China News Agency Sichuan Huili on November 8th: Huili pomegranate: chewing thousands of grains of water

  China News Agency reporter Yue Yitong

  Take the pomegranate crown as the center of the circle, cut the knife at the width of two fingers, make a light circle, lift the top cover, and the fruit wrapped by the beige septum is red and crystal clear.

Then cut the peel along the texture of the diaphragm, and gently break it, and the onyx-like seeds are all in front of you.

Take a piece of the mouth, the juice is overflowing, sweet and delicious, just as the Tang Dynasty poet Pi Rixiu said in the "Pomegranate Song", "chew thousands of water essence".

  Pomegranate is an "exotic product" on the Silk Road.

According to the "Natural History" written by Zhang Hua of the Western Jin Dynasty, "Zhangqian of the Han Dynasty went out to the Western Regions and had to paint the pomegranate seeds of Lin'anshi Kingdom to return, hence the name An Pomegranate." The pomegranate seeds brought back by Zhang Qian were originally planted in Shanglin Garden and Lishan Hot Spring Palace in Chang'an.

Today, more than 2,000 years later, pomegranates have become a frequent visitor to the dinner table of ordinary people's homes during the golden autumn season.

  Huili City, located in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, is the main pomegranate producing area in China.

Huili pomegranates with thin skin and large particles are mainly of two types: green-skin soft seeds and red-skin soft seeds.

  Every August, after the pomegranate garden is opened for picking, vendors can be seen everywhere in the streets of Huili.

Children returning home from school, and elderly people chatting on the roadside, are indispensable.

Pomegranate distilled wine, pomegranate red wine, pomegranate ice wine, etc.

  Due to its rich nutrients, in addition to direct consumption, many skin care products now also add pomegranate elements.

Even the fruit growers laughed and called their pomegranates "Estee Lauder growing on trees".

  "Look at the mouth first, the fruit with the cracked mouth has a higher degree of maturity; then look at the color of the peel, 'Yin Pomegranate Yang Peach', the pomegranate with a lighter skin color, the seeds are redder and fuller, and the sweetness is higher." Returning home He Shuang, a "post-95" who has become a new farmer, said that pomegranates can be stored for four or five days at room temperature, 10 days in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated, and can even be stored for a month.

"However, although the seeds of the soft-seeded pomegranate are the essence of antioxidants, eating too much can also cause fire."

  The pomegranate, which means many sons and more blessings, is also called "auspicious fruit" by the people, and it is full of treasures.

  The fiery red pomegranate flowers bear fruit and male flowers for cooking.

Remove the stamens of the picked stamens, wash them, soak them in water, soak them for a few days, and remove the astringency, and then stir-fry them with ham.

  As a Chinese medicinal material, pomegranate peel has the effects of astringent intestinal diarrhea, hemostasis, and deworming; as a dye, its color is clear and lasting.

According to "Lu Zu Collection", during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, Lv Dongbin used pomegranate peel as an ink to inscribe a poem on the wall.

  Since the promotion of pomegranate cultivation in the 1980s, about a quarter of the residents of Huili, the "hometown of pomegranates in China", are engaged in pomegranate cultivation-related industries.

At present, Huili has built a high-quality pomegranate industrial belt of 400,000 mu, with an output of 740,000 tons in 2021 and an output value of nearly 6 billion yuan.

  "Pomegranate is an indispensable delicacy in the life of Huili people, and it carries the pride and nostalgia of Huili people." Gong Xiangdong, former head of the economic crop management station of Huili Agriculture and Rural Bureau, said with a smile, the first thing a wanderer does when he returns home is to To eat pomegranates, students will also bring some pomegranates when they go to study in distant places and workers go out to work.

  Today, after taking root in China for thousands of years, this fruit from foreign countries has taken the air, ship, and China-Europe Express Railroad. With the meaning of reunion, sweetness and prosperity, it has brought enjoyment to people all over the world on the tip of their tongues.

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