Mini Habit Check-in D39

Measure the world with your steps

I ate three mugworts in a row at night. After eating, I took away 15 of them and gave 7 to Sister Yan to try. Sister Yan said they tasted very good and she couldn't help but eat two in a row as she had eaten less at night.

Aiguo is also called Qingming fruit. In the south, mugwort grows in the fields. In spring, it can be seen everywhere in clumps. Together with wormwood, it is also known as a spring delicacy, and there are many people picking it. The shape is similar to the moxa leaves hung during the Dragon Boat Festival, so I can't always tell them apart. Traditionally, they are believed to have the effect of preventing plague and eliminating germs. In my hometown, it is regarded as a good way to remove dampness. Women who are in confinement or postpartum must use moxa leaf water to bathe and wash their hair.

The edible green mugwort leaves have a natural fragrance. It’s delicious but the process is not simple. Because in my hometown, my family makes mugwort, and the neighbors show up uninvited, and even drop in a few times after eating. Just like today, my little sister made 15 kilograms of rice. In the end, there was not much left, so I ate and took what I could. The simple enthusiasm of the hometown people is reflected in this daily life.

I can eat it several times every year. My friends Xiu, Fang, and my younger sister will make it once, and my mother-in-law will occasionally buy some from the market.

Sister Yan asked me how to do it, and I asked my younger sister. I knew a little bit about the general steps, because I had never practiced it, so I just talked about it on paper.

1. The ratio of mugwort and rice is 1:1. For example, one pound of mugwort: one pound of rice (4 taels of glutinous rice, 6 taels of japonica rice) is roughly the same ratio.

2. Place mugwort leaves in boiling water and add a little soda. The time should not be too long to prevent the leaves from turning yellow. Pick it up and wring it dry to remove the bitter taste.

3. Soak japonica rice and glutinous rice together in proportion.

4. Beat the wrung out mugwort and soaked rice into juice.

The traditional process is to drain the water. With the development of the science and technology industry, manufacturing tools are becoming more and more professional. There is a shop diagonally opposite the stadium that makes magic juice. There is no need to drain the water. After the juice is made, it can be stuffed directly.

I still remember that the juice was wrapped in a wide gauze, the four corners of the gauze were tied into big knots, passed through the poles, and hung horizontally. There was a washbasin on the ground to catch the dripping juice. Thick green juice drips from the gaps in the dense gauze. This process takes about two or three hours, so in the past, it often took a day or two from picking to harvesting mugwort.

I heard my mother say that in her time, all the processes were done by hand. Blanch the mugwort leaves, wring them out, put them on the chopping board and chop them into fine pieces. It requires hand strength because the mugwort leaves are long and there are a lot of them. Japonica rice and glutinous rice were ground with a stone. While chatting and laughing with the aunts, the bouncing rice grains were ground into white and floating powder in the time of a stick of incense. In this way, the white powder and green grass are mixed together and kneaded to become a semi-finished product - green moxa fruit puree.

I studied abroad in my early years and have no memory of such a process. However, the quick and hard-working little girl got the true inheritance from my mother, which also allows us who leave our hometown to have a full meal and delicious food every year. ; Pick up the flavor of hometown and relieve the homesickness.

There are generally two types of fillings, salty and sweet.

1. Salty ingredients: bamboo shoots, sauerkraut, mushrooms, diced carrots, whatever you like. Of course, it must be paired with diced pork belly and chopped green onion. If it is simple, it is actually the same as the stuffing of steamed buns and dumplings. . The traditional ones in my hometown are diced bamboo shoots and diced pork. Because in spring, spring bamboo shoots are in season, and you can just dig them from your own mountain. Self-produced and self-sufficient is a good life for ordinary people. The little girl who has picky tastes and pursues perfection always goes up the mountain in the early morning of the day to dig out big white meat bamboo shoots to eat with it.

Meat prices remain high this year, so eating meat-filled Ai Guo is considered a luxury.

2. Sweet, red bean paste balls. This process takes a lot of time.

Soak the red beans overnight, put the red beans into a stew pot, cover half of the red beans with water and add rock sugar. After the high heat boils, reduce the heat to a low heat and cook the red beans until soft; take out the cooked red beans and sieve them Squeeze out the bean paste. Mom wrapped it in gauze and squeezed it again. Put the bean paste into the wok, bring it to a simmer, and stir it constantly with a spoon to remove most of the water. You can see that the bean paste filling has begun to dry, and the surface When the water is gone, add sugar; continue stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Finally, roll into small balls of the same size. Red bean paste balls with a delicate taste, pure fragrance and moderate sweetness are just fine. Put them in the refrigerator and chill them for a while. When you take them out to wrap them, the filling will not leak easily.

It takes a lot of time. When squeezing out water, the heat must be controlled to avoid burning.

Making moxa fruit is really a big project for me. I can roll it into balls or wrap it into dumplings as I like. Besides eating, what I like most is going to nature to pick mugwort leaves, intimately touching the clear stream, and enjoying the pure joy.

I realize what I have learned on paper, but I know that I have to put it into practice. I am currently fighting the epidemic at home, and the Qingming Festival is approaching. Do you want to choose a day to make a fragrant and nutty mugwort?