"Pifen" is the name of a small town dialect; I talked to Du Niang and found that this kind of food is everywhere, but the name is different, such as sweet potato powder and sweet potato powder.

"Skin powder" is a kind of food with sweet potato as raw material, and its production process is complicated. The whole process can only be carried out manually, of course, it has been mechanized now; But there is no mechanical energy to replace childhood; Every year 10 is the time when "hide powder" comes on the market in large quantities. At that time, villagers in Shili Baxiang could be seen everywhere in the town and chose to sell them in the town.

The production process of "hide powder" is complex and the production cycle is long; When sweet potatoes are ripe, they should be dug out of the soil, cleaned with water, and then dried under water control. Then, the fresh sweet potato is crushed into pulp juice by the traditional method, and then the pulp juice is filtered, and the filtered pulp juice is solidified into powder blocks.

Dissolving powdered sweet potato powder in water to completely dissolve it; "hide powder" can be round or strip-shaped, depending on the utensils made;

Pour the dissolved sweet potato juice into the making vessel, and then scald the vessel in boiling water for dozens of seconds. This process is called scalding. Under the action of boiling water, sweet potato juice quickly condenses into a gelatinous object floating on the water surface, and is taken out and dried to make a complete "skin powder"; "hide powder" is translucent, and the whole process takes many days to complete;

Making is not only manual (pulping is heavy physical labor), but also requires enough experience (the control of powder-water ratio is the key to making), and it is also a patient and endurance work (from washing to pulping, filtering into powder, dissolving, scalding, drying, etc.). It's boring and needs enough care and patience. If you don't pay attention, the whole pot of pulp will be completely scrapped);

Sweet potato can have many applications, such as sweet potato vine can be used as pig food (note: sweet potato vine is cut into small pieces and cooked with the remaining rice bran as pig food); Sweet potatoes can be eaten raw or processed as food; I liked to eat sweet potato rice when I was a child. When cooking, I peel fresh sweet potatoes, cut them into small pieces and cook them together in rice. When I eat, I eat them with rice and sweet potatoes. Rice has the sweetness of sweet potato and is especially delicious. When I was a child, I especially envied my classmates who had relatives in the countryside. At that time, we not only ate sweet potatoes, but also fennel skin.

"Skin powder" is processed into catering food, and "fennel skin" and sweet potato are processed into snacks together;

Fennel skin is made by completely steaming fresh sweet potatoes, mashing them into mud, adding sweet potato powder in proportion, kneading them into blocks, and then cutting them into small pieces according to personal preference, which can be round, triangular, strip and so on. Drying in the sun to form a hard sheet; It can be fried or fried when eating, and it is a favorite snack when I was a child.

When I was a child, the town was short of materials and there were too many snacks for the New Year. Some residents will make fennel skin for their neighbors to eat during the Spring Festival, and the town pays attention to the neighborhood relationship on New Year's Day. Yan Ma, a childhood friend, is a famous expert in making fennel skin in the town. The fennel skin of Brilliant Family is the best every year. It is not only thin, but also brittle. Bite in the mouth is full of sweet potato fragrance and sweetness. Glory is my good partner. We've been playing together since we wore open-backed pants. Brilliant mother is also very kind to us, just like her own children.

Brilliant mother will make a lot of fennel skins every year, and put up a door panel on the street at the door to dry every day. Dried fennel skin is definitely a rare food for us children. At that time, I would pretend to pass by the glorious door every day, and then take a few pieces from the dried fennel skin; Glorious mothers will see, generally don't talk about us, just smile at us, and occasionally shout "Hua Zi" at us! Hmm (note: you mean the small town dialect)! Do you still eat during the Spring Festival? (Note: A large part of fennel skin in the glorious New Year is eaten by several children near our home. Because Guanghui has opened a small food store, it will take a lot of time to get together at his house. Every time at this time, I will answer: "Good!" Then grab a few pieces of "fennel skin" and run away with lightning speed; Continue to pretend to return later;

For many years, I have been obsessed with Yu Hui's mother's "fennel skin". When I return to town, I will talk to my glorious mother about stealing fennel skin. Every time, the glorious mother smiled with indignation and said, "Just be a greedy child and start eating fennel tuo (note: the town dialect, sweet potato is called fennel tuo) until the New Year;" Well, you think I don't know (note: small town dialect, you think I don't know? ); Well (you) have a baby. When you are drying fennel skin, well (you) come to grab two pieces every day, and then grab two pieces. Every few steps forward, I will be back soon "; Then we all laughed and occasionally burst into tears;

Childhood memories are the most real, and childhood memories are the most priceless;

202 1 Chaoyangmen, Beijing, September 28th

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