Laiyang pear has become more and more famous.
Laiyang pear lives up to its reputation. According to fruit tree experts, Laiyang pear is sweeter and crisper than pears in other places, and it also has the effect of relieving cough and moistening lung. When I was a child, I caught a cold and kept coughing. My mother washed two pears, peeled and cored them, and cooked pear paste for me. This pear paste is much more effective than other cough syrups, and it is cheap and can be bought in all streets. It is really convenient and delicious. The fresh pears just picked are absolutely delicious. If you take a bite, you will immediately feel that your mouth is full of honey. No wonder people like to eat our pears!
Around April, we will celebrate a special festival here-Pear Blossom Festival. At that time, if you visit Laiyang, you will definitely see the scene of tens of thousands of pear trees in Wulong River blowing their petals open. Cen Can, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote about pear blossom snow, which shows how white pear blossoms are. The pear trees are full of branches, and the dazzling white has an unspeakable joy. But more pears will be blown down by the wind, or picked when the fruit is thinned, because the flowers will bear fruit. If all the pears on the tree form pears, seedlings will definitely appear on the branches-either "broken" or "misplaced". Therefore, in order to harvest pears, flowers must be thinned. I once saw a pear tree with sparse flowers. The whole tree is bare, but green leaves faintly appear on the branches. Pears have already fallen to the ground, one crowded with another, one pressed against the other, trampled by people, and some mixed with mud. Although these flowers are not as beautiful and white as before, they can't help but remind people of Gong Zizhen's saying that "falling red is not a heartless thing, but turning into spring mud can protect flowers more" and feel a somewhat weak and tragic power. It turns out that this fallen petal also has a credit!
When autumn comes, people start sowing, selling and eating pears. This fragrant pear is really hard to get. It tastes very sweet.