My second brother, whose value has doubled recently, combined with salt and time drying, has become one of the most delicious local delicacies in China-ham.
You know the ham in Jinhua, Zhejiang, and the ham in Xuanwei, Qujing, Yunnan. Maybe you also know that the ham in Rugao, Nantong, Jiangsu Province is called North Leg (Jinhua Ham is called South Leg), but China is not recognized as the fourth largest ham town.
Why have these places become the hometown of ham?
In the era when there is no refrigerator, in the mountains and valleys of China, especially in ethnic minority areas, it is inevitable to produce ham as a way to store protein, fat and salt needed by meat and human body.
It not only stores the salt necessary for human body, but also stores the meat for as long as possible through the bactericidal effect of salt. The perfect combination of the two is ham.
There are many kinds of ham, bacon and sausage in China, especially ethnic minorities, Hakkas in the south and Huizhou cuisine in the south of the Yangtze River. But why are Jinhua and Xuanwei ham famous?
In addition to Zhejiang Jinhua ham, which is called the south leg, Jiangsu Rugao ham, which is called the north leg; And three famous hams in Yunnan: Xuanwei Ham, Dunnuo Town Ham in Dali and Heqing Ham in Lijiang; Other famous hams in China are: Weining Ham in Bijie, Guizhou, Panxian Ham in Liupanshui (corresponding to Xuanwei Ham in the south foot of Wumeng Mountain, Weining Ham in Guizhou in the north of the mountain, Panxian Ham in the south of the mountain, all of which can be called Wumeng Mountain Ham); Mianning ham in Daliangshan, Sichuan; Xuanen ham in Xuanen County, Enshi Prefecture, Hubei Province; As well as Anfu ham in Jiangxi and Wanhua ham in Xiuning, southern Anhui.
But there are only a dozen who are slightly famous. If there is a list of the top ten hams in China, it is more than enough.
The ingredients of ham are salt and meat (mainly two seniors) and a little spice. The external force is the local climatic conditions and geographical conditions.
Heaven and earth combine pigs, pigs and salt, and every place is also promoting how famous and delicious its ham is from the above aspects. For example, Jinhua Ham claims that its pork is black at both ends (the head and feet are black, so it should be a black pig), and Anhui Ham in southern Anhui is naturally a southern Anhui flower pig. This is a compliment to the pig.
Xuanwei and Dali in the southwest boast good climatic and geographical conditions and suitable air, which is conducive to the air-drying and curing of ham.
Although hams in southwest China are all cured with Sichuan salt (well salt), and hams in Jinhua and Rugao (Huai salt) in southeast China are all cured with sea salt, hams hardly boast about how domestic salt is rich in minerals and essential contents for human body. It seems that the molecular structure of salt is not very different, so it is difficult to make a fuss about marketing.
Then, we can only praise pigs internally and praise the local air, sunshine, wind direction, climate and physical geography externally. No rain is conducive to air-drying and chewy, and loving rain is conducive to fermentation and beneficial probiotic growth.
Geographical mystery of ham producing area in China
However, after carefully combing the above-mentioned famous ham towns in China, it is found that the fame of local ham may be more related to the context of the salt transportation road in China.
Let's start with the most famous Jinhua ham. Jinhua is located in the middle of Zhejiang Province, with Fuchun River, the main river in Zhejiang Province, and Wuyi River, a tributary of Zhejiang water originating in the eastern coastal area, and other tributaries meeting in Jinhua, making Jinhua a crossroads in central Zhejiang since ancient times. Jinhua's name comes from the astronomical phenomenon of "Venus meets five women", hence its name.
Jinhua is the hub of central Zhejiang, connecting the southeast coast with western Zhejiang and inland areas such as Jiangxi, Hunan and southern Anhui, whether it is Jinhua in history or Yiwu, the capital of small commodities in the world today.
The sea salt in Zhoushan Yantian can be collected in Jinhua through Wuyi River and other ancient valley roads, and then transported to the southwestern mountainous area of Zhejiang and the hinterland of southern Anhui and Jiangxi along Xin 'anjiang and other tributaries of Zhejiang.
It can be said that Anfu in central Jiangxi is also located in the north stream of Ganjiang River, at the cross position of the east-west ancient road in Jiangxi and Hunan.
Similarly, Rugao, Nantong, Jiangsu Province is also a famous saltworks in the East China Sea since ancient times, such as Lv Sichang along the coast. Rugao further north is the base camp of Huai salt, and it has been the starting point of Huai salt since ancient times. Yancheng, Jiangsu got its name. Pay attention to wechat wechat official account Our River (IP:womendehe), and leave a message in the background: Salt and City, and we will push it to you, the article "China City Named after Salt" published before our River.
Southwest ham producing area is also the intersection of ancient salt roads in Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Tibet provinces.
The salt in the southwest relies on the Millennium well salt in Zigong, the southeast edge of Sichuan Basin. Taking this as the starting point and the center of the circle, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Tibet provinces, as well as southwestern Hubei and western Hunan, all rely on caravans to transport salt along the ancient road.
Xuanen in western Hubei is located from north to south at the junction of Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing (Sichuan) and Guizhou provinces, and at the intersection of the ancient road, the source tributary of the upper Qingjiang River, and the tributary of Wujiang River. Since ancient times, it has been a gathering place for Tujia, Miao and other ethnic minorities. Marshal He Long walked through the caravan along this ancient road, transporting salt, tea and fur to and from the ancient road.
Further south, the Wumeng area between Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces where Yi and Buyi people live together, the southern Xinjiang mountain range from Weining to Wumeng Mountain in the north, and Xuanwei in Qujing, Yunnan, are the commercial routes for Sichuan to enter Yunnan via Guizhou.
On the south side of Wumeng Mountain, starting from Guiyang, passing through Anshun, Panxian, Shengjingguan, and then to Yunnan, it is the ancient commercial road of Qian Dian South Road. The transportation lifeline of strategic materials exported to the United States through Myanmar, Yunnan and Guizhou in that year turned to 18, and it was verified that it was in Anshun area of this line today.
Similarly, Zhuge Liang crossed the Sichuan-Yunnan ancient road in May, passed through Xichang and Panzhihua today, crossed the Jinsha River and entered Yunnan. Mianning, which is famous for producing ham, is located on the Anning River basin, a tributary of the Yalong River. The ancient road of Anning River connects Dadu River with Yalong River and Jinsha River. It is also the ancient road when the Red Army went north to the snowy mountain grassland and crossed the Yi area in Daliangshan.