Ningguo received solar wine.
If you ask me which of the 24 solar terms I like best, I will not hesitate to tell you that it is the "Millennium"!
I like the hazy and beautiful artistic conception of "white dew is frost", and I prefer the cool night of "white dew is warm in autumn, and the bright moon is clear". The vegetation is dyed and the dew reflects the moon!
The Millennium is approaching, and the autumn harvest crops in most areas of China have entered a mature harvest period.
On both sides of the beautiful Tianmu mountain range, the mountain people will usher in a long-awaited day. The annual Millennium Festival is also the day when pecans open their stems! There is a folk song as proof: "White dew, bamboo pole shaking;" Gold is everywhere, and the pole carries it. "
Pecan, the exclusive gift of nature.
Pecan is a special gift from nature to people on both sides of Tianmu Mountain. Really, I was right. Hickory is only produced on both sides of Tianmu Mountain. In addition to Tianmu Mountain, the pecans in other places are "planted, not alive, not long-lived, and not fruitful", which is really exquisite.
Pecans are delicate and round in shape, like pearls and agates. Such a beautiful thing naturally grows in a beautiful place.
Tianmu is known as "the beautiful eyes are thousands of miles, and the Lingshan is ten miles deep". There are many kinds of animals and plants and rare species here, which is recognized as a treasure house of plant genes.
Tianmu Mountain starts from Huzhou, Zhejiang Province in the east, borders Taihu Plain, and extends to the junction of Zhejiang and Anhui in the west, overlooking Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province. It is 200 kilometers long and about 60 kilometers wide. The main peak, Qingliang Peak, is located at the junction of Lin 'an City and Jixi County, Anhui Province. This small area covers Lin 'an, Chun 'an, Tonglu and Anji in Zhejiang, and Ningguo, Guangde and Jixi in Anhui.
The superior climate and fertile soil here gave birth to this rare fruit, Carya cathayensis, which is one of the most delicious varieties among many dried fruits without any public pollution.
Hickory, a shining business card in Ningguo City.
As the main producing area of Hickory in Tianmu Mountain, the yield of Hickory in Ningguo accounts for almost half of that of Hickory, which enjoys a long reputation.
In the twenty-eighth year of Jiajing in the Qing Dynasty, the "Ningguo County Records" recorded: "Ningguo is mountainous and produces pecans, which are born like peaches." Hence the name.
1996 Ningguo, Anhui Province was awarded the "Hometown of Pecans in China".
In 2005, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine approved the implementation of geographical protection of hickory in Ningguo.
With the strong support of the municipal government, Ningguo has held the "China Ningguo Hickory Festival" for many times. Since then, Ningguo hickory has gone to the whole country and the world.
The pecans produced here have thin shells, large grains, thick meat, crispness and rich nutrition, which are sought after by buyers all over the country and are in short supply every year.
People in Ningguo also have a special festival. Call it "hickory holiday" for the time being.
Every few days in the Millennium, everyone handed in a leave of absence and went home to pick pecans, ranging from a few days to half a month to January. No matter how busy the work of the unit is, the leaders will not hesitate to sign it. Then he looked up and said, "Be safe!" Nearly half of people in some units will take time off, while others will simply take a "hickory holiday".
So in the fields of Ningguo, there appeared a group of mountain people waving bamboo poles, carrying sacks and pushing unicycles to collect pecans. In the deep forests of Ningguo, the most lively season of the year is also ushered in. Everyone's face is filled with the joy of harvest.
Previous life of Carya cathayensis
According to fossil data, Carya cathayensis was distributed in eastern China 40 million years ago. Carya cathayensis is an ancient relic tree species. The Tianmu Mountain area at the junction of Zhejiang and Anhui was less affected by the fourth glacier, so many tree species here survived, including hickory.
Hickory is also known as "Daming Fruit". So why are pecans also called "Daming Fruit"? Let me explain slowly. According to legend, when Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, fought in the deep mountains, the soldiers were listless with hunger because there was no food for a period of time. Liu Bowen, the strategist, was very upset, so he went out for a walk. When he came to a forest, he found that the soldiers were looking for a kind of fruit called pecan under the tree to fill their stomachs. He bit open a fruit and found that the nuts inside were astringent. Too clever, he got the inspiration to get rid of astringency from the process of cooking wild vegetables by farmers. He boiled the fruit in water and dried it. Sure enough, there is no astringency. So he ordered the soldiers to harvest a lot of fruits for the soldiers to eat, and transported the inexhaustible fruits to Hang Cheng for weapons. Soldiers are not only strong but also agile after eating this fruit. Pecan has made great contributions to Zhu Yuanzhang's great cause of founding the country, so after the founding of the country, Zhu Yuanzhang named this fruit "Daming Fruit".
I remember when we were young, pecans were not as famous as they are now, and there was no industrial chain. To borrow a sentence from A Dream of Red Mansions, it can be said that "jade is asking for a good price in the rafters, and women are waiting to fly in the rafters".
Every year after the White Dew Festival, pecans began to open their mouths one by one, falling from the trees one by one, shining with white light in the grass under the trees. This is the happiest moment for children, carrying baskets and scrambling to find treasures under the walnut tree.
After picking walnuts, adults put them in a big pot and cook them again to remove the astringency inside, and then dry them. This is the most delicious and nutritious snack for children.
Go home from school at night, move a small bench, spread out white paper, take a small hammer and tap it gently, and the pecan will crack and reveal the golden kernel. It smells really good.
When I was a child, pecans were delicious and nutritious, but they were a little hard to eat and needed the help of a small hammer.
With the standardization of hickory production and the improvement of processing automation level. Now there are various flavors of hand-peeled pecans, salt and pepper, spiced, cream, multi-flavored pecans, and there are also various flavors of pecans sarg for you to simply peel and eat more conveniently.
But I still like the shell, the hand-peeled one. It seems that eating hickory sarg directly is a lot less fun. But pecans are not without their merits. Especially suitable for children.
At night, when children come home from school, they will add some snacks of hickory sarg or directly come to a small bag of hickory sarg, and then do homework to replenish energy, improve intelligence, strengthen brain and memory.
People in southern Anhui have the custom of paying New Year greetings. Usually, we are busy, and our relatives and friends seldom have time to walk around. It is necessary to visit elders during the Spring Festival holiday.
Long time no see, of course, I have to bring some gifts to my elders. So everyone went to the east with big bags and small gifts, which was very lively and the taste of the year suddenly became strong.
Maybe you have to ask, what gift do you have? Under normal circumstances, visiting elders comes standard with two bags of pecans and two bottles of white wine (white wine does not need high-grade). The cost is not much, but it is enough to show respect for the elders.
Pecan is also a must-have snack for every family in southern Anhui. Every winter or Chinese New Year, no matter which house you enter, the host will enthusiastically hold out a large or small fruit bowl. No matter how big or small, there is absolutely no shortage of "soul figures" in the fruit bowl.
Normal nutrition
Carya cathayensis is rich and comprehensive in nutrition, and has the effects of strengthening brain, improving intelligence, blackening hair and caring skin, tonifying kidney and nourishing blood, preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and delaying aging.
Carya cathayensis is rich in protein and unsaturated fatty acids, which can nourish brain cells and enhance brain memory.
Carya cathayensis contains a lot of vitamins B and E, which has the effects of blackening hair, moistening skin and beauty beauty, and can make skin smooth and elastic.
Carya cathayensis also contains linoleic acid, linolenic acid, trace elements such as calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, zinc and manganese, and various vitamins, which can supplement the nutrition needed by human body, prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and delay aging.
In short, whoever eats benefits, "pregnant women eat fetal health and children eat all-round development." Young people eat bodybuilding, while old people eat longevity. "
Bloody fruit
I didn't want to mention this point at first, it was too heavy, but in order to let everyone have a more comprehensive understanding of pecans, I still feel that I must say it.
Natural hickory trees generally grow on cliffs, and they are all picked manually at present. A strong man has to climb the tree and knock the pecans off one by one with a long bamboo pole, while women and the weak pick them up and put them into sacks under the tree. Because there are many casualties every year, it is even more dangerous if it rains.
There is a poem in Ode to a Pecan: "If God knows the difficulties and obstacles, the branches will be broken overnight." This poem expresses the author's good wishes, but it also proves the difficulty and danger of picking pecans from another side.
But no matter how hard it is, it can't stop the enthusiasm of the villagers, because without this income, they can't live.
I hope that advanced picking tools can be invented in the future, so that the risk of picking is getting lower and lower.
It's almost white dew, and it's time to harvest pecans again. Remind villagers to protect themselves and pay attention to safety
Write it at the end
I was born in Guangde and married in Ningguo. Both places are rich in pecans, so I have a soft spot for pecans and have long wanted to write an article about pecans.
Although the planting scale of Carya cathayensis in Guangde is not as large as that in Ningguo, the quality and taste are the same.
I want to send this document to the upcoming Millennium celebration. Due to limited knowledge, there are still many shortcomings. Thank you for your patience. I hope you can make valuable suggestions!