Chinanews.com, Yuncheng, September 18th: The three-generation inheritance of a "crisp bun": hand-kneaded to retain the fragrance of wheat
Reporter Li Tingyao
Moo is a traditional Chinese pasta.
For many hard-working farmers, seeing the green wheat seedlings, they smell the fragrance of buns.
Wheat is ground into flour, flour is kneaded with water to make a ball, fermented and then steamed into buns. How is the wheat fragrance that has remained on the tip of the Chinese tongue for thousands of years, how is it processed and inherited?
Yuncheng City is the main wheat producing area in Shanxi Province and has a long history of wheat cultivation.
Xinjiang County in Yuncheng City was called Jiangzhou in ancient times. The Tang Dynasty poet Lu Lun wrote in "Sending Jiangzhou Guo to Join the Army": "In the summer, the Jiang Road is old, and the wheat flowers are fragrant for thousands of miles." He described the booming harvest of wheat waves here at that time.
In Xinjiang County, a mouthful of "Jiangzhou Crispy Mo" is a must-have delicacy on the table of every household, and it is also the taste of wheat on the tip of the tongue that accompanies everyone's growth.
The picture shows "Jiangzhou Chowder".
Photo by Wu Junjie
Today, every day around 4:30 in the morning, 32-year-old Guo Jia will start to make noodles to prepare for steamed buns.
10 years ago, Guo Jia's mother-in-law Lan Qinglian retired and started the "Lan's Xiangmo" signboard, making and selling local traditional crispy buns and mooncake buns.
From then on, Guo Jia followed Lan Qinglian to learn how to make buns.
Lan Qinglian recalled that in the 1940s and 1950s, her parents made crispy buns and mooncake buns at home, which were sold at a roadside stall by her father Lan Ton, and she could make buns when she was a teenager.
With its hand-made deliciousness and honest management, the buns sold by Lanton are so popular that the local people say, "Eat buns and eat 'ton'er' buns."
"My dad made buns and sold buns until he was in his 70s, and he always kept making buns by hand." Talking about the original intention of making buns, Lan Qinglian said that many buns sold in the market are fermented with baking powder and kneaded by machines. The hand-made method allows the locals to eat traditional delicacies, "original fermentation, mellow fragrance. Hand-kneaded, the dough is glutinous".
The original fermentation in Lan Qinglian's mouth is "fermented nest", which can make the buns sweet and delicious.
The glutinous rice grains produced locally in Xinjiang, as well as cornmeal and white wine, are mixed into dough, left for half a day to a day, then a little cornmeal and white wine are added, and after half a day, it is shaped into a nest shape, and then it takes a few days to a week to dry naturally. made.
When starting the dough, Guo Jia added water to the flour, stirred it into a floc, poured it into the yeast nest that had been dissolved with water, added water several times, kneaded it into a dough, and left it to ferment for more than half an hour.
Guo Jia told reporters that during the peak sales season, he had to prepare more than 300 catties of noodles by himself before the workers arrived at 6:30 in the morning.
After the workers arrive, they will, together with Lan Qinglian and Guo Jia, repeatedly knead the dough in front of them by hand, adding flour several times in between, and kneading the dough full of pores until the surface is smooth. This step takes nearly half an hour. Hours, then knead the dough into the shape of a bun, leave it to ferment for half an hour, and then steam it in a basket.
Everyone repeatedly kneads the dough in front of them by hand, adding flour several times in between, and kneading the dough full of pores until the surface is smooth.
Photo by Wu Junjie
"If you are making mooncake buns, roll part of the dough into a pancake shape, smear it with pepper leaves, sesame seeds, turmeric and oil, roll it up and cut it open to make stuffing. Roll out the skin and wrap the stuffing, then press it through a mooncake mold and steam it in a basket." Lan Qinglian introduced.
When the buns came out of the cage, white steam came out, and there was a fragrant smell.
After the crispy buns are cooled, they will feel soft to the touch, and they will fall off when they are opened. When they are eaten, they will become small particles in the mouth. After chewing a few times, they are sweet and delicious.
The picture shows the moon cake.
Photo by Wu Junjie
"Making buns is hard and boring, and you have to endure loneliness if you persist." Guo Jia told reporters that the buns they made have been sold to Beijing, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and other places through online sales and other channels.
A box of 15 buns sold more than 20,000 boxes the year before, and nearly 40,000 boxes last year. It is expected to sell 50,000 to 60,000 boxes this year.
Now he walks 20,000 to 30,000 steps a day.
A crispy bun sells for 1 yuan, and a moon cake bun sells for 2 yuan, and the price has not risen in 10 years.
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