(Going into rural China) "Tushan goods" open up "foreign markets" and Chongqing sweet potato noodles go overseas

　　China News Service, Chongqing, March 23, headline: "Tushan goods" open up "foreign markets" Chongqing sweet potato noodles go overseas

　　Author Liang Qinqing

　　How did the sweet potato noodles originating from the deep mountains of Wuling travel across mountains and seas to capture the taste buds of overseas diners? Regarding this issue, Ge Xianping, who has more than ten years of experience in exporting Pengshui sweet potato powder, briefly summarized it in eight words - the powder is pure, soft and delicious.

　　At the National Sugar and Liquor Trade Fair and Spring Sugar Festival held in Sichuan recently, the sweet potato noodles from Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County in Chongqing attracted the attention of hundreds of merchants, and some businessmen in the import and export trade wanted to visit Pengshui to inspect the sweet potato noodles. Pink enterprise. Pengshui County is located in the hinterland of the Wuling Mountains, with a mild climate, abundant rainfall, slightly alkaline soil, and high starch content in the sweet potatoes grown, making it an excellent raw material for making sweet potato starch products.

Recently, workers were drying the sweet potato noodles at the Dragon Whisker Crystal Silky Sweet Potato Flour Factory in Pengshui County, Chongqing. (Photo provided by Ge Xianping)

　　Ge Xianping has been dealing with sweet potato noodles for more than 30 years and is now the person in charge of the Pengshui Longxing Jingsi Sweet Potato Flour Factory. The factory processes more than 8,000 tons of fresh sweet potatoes annually, with annual sales of more than 40 million yuan (RMB, the same below). "The sweet potato noodles we produce have been sold to the United States, Dubai and other countries, and have become hot and sour noodles on customers' tables," she said.

　　Ge Xianping said that hot and sour noodles have become a representative delicacy on the Chinese table, and there are fans both at home and abroad. More than ten years ago, she opened a shop near Jiefangbei in Chongqing. A Hong Kong tourist praised her hot and sour noodles after eating them. After returning to Hong Kong, she also opened a hot and sour noodle shop.

　　Hong Kong Spicy Party Restaurant has cooperated with Ge Xianping's sweet potato noodle factory for more than ten years. The raw materials of the hot and sour noodle in the store come from Pengshui. Mr. Zhong, the buyer of the restaurant, said that logistics is now more convenient and it only takes three to five days to transport the sweet potato noodles from Pengshui to Hong Kong. "The hot and sour noodles made with Pengshui sweet potato starch are particularly popular. The average number of customers in the store is three to four hundred people every day, especially on weekends, and there is often a long queue at the door of the store."

　　"We have opened several branches in Hong Kong." Mr. Zhong said that hot and sour noodles are spicy, sour, fragrant and appetizing delicacies. They are also a link between Hong Kong and the mainland. Tourists from Chongqing are happy to taste the "taste of hometown" here. ", and some Hong Kong customers came up with the idea of ​​traveling to Chongqing after eating, "Now when tourists from Sichuan and Chongqing come to the store, I can understand a few dialects."

　　Ge Xianping also found that people in different places eat different ways of eating wild rice flour. In the United States and Hong Kong, most of the wild rice flour is used to make hot and sour noodles, while in Dubai, the wild rice flour is packaged in small bags. When you need to eat, take it out and soak it in cold water. , add to the pot or boil or stew. This also brought new ideas for her to further open up the export market of sweet potato flour in the future.

Recently, in Yushan Town, Pengshui County, Chongqing City, villagers planted sweet potato seeds and raised sweet potato seedlings in the fields in preparation for transplanting in the field. Photo by Zhao Yong

　　Relying on the production of sweet potato starch, Pengshui's small sweet potatoes have gradually grown into a "sweet industry" that helps villagers increase their income and become rich. It is now the spring plowing season. Walking into the fields of Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County, farmers are orderly carrying out land preparation, deep plowing, ridge raising and seedling cultivation, and carefully caring for the small sweet potatoes to take root and sprout.

　　Cai Dengquan and Tian Meiqin from Zhonggu Village, Pengshui County, planted more than 700 acres of sweet potatoes this year. They established a professional sweet potato planting cooperative that integrates potato planting and agricultural product development, processing, and sales. "Now online shopping orders have broadened sales channels, and our cooperative's annual output value reaches 3 million yuan."

　　At present, the sweet potato planting area in Pengshui County is 300,000 acres, with an annual output of 480,000 tons of sweet potatoes. There are 32 sweet potato production and processing entities, and the annual output value of the entire industry chain reaches 800 million yuan. The local area has also created a regional public brand of "Peng Crystal Silk Sweet Potato Noodles" and launched a series of products such as classic dry noodles and hot pot wide noodles, allowing small sweet potatoes to release great value.

　　"Pengshui sweet potato noodles are loved by overseas customers, which shows that 'local mountain products' can also open up 'foreign markets.'" Ge Xianping said confidently that the next step will be to expand international markets such as Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, so that more overseas diners can taste the food from the mountains. tasty. (over)