Get up early in the morning, make a small pot of porridge, and fry a plate of pickled radish from the old year with chili paste. As a result, the hot air in the kitchen had the sour, spicy and choking smell of fireworks. Unfortunately, this is a scene from the past. After my mother passed away, I have never eaten the kind of radishes pickled in a jar in the countryside.

In fact, I still hold a jar of pickled radish in my heart for a few times in the old house in Weili. It was pickled when my mother was still alive, and I have never been willing to eat it. Every time I go back, as long as I see the jar of pickled radishes, I feel that my mother is still alive and has never left.

There is never a shortage of pickles on the tables of rural families. During the cold weather, my mother would often cook a pot of porridge when she got up early, and sometimes she would also cook a few potatoes along with it. A plate of pickled radish or pickled mustard greens can make me eat two large bowls of porridge.

Everyone knows how to pickle vegetables, but with the same technique, the taste of pickled vegetables is different for different people.

Every year when the frost comes, the radishes in the field burst through the soil early, revealing most of their plump, white and tender bodies. The radish that has tasted the wind and frost becomes full of water, and it feels sweet in the mouth.

Wait for a warm and sunny day, pull the radishes out of the ground, place them on the ridge of the field or on the rice bed and spread them out in the sun for two or three days. When they are slightly deflated, you can take them home, cut off the radish and cherry blossoms, and then put them in the jar layer by layer and sprinkle with appropriate salt. After it has been marinated for a while and the salt has absorbed the water in the radish, stir it twice a day with a wooden pestle so that every radish can be evenly immersed in the salt water. After a few days of this, the aroma of pickled radish will emit.

A radish left open in a vat will not last long. The pickles pickled in the countryside in those years are for emergency use when the spring is slow in the coming year, and they are also a main dish on the table.

Mother washed and drained the jar, washed and arranged the radishes in the salt water in the jar, and then shoved them into the jar one by one. Then use a laundry mallet to tighten it tightly and seal the mouth of the altar, so that it will not be broken in the coming year.

Add a little homemade chili paste to the pickled radish when frying. It's slightly salty, slightly spicy, crisp and clear, and has a natural aroma. Whether it's porridge or dry rice, as long as you have this pickled radish, you will have an appetite.

When you eat the radishes after opening the jar a few days later, because of the air, the top layer often melts and forms a layer of white flowers. Wash the flowered radish gently with water, put it in a bowl, add a little sesame oil and chili paste, and steam it on top of rice. In fact, this steamed radish really has a unique flavor. It melts in your mouth. It is slightly spicy with a slight bitter taste at first, and then slowly creates an inexplicable liking in your mouth. This taste will stick to the tip of your tongue and make you remember it forever.

My wife also pickles some pickles every year. They are all ready-to-eat. Although they are also appetizing, they have different flavors.

Since my mother passed away, I have never eaten the old radish pickled in jars in the countryside. Perhaps, there are many beautiful things in life that I often miss in my heart, which is also a kind of happiness.